Pete Crow-Armstrong is in his first MLB spring training - he was the Mets' first-round pick in last year's MLB First-Year Player Draft.
The 18-year-old is drinking it all in.
"It's been great so far," Crow-Armstrong said. "Obviously, an unexpected turn of events a year ago. I don't know if I pictured myself here. I'm super fortunate that I am.
"Just being around the amount of experience and stories and all of the stuff that I can learn from, it's nice just to be here and kind of take a step back, soak it all in, and get after it with all of these incredible players. And I've met some really great people, so I'm super, super lucky and super happy to be here."
Crow-Armstrong was drafted as an outfielder, and has spent much of his time in Port St. Lucie talking with some of the veterans that are manning the outfield with him.
"Kevin Pillar, Albert Almora, Mallex Smith, they've all been super open to having conversations with me about whatever it is. I found myself talking to them about their past experiences playing, what mutual connections we have, on the field stuff that ultimately is gonna make me better. Those three guys specifically, the major league experience that they've had and their defensive capabilities are something that I think anybody can take a look at and learn something from. They've been super generous and obviously, they're incredible people to talk to about the game and the defensive part of the game, too," he said.
Crow-Armstrong also spent some time with Dominic Smith in the offseason - their high schools are just 19 miles away from each other in southern California.
"He was a guy that I was looking forward to meeting out here, and when he reached out, I was super exciting that I got to just go swinging with him - that was great," Crow-Armstrong said. "The time I've spent around him here, too, has been unbelievable as well... That's a great dude right there, and I'm really lucky to have gotten a little bit of a head start with him back in L.A."
With no minor league season last year, Crow-Armstrong is jumping right to a major league camp from high school - it's unorthodox, but surely not a bad jump from high school to spring training.
He was hitting .514 in his senior year before the season was cut short due to the pandemic, and hasn't played a game in over a year. So it's safe to say the youngster has been in need of baseball.
"The anticipation was always there since June, but once it got closer to it being baseball season, I started getting that itch, that feeling where I wanted to really get out here really badly," he said. "I got the call to come here, and it became even more exciting and I became a little more anxious, but grateful and happy. Being out here, I mean, it's been way better than I even expected. I don't know what I came in here thinking. But in the last week, I've learned a lot more than I've learned in the last year."
Crow-Armstrong said he isn't expecting to make the team, but he's gonna grind it out anyway.
"I just hope I make a good impression on people," he said. "I'm just thinking about getting along with everybody and doing this together, because the fact that I have no intentions of making a big league spot this year, I'm just trying to help out as much as I can...
"I play because I love it, and I play because I want to be really, really great at this sport."