Mets prospect A.J. Ewing plays the guitar to take his mind off the game
Mets prospect A.J. Ewing playing a Carvin D 135 electric guitar. Credit: Tom Hawkinson
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A.J. Ewing is a self-described “fiery dude that plays with a lot of passion.”
That fire has allowed the 21-year-old outfielder/second baseman to solidify himself as one of the Mets’ top farmhands.
Ewing, whom the Mets selected out of Springboro High School (Ohio) in the fourth round of the 2023 MLB Draft, is the organization’s No. 4 prospect and the No. 97 prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com.
But through the grind of a minor-league season — Ewing will start this one with Double-A Binghamton — every player needs something away from the field. For Ewing, it’s the guitar.
“It’s just something that kind of takes your mind off the baseball thing and gives me something to do when I’m not at the field,” he told Newsday.
Ewing has played the guitar since he was 9, noting that he’s been “off and on with it” but has played consistently of late.
His original influence? Tom Hawkinson, his stepfather.
Mets top prospect A.J. Ewing pictured with his mom Cindy Hawkinson and his stepdad Tom Hawkinson, who plays in a Beatles tribute band. Credit: Tom Hawkinson
For the last 23 years, Hawkinson has played the role of John Lennon in “The Sweet Beats,” a Beatles tribute band that has played more than 500 paid performances in North America. Hawkinson married Ewing’s mother, Cindy, when Ewing was 5 and has been a custodial parent of his since.
Hawkinson said Ewing had “tremendous artistic talent” as a kid, including being proficient at origami, and that they wanted to get him into other things besides athletics. So they bought him a three-quarter-scale guitar, which has a 20-inch scale from the bridge to the nut, shorter than the typical 25-inch scale for a regular guitar.
“On his own, organically, without me pushing him, he started taking greater interest in the instrument,” Hawkinson said. “So I started teaching him all sorts of things, lots of songs, chord positions and scales and stuff like that. He started doing really well. I was very impressed with the kid.
“My wife and I go to bed [one] night, middle of the night, and I hear something. I hear him down at his part of the house playing the guitar on his own. I hear that coming through the wall, so I know that this is something he really likes.”
Ewing moved up from there, first receiving a Taylor 210 guitar from Hawkinson and then a Taylor 410 guitar, which he currently has in Florida.
“He comes back here in the offseason and we put music on, we play along with the records,” Hawkinson said. “He plays a song for me, I play a song for him.”
Said Ewing: “[Hawkinson] got me into it. He taught me some of the basic stuff, but I kind of started doing my own thing with learning because he just only wanted me to play Beatles stuff. And, like, ‘All right, I’m trying to branch out a little bit.’ ”
So what does he like playing?
“It goes all over the place,” Ewing said. “Some Justin Bieber in there. I kind of like some metal stuff, too.”
He often will play for his minor-league roommates — such as No. 6 Mets prospect Jacob Reimer — and they seem to like it.
“Yeah, I think they do,” said Ewing, who does not perform publicly. “I mean, they like hearing it every once a while. I think sometimes I bug them, like, ‘Yo, I just learned this, listen to this.’ ”
No. 2 Mets prospect Carson Benge, who is competing to make the Opening Day roster, also plays the guitar, something he has done for about four years. He joked that Ewing plays “really slow, bad songs.”
“He swears he’s better than me,” Benge said. “But it’s not even close.”
The who’s-a-better-guitarist debate aside, Benge loves being around Ewing.
“He’s just A.J.,” Benge said. “I don’t even know how to explain him, but energy is always there. Good teammate, great teammate. Always bouncing off the walls. Can get a little annoying sometimes, but I love him, and he’s a great player. Great human.”
When Ewing’s house was built in 2014, Hawkinson made sure a custom hitting room was included so Ewing could practice around the clock. Hawkinson said Ewing’s biological father, Joseph, has been instrumental with his baseball career.
When Jacob deGrom left the Mets for the Rangers, the Mets received a 2023 compensatory draft pick: the No. 134 selection, which they used to pick Ewing.
Ewing played on three levels in 2025 — Single-A St. Lucie, High-A Brooklyn and Double-A — and batted .315/.401/.429 with three homers, 26 doubles, 10 triples, 55 RBIs and 70 stolen bases.
He was in big-league camp with the Mets earlier in spring training and shined in 10 games, posting a .381/.423/.667 slash line with a homer, six RBIs and four stolen bases.
“It was a great experience,” Ewing said. “I got to play a lot more games than I imagined going into it and I learned a lot, and getting at-bats off those high-level guys helped me a lot.”
The guitar will travel with him to Binghamton, and — one day, he hopes — Syracuse and Flushing.
“I hope I never stop playing the guitar,” Ewing said. “I think it’s a great thing to get my mind off the game.”
Notes & quotes: Mets third baseman Bo Bichette played six innings at shortstop, where he’s played 716 career games, in Friday’s 4-3 loss to St. Louis. “He didn’t get tested, but it was just good to get him back there for a game,” Carlos Mendoza said . . . Freddy Peralta pitched in a minor-league game Friday so he could avoid facing the Cardinals, whom the Mets play in the second regular-season series . . . Mendoza said Francisco Alvarez (back tightness) was scheduled to take swings Friday and should be in the lineup Saturday if everything goes well . . . Nolan McLean probably will start the third game of the season against Pittsburgh, Mendoza said. It’s to be determined who starts the second . . . Righthander Austin Warren was optioned to Triple-A, and righthanders Kevin Herget and Robert Stock have been reassigned to minor-league camp.
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
