Mets potential client Ryan Clifford continues to crush in Double-A, as he handled Binghamton’s 9-7 victory over the Somerset Patriots in a back-and-forth contest on Friday night.
After drawing a walk in each of his first two at-bats, the youngster came into the bottom of the sixth with a man on base and drove an RBI double into dead center to make it a one-run game.
Clifford picked up another RBI the hard way a few innings later when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to put the Rumble Ponies back in front.
After the bullpen gave the lead back to Somerset in the top of the ninth, the slugger stepped to the plate with one man in and none out, and demolished a two-run homer to left-center field.
In perhaps his best performance since joining the organization at last season’s trade deadline, the 20-year-old finished 2-for-2 with a home run, a double, two walks, a hit by pitch, four runs scored and four RBI. .
After a bit of a slow start to the season, Clifford is tearing coverage off the ball.
Despite his struggles with the Cyclones, the Mets were aggressive in his promotion to Double-A, hoping he could get into a rhythm after escaping his home stadium, which has been notoriously difficult for left-handed hitters.
That certainly seems to be paying huge dividends, as Clifford has been putting in a lot of effort in the first two weeks of June, recording eight extra-base hits (five homers) and a 1.333 OPS with the Ponies.
He’s still hitting just .191, but his OPS has quickly risen to .877 in 26 games as the new level.
Heading into this season, Clifford was ranked as the system’s fourth overall prospect on SNY’s Top 30 list and has already climbed as high as No. 75 overall on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list.
If he continues to progress like this, the young man could be one step away from the big leagues before the end of the season.
