Randy Guzman
Week: 5 G, 18 AB, .444/.444/.833, 8 H, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 K, 0/1 SB (Single-A)
2025 Season: 49 G, 156 AB, .282/.371/.474, 44 H, 9 2B, 0 3B, 7 HR, 15 BB, 33 K, 0/3 SB, .319 BABIP (Rookie) / 21 G, 77 AB, .351/.398/.623, 27 H, 10 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 4 BB, 14 K, 2/5 SB, .400 BABIP (Single-A)
Randy Guzman was signed out of Tenares, Dominican Republic, on September 22, 2022, a late signing due to his advanced (for an international rookie from the Caribbean) age and only so-so reports from scouts and evaluators.
He was assigned to the Dominican Summer League for the 2023 season and the18-year-old spent the entire season there, hitting .175/.333/.294 in 46 games. He remained in the Dominican Summer League in 2024 but only appeared in 21 games in total- missing roughly a month from mid-June until mid-July- hitting .209/.303/.388 in the games he did play in.
In 2025, the Mets had Guzman sent stateside and he began the year with the Florida Complex League Mets. The 20-year-old got off to a strong start, hitting over .306/.393/.490 in May and he continued hitting. As the calendar turned to May, and from May to June, and from June to July, Guzman continued hitting. In total, he hit .282/.371/.474 in 49 games, with 9 doubles, 7 home runs, and 15 walks to 33 strikeouts and was later named a Rookie Level All-Star by Minor League Baseball. Since being promoted to Low-A at the end of July, Guzman is hitting .351/.398/.623 in 21 games for the St. Lucie Mets with 10 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs, 2 stolen bases, and 4 walks to 14 strikeouts.
At the plate, the left-hander stands tall, holding his bat above his head, angling his bat almost perpendicular to the ground. He lowers his hands and gets them into hitting position during his load, closing his body up and swinging a long bat. Defensively, Guzman has played all over the diamond over the course of his career, spending the majority of his time at first base but spending significant time in left and right field as well.
We are working with a fairly small sample size of just about a month’s worth of games, but Guzman has shown no major weaknesses against anything in particular. I find it more likely that this is just small sample size noise rather than Guzman emerging as the next Juan Soto, so take these numbers with a grain of salt. Against fastballs, he is hitting .375/.375/.813 with an average exit velocity of balls put in play of 89.6 MPH. Against changeups, he is hitting .545/.545/.727 with a 90.1 average exit velocity. Against breaking balls in general, he is hitting .321/.345/.500 with a 91.7 MPH exit velocity; I lumped sliders and curveballs together since he has only been thrown a handful of curveballs so far. In total, 53.4% of the pitches he has seen have been fastballs, 29.5% sliders, 12.1% changeups, and 4.9% curveballs. Guzman is currently running a 18.0% overall strikeout rate, with a 25.7% whiff rate against fastballs, a 33.3% whiff rate against breaking balls, and a 12.1% whiff rate against changeups.
R.J. Gordon
Week: 2 G (2 GS), 10.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 17 K (Double-A)
2025 Season: 15 G (11 GS), 67.2 IP, 60 H, 29 R, 23 ER (3.06 ERA), 31 BB, 76 K, .299 BABIP (High-A) / 9 G (8 GS), 51.0 IP, 41 H, 24 R, 17 ER (3.00 ERA), 13 BB, 60 K, .274 BABIP (Double-A)
R.J. Gordon added a new changeup grip to his arsenal this season, and the addition of the pitch to his repertoire seems to be the main reason why the right-hander is enjoying a breakout season. The kick change grip was en vogue among Mets pitchers over last year’s off-season and spring training and Gordon has really mastered the pitch, throwing it for nearly a 40% whiff rate at the High-A level and having just as much success against Double-A batters. The pitch sits in the low-to-mid-80s and has sharp downward movement without the horizontal fade that traditional changeups have. The addition of this improved changeup has likewise by default improved his slider and curveball, as hitters need to be cognizant of the pitch in the back of their minds
Gordon has thrown roughly the same amount of innings at Double-A Binghamton as he did in High-A Brooklyn earlier in the year, and for the most part, the right-hander is posting even better numbers than he did in Coney Island. The most notable improvement is his walk rate; with the Cyclones, he had a 4.1 BB% in 67.2 innings, whereas with the Rumble Ponies, he currently as a 2.3% BB% in 51.0 innings.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of Gordon’s season goes and how he is perceived going forward. Prior to the addition of his new changeup, there was not much of a perception around Gordon and he seemed destined to be one of those classic “sum-is-greater-than-individual-parts” pitcher, where, regardless of the numbers he put up, there was a ceiling to his potential due to a lack of anything in his arsenal being much more than fringe-average-to-average offerings. With his changeup emerging as a solid above-average offering, and the rest of his arsenal improving as a result, how far are we moving from “solid farmhand” to “viable MLB-caliber prospect”?