Jared Young's Bat Quality Is Screaming — The Mets Have a Live One
Jared Young is barreling everything he touches right now, and almost nobody owns him. At 1% rostered with an 83.3% hard-hit rate and 99.2 mph exit velocity over the last two weeks, the Mets' 1B/OF is producing the kind of contact quality that demands attention on your watchlist.
The Signal: Walk Rate Surge + Elite Contact
Young's 7-day walk rate has jumped to 16.7%, up from 11.9% over the trailing 30 days. That's not a guy getting lucky — that's a hitter who is seeing the ball better and refusing to chase. Pair that discipline with a .357 wOBA over the last seven days and a .364 wOBA over 14 days, and the profile is clear: he's getting on base at a strong clip while making premium contact when he does swing.
The strikeout rate tells the same story. He's sitting at 16.7% K-rate over 7 days, 15.8% over 14, and 14.9% over 30. The discipline has been consistent across every window — this isn't a hot streak built on BABIP luck.
The Statcast Case: This Contact Is Real
An 83.3% hard-hit rate is absurd. Full stop. His exit velocity of 99.2 mph over the last 14 days backs that up — this isn't soft-contact bloops finding holes. The 30-day hard-hit rate sits at 76.2% with a 98.6 mph EV, meaning the recent surge in contact quality represents an improvement on an already-elite baseline. The data is clear: when Young puts the bat on the ball, he's punishing it.
His 30-day .397 wOBA is the highest across all windows, boosted by the lone homer and 3 stolen bases in that stretch. The power hasn't fully shown up in the most recent 7-day window (0 HR), but with contact this hard, the home runs are coming. You don't sustain 99.2 mph exit velocity without the ball eventually clearing fences.
Playing Time and Opportunity
Young logged 24 plate appearances over the last seven days — consistent, everyday playing time. That's the piece that often holds back fringe roster players, and right now he's getting the at-bats. Across 38 PA over 14 days, the sample size is solid enough to trust the underlying skill indicators.
The Athletic flagged Young as a waiver target back in mid-June, noting the opportunity at first base for the Mets. That was two months ago, and he's still sitting at 1% rostered. The fantasy world has largely looked away. WaiverScout hasn't.
WaiverScout's Tracking History
We first flagged Young as a Watch on June 1st when he was at 0% rostered. The signal faded and we downgraded him multiple times through late June and July. But we came back with a Watch classification on July 16th, and now the numbers are stronger than they were at any previous checkpoint. The walk rate is up, the hard-hit data is elite, and the playing time is steady. This is the strongest signal Young has produced since WaiverScout started tracking him.
The Competition
If you're looking at first base or corner outfield help on the wire, you're probably also considering Tyler Soderstrom, Ryan O'Hearn, or Kyle Stowers. Young's contact quality metrics rival or exceed what those players offer, and at 1% ownership, the cost is zero.
Verdict: Watch
Add Jared Young to your watchlist immediately. The 83.3% hard-hit rate, 99.2 mph exit velocity, and rising walk rate represent a legitimate skills-based surge, not noise. He's not a must-add yet — the power hasn't fully materialized and we want to see this playing time hold through another week. But at 1% rostered, this is the exact window where alert managers position themselves before the breakout. The numbers back it up. Don't sleep on this one.