Chip Baker enjoys a text chain with a friend whom he likes to call his “DJ bomb tracker.” Every time DJ Stewart hits another home run for the Mets, thumbs start flying and Baker’s phone dings with a simple message: “DJ hit one.”
Most of the time, Baker’s reply is “Yeah, I saw it.”
That’s because Baker, like many folks from Stewart’s baseball origin story, is paying close attention as a favorite seizes his chance in Queens. Baker recently retired as the director of baseball operations at Florida State, the university that helped Stewart evolve into a first-round pick by Baltimore in the 2015 MLB Draft, and says he’s “tickled to death with DJ’s success.
“Ultimate respect for him.”
It’s the same at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla, where Stewart was a thunderous power hitter on his high school baseball team and a fullback-slash-defensive end on the football team. He won two state championships in baseball at Bolles, the school Chipper Jones helped make famous, and was a state champ in football, too.
“Every day DJ showed up,” says Mike Boswell, the baseball coach at The Bolles School. “He was a very intense player. Every at-bat was, ‘You and me and you can’t get me out.’ Still today, I talk about his approach as a hitter, how phenomenal it was.
“It seemed like he accounted for two or three runs every day, he was so dynamic as an offensive player. He wasn’t the fastest guy, but he stole bases. When they wouldn’t pitch to him, he’d find a way to get to third base anyway. He hit a couple balls here that are just now landing.
“We have a highway past our right-field fence and there are big ol’ trees there. He hit a couple balls over the trees. They are big, big trees. They’d go over and into the road. He was easily hitting them 400, 420 feet as a high school player.”
Stewart, 29, has emerged as one of the most compelling reasons to watch the Mets as the regular season dwindles. With all the moves the Mets have made, Stewart has gotten the second-biggest opportunity of his career in the majors, appearing in 49 games entering Wednesday’s game in Miami. Over that span, he’s batted .264 with 11 home runs, 26 RBI and a .899 OPS.
He’s been especially good in his last 27 games, batting .303 with a 1.028 OPS and 10 homers. He is one shy of his MLB-best in home runs in a single season – he hit 12 in 100 games with the Orioles in 2021.
Stewart may be carving out a role for himself on the 2024 Mets. If not, other teams have certainly watched what he’s done this season.
“He has worked hard to get that chance,” Boswell says. “He’s producing. In Baltimore, I don’t know that he was always 100 percent healthy. But he’s healthy now and he feels good and, when he’s healthy, he can really play.”
Stewart, who was high school teammates with outfielder Austin Slater of the Giants and Hayden Hurst, a tight end with the Carolina Panthers of the NFL, originally was picked by the Yankees in the 28th round in 2012. But his heart was set on playing in college, Boswell says. “It really worked out for him.”
“DJ was a great find for Florida State,” adds Baker, who coached for the program for 18 years and spent 21 years as the baseball operations director. “He was a star as a freshman. You look at his numbers (.364 average, 1.029 OPS) and he produced.”
In 2014, he was the ACC Player of the Year. As a junior, Stewart batted .318 with a 1.094 OPS and 15 homers and 59 RBI in 64 games. He made several All-America teams that year. At one point in his college career, he reached base at least once in 65 consecutive games.
Stewart played for Mike Martin Sr., the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history, at Florida State and the two meshed well, Baker says, even if Martin Sr. is a little old school.
“When DJ played here, players were starting to do their own thing a little bit,” Baker says. “DJ was one of the first to get his own shoes, custom-made shoes. He had custom-made Nikes with his name and number on them. Coach Martin, he didn’t like players to be individual. It was ‘team.’ I went to him and said, ‘Boss, I know you know what you’re doing and there are guys with the shoes.’
“He pointed to DJ and he says, ‘I know exactly what you’re talking about. That young man, he says yes, sir, no, sir and he comes to practice and games and plays every day. I don’t care what he has on his feet. He busts his fanny every day.’”
During his career at Florida State, Stewart’s draft stock soared and the Orioles took him 25th overall. He made his MLB debut in September of 2018. Entering this season, Stewart had a career average of .213 with 26 homers in 195 MLB games over parts of five seasons.
He’s changing the narrative around his big-league career now, which is no surprise to those who knew him when he showed up at The Bolles School as “a manchild at 14 years old,” Boswell says.
“I knew there would be some special things happening for him.”
It’s been a treat to watch. When Stewart got some social media buzz going earlier this Mets season when he noted “diapers aren’t cheap” as one of the reasons he keeps persevering, both Boswell and Baker got a laugh.
But, Boswell adds, “He had that drive to be successful way before he had that baby.”
This summer, Stewart was supposed to be a member of the wedding party when Boswell’s son, Cody, got married. But he was playing for the Mets at the time. “My son totally understood,” Boswell says. “He was in DJ’s wedding. They were football and baseball teammates. They’re boys.”
Stewart’s ties to his beginnings run deep. When the Mariners played at Citi Field, he and Cal Raleigh, another Florida State product, exchanged jerseys and posed for a photo. When Baker announced his retirement a couple of months ago, Stewart was one of the first to reach out.
“Great person, all around,” Baker says.
At The Bolles School, Stewart’s No. 1 jersey was retired a few years ago. It’s not quite out of circulation yet, however. Stewart’s younger brother, Keegan, wears it.
“He’s a senior for us right now,” Boswell says. “After this year, No. 1 goes away from our school. We retired it, but he let his brother wear it. DJ is a very humble young man.
