Mets 2026 Season Preview: Are we going to see more of Nick Morabito in 2026?

Nick Morabito was drafted by the Mets in the qualified offer free agent compensation round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Gonzaga College High School in Washington D.C. At the time, he was considered a definite follow by regional scouts and evaluators, but his overall profile and post-draft evaluations made many question whether the Mets were wise in selecting him and signing him for a cool million dollars, nearly $125,000 over the MLB-assigned slot value for the 75th overall pick. Here we are, four years later, and Morabito is at the finish line, with an MLB debut in sight.

Splitting the season between the FCL Mets and the St. Lucie Mets in 2023, Morabito hit .306/.421/.407 in 57 games with 9 doubles, 3 triples, 2 homers, 21 stolen bases, and 34 walks to 49 strikeouts. Splitting the 2024 season between, the St. Lucie Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones, he hit .312/.403/.398 with 17 doubles, 5 triples, 4 home runs, 59 stolen bases, and 60 walks to 98 strikeouts. This past season, he spent the entire year with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and hit .273/.348/.385 in 118 games with 27 doubles, 2 triples, 6 home runs, 49 stolen bases, and 47 walks to 115 strikeouts. Since turning pro, he is a cumulative .291/.381/.389 hitter who has averaged roughly 42 stolen bases a season. Why is Morabito not considered a significant prospect, why was he ranked the Mets’ 15th top prospect instead of 1-5?

The speedy outfielder does his damage in a way that would fit in with the Deadball Era. He can put a jolt into the ball, but almost everything is on the ground; in 2025, he posted a 53.9% groundball rate, and he averaged a 51.5% rate in the prior two seasons combined. Furthermore, he does not pull the ball nearly enough, posting a 42.9% pull rate, 21.9% up-the-middle rate, and a 35.2% opposite field rate and similar spray patterns in his prior two seasons. By and large, when Morabito makes contact, he is shooting groundballs ball back up the middle or slashing them to the opposite field. That might’ve been a viable strategy for Charlie “Piano Legs” Hickman or “Baby Doll” Jacobson or John “the Terrible Swede” Anderson or “Choke ‘em” Charlie Herzog, but in today’s day and age? Not so much. Further complicating matters are his increasing strikeout rate, declining contact rate, and a handful of other metrics.

Morabito has a high floor, at the very least, thanks to his defense and speed. While not elite per se, the outfielder plays a very good centerfield. His arm is fringe-average for the position, but his glove is sure and any mistakes that he makes reading the ball off the bat can be corrected with “brute speed”. And speaking of speed, as the late Terrence Gore highlighted, there will always be place on a team for a speedster when the time is right: Gore has more World Series championship rings than he does career WAR (0.1 rWAR/0.7 fWAR).

Morabito was placed on the 40-man roster this past November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, but barring showing up to spring training a completely different hitter, it is unlikely that the outfielder breaks camp with the Mets. Having appeared in 118 games in Double-A Binghamton last season, he likely starts 2026 assigned to the Triple-A Syracuse Mets. While coming north with the Mets out of spring training is unlikely, I would not rule out Morabito making his major league debut at some point during the year if the stars align in his favor.