Ryan Clifford's Development Appears to Be in Peril for Mets

This is not what New York wanted to see...

Feb 13, 2026; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets infielder Ryan Clifford (87) works during spring training at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Mets have a lot of intriguing prospects making noise throughout their farm system. Unfortunately, first baseman Ryan Clifford has not been one of them.

It was just over a month ago that saw Clifford in Philadelphia as the organization's rep at the Futures Game and one of the top five prospects in the Mets' farm system. Clifford has dropped all the way to No. 15 in MLB.com's latest update of the Mets' Top 30, a steep decline for a player who was considered a central part of the return from the 2023 Justin Verlander trade with Houston.

Many fans hoped that Clifford could be a part of the team's long-term plans at first base, but he has not had a good season with Triple-A Syracuse. On the year, Clifford is batting just .175 with 16 home runs, 51 RBI and a .611 OPS in 104 games, striking out a whopping 164 times in 368 at-bats.

Clifford appeared to hit rock bottom in a doubleheader against Jacksonville on Aug. 16, when he went 0-for-9 with eight strikeouts as part of a 1-for-41 funk. That run, which included 26 strikeouts, led Syracuse to transfer Clifford to the rarely-used development list.

Ryan Clifford may be done as a part of the Mets' future

The development list, in case you are not familiar, is a player designation created in 2021 designed to help teams aid a prospect's development without the use of the injured list. A player on the development list does not count against active roster limits and cannot appear in games, allowing organizations time to work with them on things like swing changes or mechanical tweaks in less pressurized situations.

The Mets have already made use of the development list with former first-round pick Colin Houck, who spent a week on it earlier in August before returning to the active roster with High-A Brooklyn. The goal with Clifford may be to work on either pitch recognition or a swing change to cut down on his strikeouts, which has been a big problem for his progression towards the majors in 2026.

Players must spend a minimum of seven days on the development list before they can return to action. There is no maximum duration, however, so the Mets could keep Clifford on the list longer if they feel he needs more refinement before returning to game action with Syracuse.

Slugging prospect Billy Amick has taken over at first base and has continued his power surge with Syracuse so the Mets may not be in a hurry to get Clifford back into games if his swing needs a major overhaul. Things have gotten so bad that it is no longer a lock that Clifford is added to the 40-man roster this winter, which would leave him vulnerable to being picked in the Rule 5 Draft.

Clifford is only 23 years old and development isn't always linear with top prospects, but seeing how dramatically he has fallen this season is alarming. There had been some belief that the Mets let Pete Alonso leave over the winter because they felt Clifford was close to becoming their long-term answer at the position, but those dreams don't appear close to becoming reality now.

Get Mets On SI straight to your inbox: sign up for our free newsletter here.