The son of Brian Morabito, who played baseball for James Madison University when he attended the school in the late-80s and early-90s, and the nephew of John Morabito, who played baseball at Wake Forest University and was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 1987, playing professionally for a year, Nick Morabito took to baseball like a fish to water. He played little league in and around Fairfax County in Virginia and Washington D.C., eventually attending Gonzaga College High School, a private Catholic
college-prep school in D.C. The outfielder was not highly scouted or on many radars coming into high school, but by the end of his junior year in 2021, scouts were becoming more and more plentiful at Eagles baseball games. In 2022, he turned himself into a true draft prospect by hitting .545 with 10 doubles, 6 triples, 12 home runs, and 52 stolen bases, helping lead his team the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference and D.C. State Athletic Association titles and winning the Gatorade Player of the Year Award (Washington D.C.).
Overview
Name: Nick Morabito
Position: OF
Born: 05/07/2003 (Age 23 season in 2026)
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 185 lbs.
Bats/Throws: R/R
Acquired: 2022 MLB Draft, 2nd Round, Compensation (Gonzaga College High School, Washington, DC).
2025 Stats: 118 G, 436 AB, .273/.348/.385, 119 H, 27 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 47 BB, 115 K, 49/60 SB, .355 BABIP (Double-A)
Morabito had a commitment to Virginia Tech, but when the Mets selected him in the 2nd round of the 2022 as compensation for Noah Syndergaard signing with the Los Angeles Angels and offered him a cool million dollars, the speedy outfielder decided to put college on hold. Going overslot to sign Morabito, dipping into their bonus pool for an additional $125,000 over the MLB-recommended slot value of $873,300, puzzled many at the time, and it did not help when the 19-year-old had a poor professional debut with the FCL Mets at the end of their season, in terms of both his numbers and how he looked on the field. The outfielder changed the narrative when he returned to the field for the 2023 season, hitting .324/.437/.432 in 30 games with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run, 11 steals, and 20 walks to 22 strikeouts. He was promoted to Single-A St. Lucie in August and finished the season with them, hitting .286/.403/.378 in 27 games with 4 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 10 stolen bases, and 14 walks to 27 strikeouts. All in all, the 20-year-old hit .306/.421/.407 in 57 games combines, with 9 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 21 stolen bases in 25 attempts, and drew 34 walks to 49 strikeouts, just missing the 2024 Amazin’ Avenue Top 25 Mets Prospects list, garnering one 26th place vote.
Morabito remained in St. Lucie to start the 2024 season, and what a start it was. The 21-year-old center fielder appeared in 24 games for the St. Lucie Mets and hit an impressive .397/.530/.513 with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run, 11 stolen bases in 15 attempts, and 18 walks to 18 strikeouts, forcing a promotion to High-A Brooklyn in early May. He remained in Coney Island for the rest of the season, and while he did slow down a bit, it was more a case of being unable to maintain such a torrid pace rather than looking overmatched. In 95 games, he hit .294/.373/.374 with 15 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs, 48 stolen bases in 59 attempts, and 42 walks to 80 strikeouts, sitting the Cyclones single-season franchise record for hits (110) and stolen bases. At both Single- and High-A combined, he hit .312/.403/.398 on the year, with 17 doubles, 5 triples, 4 home runs, 59 stolen bases in 74 attempts, and 60 walks to 98 strikeouts, earning him Organizational Player of the Year 2024 honors. Among all full-season minor league players, Morabito ranked 7th in stolen bases and 13th among qualifiers in batting average. Among all qualified Mets minor leaguers, he led the system in batting average, on-base percentage, and stolen bases. Morabito became the first Mets minor leaguer to hit .300 with at least 50 stolen bases since the late, great Brian Cole, who accomplished the feat in both twice, in 1999 and 2000.
Ranked 19 on Amazin’ Avenue’s 2025 Top 25 Mets Prospect List, Morabito began the 2025 season with Double-A Binghamton and remained there for the entire season. Appearing in 118 games for them, he hit .273/.348/.385 with 27 doubles, 2 triples, 6 home runs, 49 stolen bases in 60 attempts, and drew 47 walks to 115 strikeouts. After the season ended, the organization sent him to the Arizona Fall League, where he appeared in 17 games for the Scottsdale Scorpions and hit .362/.450/.464 in 69 at-bats with 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 16 stolen bases in 19 attempts, and drew 10 walks to 15 strikeouts.
The 5’11”, 185-pound Morabito is solid and thick, yet quick-twitch speedy and athletic. Throughout the 2025 season with Binghamton, Morabito stood square at the plate with his hands held at his eyes and the bat head angled behind him at 1:00, but during the Arizona Fall League, he closed up a bit in an effort to be in a proper hitting position earlier. While it is still extremely minimal, Morabito also began utilizing a slight leg lift in the Arizona Fall League, as opposed to the toe tap he used throughout his season in Binghamton and prior. Even with the slight leg lift, his load and weight shift are still minimal and his mechanics at the plate have very little wasted movement.
He is quick and direct to the ball, but Morabito is a better low-ball hitter, often getting busted upstairs. He did not strike out too much in totality in 2024 in Single- and High-A, but his strikeout rate jumped a bit in 2025, from 18.6% to 23.4% against more advanced Double-A pitchers while his Contact% dipped from a 82.4% to a 78.8%. His propensity for low balls also results in a high ground ball rate; in 2025, he posted a 53.9% groundball rate, and he averaged a 51.5% rate in the prior two seasons combined. The outfielder is capable of hitting the ball hard, averaging solid average exit velocities, but he hamstrings himself by pounding the ball on the ground more often than not, going back up-the-middle or to the opposite field more than he pulls the ball, or both combined. Indeed, a well-struck groundball back up the originator or into left has become his calling card. He has developed reverse platoon splits because of this, hitting .293/.364/.419 against right-handers and .206/.296/.275 in 2025 and similarly considerable differences in years prior as well.
Speed is Morabito’s best tool, and his ability to leg out groundballs has kept his minor league batting average and BABIP inflated. A true plus runner, he has posted 90th percentile outcomes in various speed-quantifying metrics since being drafted. He is pesky on the base paths, taking extra bases when possible, and has begun to come along as a base stealer, not just posting high volumes but better success-to-failure ratios as well.
A shortstop in high school, Morabito was drafted as an outfielder and has not played anywhere in the infield save a handful of games where he manned second base in 2023. While he has some experience in left and right fields, the overwhelming majority of his time in the outfield has come in center, where his plus speed is a major boon. While his 5’11”, 185-pound frame is not graceful, per se, Morabito can cover a lot of ground and possesses above-average centerfield range. He does not always look comfortable or confident in himself reading the ball off the bat and either moving in or back on balls headed for him, but thanks to his speed, he can correct any initial mistakes or hesitancy with “brute speed”. His arm is fringe-average for the position, but his glove is sure, committing a single error- while playing left field- in all of 2025.
2026 Mets Top 25 Prospect List
16) R.J. Gordon
17) Chris Suero
18) Dylan Ross
19) Ryan Lambert
20) Antonio Jimenez
21) Edward Lantigua
22) Eli Serrano III
23) Randy Guzman
24) Daiverson Gutierrez
25) Boston Baro
