The New York Mets certainly have proper meme literacy.
New York made a big move ahead of Thursday’s MLB trade deadline, acquiring former All-Star outfielder Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles. The Mets sent three righty pitching prospects (Ramon Gomez, Chandler Marsh and Anthony Nunez) to Baltimore in return.
Shortly after the news broke, the Mets officially announced the Mullins trade on their X page. In the post, the Mets had the perfect caption of, “Can’t escape him.”
Can't escape him
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 31, 2025
We have acquired OF Cedric Mullins from Baltimore in exchange for RHP Raimon Gomez, RHP Chandler Marsh, and RHP Anthony Nunez.
Welcome to Queens, Cedric! pic.twitter.com/u0x6OhCLd9
That is a reference to a popular meme in the baseball world. An Internet streamer named AJ Rodriguez (who goes by the screen name of Little-Man) coined the phrase in a popular viral video from 2021. While reacting to Mullins make big play after big play in the “MLB: The Show” video game, Rodriguez famously quipped, “That’s Cedric Mullins again! It’s Cedric Mullins! Dude, I can’t escape him! I can’t escape him!”
The meme has since taken on a life of its own and has become inextricably linked to Mullins. In 2023, Mullins and Rodriguez even met before an Orioles game.
Guys. I think we’re best friends now pic.twitter.com/dVyMnIQngd
— A.J Rodriguez (@littlemann17) May 15, 2023
At 30 years old, Mullins is a lefty hitter who plays in center field. He was an All-Star in 2021 and won a Silver Slugger Award that year as well. This season for Baltimore, Mullins had been batting just .229 (albeit with 15 homers, 49 RBIs, and 14 stolen bases through 91 games).
Mullins will become a free agent after the season but should be able to make an impact for the Mets in the meantime. He figures to be a sizable upgrade over their current center field platoon of Jeff McNeil and Tyrone Taylor. Now the 62-47 Mets will be hoping that, between Mullins and the other major trade acquisitions they made this week, their NL rivals will not be able to escape them.
