Minor League Mondays: Ryan Clifford Set To Rep The Mets At The Futures Game

The All Star Break is fast approaching and one of the highlights of the week is the annual Futures Game. The contest, set to be played on Sunday in Philadelphia, spotlights some of the top young talent in the game and is often a good indicator of who baseball's next bright stars will be.

Each team gets at least one representative in the Futures Game and the Mets have had plenty of notable prospects appear in it over the years, including Jose Reyes, David Wright, Pete Alonso, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Pete Alonso and Carson Benge. That honor falls upon first base prospect Ryan Clifford this year, who is the focus of this week's edition of Minor League Mondays.

Ryan Clifford will be the Mets' lone representative at the 2026 Futures Game.

The choice was certainly an interesting one as Clifford has not had the kind of platform season that usually merits selection to the game. Clifford has struggled with consistency this season at AAA Syracuse, hitting .193 with 14 home runs and 41 RBI in 296 at bats. Strikeouts remain a huge issue for Clifford, who has whiffed 123 times in 334 plate appearances, which equates to an alarmingly high 36.8 percent strikeout rate.

That problem is a big reason why Clifford hasn't received a major league opportunity despite the Mets' ongoing problems at first base. Jared Young and Mark Vientos are currently platooning at the position to so-so results. Even if the pair don't get better in the coming weeks the Mets would need to see drastic improvement from Clifford to merit consideration at the major league level.

Perhaps being around better competition will spark something in Clifford, who still has half a season to turn things around and earn a big league promotion. The Mets could also hope that Clifford shows out in front of scouts in attendance to showcase him for a potential trade, which is certainly in play if David Stearns doesn't believe Clifford will be the long term answer at first base.

Either way, getting selected to appear in the Futures Game is a huge honor. Clifford will have a chance to show off his power in front of the world on Sunday and we will keep you up to date on how he does in Philadelphia in this space next week.