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| Trea Turner should be high on the player board for the Mets |
June's 2014 amateur player draft. Both high schoolers Jacob Gatewood and Nick Gordon along with collegiate shortstop Trea Turner were primed to go between picks #2 and #9, leaving the Mets with a number of good picks, but no attractive infielder.
The rise of the high school pitchers and the solidification of the college hurlers early this season have led all three to become realistic options for the New York Mets as the landscape stands right now.
Of course, if Trea Turner rattles off a 16-for-20 weekend with power and a few steals, and he's back to a #5 pick. That is how quickly the draft topography changes and how much a player's season can effect who selects him in June.
Here's what happened in the past couple weeks:
- HS LHP Brady Aiken continues his meteoric rise this spring and now has more mock drafts taking him #1 than mocks that do not.
- Aaron Nola dominates everyone he faces and silences those who doubt his "stuff". He is putting up the numbers and while he lacks the velocity or "wow" factors that the Koleks and the Rodons of the draft possess, he has been the best collegiate pitcher and will be the quickest to the majors. Even with a few bad starts, he willl go within the top 8.
- High schoolers remind scouts just how good this draft is…Sean Reid-Foley, Alex Jackson, Aiken, Kolek, and possibly RHP Touki Toussaint look like top 10 picks. Any team interested specifically in infield talent could look to youngsters Jacob Gatewood and Nick Gordon as well. The high schoolers have ascended the board. What has made it a crunch at the top, though, is that…
- The college guys have done well too. East Carolina RHP Jeff Hoffman, a pitcher who started the season with a few tough starts, turned it back on and should go by the Cubs pick at #4. Tyler Beede will be a top 10 pick. Carlos Rodon, who looks human in the first half of the collegiate season, still should be the #1 or #2 pick.
I see all of this as good news for the Mets. Very good news. This draft is loaded and it will be very difficult to pick a bad player at #10. I have had my heart set on NC State shortstop Trea Turner ever since I read the first report on the 2014 draft from Matt Garrioch months ago. For most of the time between then and now, he has been merely a "if only" and never a reality. Despite playing solid baseball this year and still possessing one of the best set of tools in the draft, a lot of mocks have him down in the 9-15 range. Trea Turner is now a possibility for Mets fans. If any of the teams above want a middle infielder, I see only Gordon as the guy who could get taken before him. A lot can happen between then and now and the Mets might like a player like Bradley Zimmer, Michael Gettys, or Kyle Freeland better anyway. However, I like that it is looking like the Mets will at least have the option to add a catalyst-type shortstop for the mid-system after June's draft if they choose to go that direction.
Stay tuned.
Am I correct in that in we have not forfeited any draft picks? Grandy was out only Type A pick and that was allowed as we finished last season with the 10th worst record.
ReplyDeleteOne thing. What's Sandy and Co. Track record of MLB drafts with the NYM? My sense is that it has been middle of the road. I know it all needs more time to play but....
ReplyDeleterichy restre (signed in using Hotmail)
ReplyDeleteHope for the best available!!! but Turner, Zimmer and Freeland sounds great to me
Bob -
ReplyDeleteThe Mets don't have a 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft and their second pick will be at #85
I will comment on your second question in my Morning Report
It's a privilege to make the morning report Mack!
ReplyDelete"What's Sandy and Co. Track record of MLB drafts with the NYM? My sense is that it has been middle of the road. I know it all needs more time to play but…."
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good question and one that is difficult to answer. However, we do have three years worth of data and analysis now to look at and I'll be bold and make a prediction:
The 2011 and 2013 drafts were very good. The 2012 draft, especially at the top, could have and should have been much better.
2011 gave us a white hot Brandon Nimmo, a guy looking like a true top 50 prospect in baseball, but the true strength of 2011, a draft most fans hated after it happened, came in the later rounds and especially on the pitching side of things, resulting in:
Michael Fulmer
Jack Leathersich
Cory Mazzoni
Tyler Pill
Logan Verrett
Robert Gsellman (hurt now but man has he looked good over the past year and a half)
John Gant
Chase Bradford
The hitting side had a couple nice picks (Taijeron, Muno, Evans, Lawley) to go along with Nimmo but the strength of this draft was pitching and, sure, none of those guys look like front-line aces but a lot of them should either be very good relievers, solid back-end rotation guys, or, most importantly, great trade bait.
Let's look at 2012:
Cecchini was a bad pick. I looked at this earlier in the week and there was way too much talent in the 2012 draft to take this guy. Plawecki was a nice pick and should be good but not at the expense of missing out on someone like McCullers. The other really good picks in that draft, again, come in the form of right handed pitchers:
Robert Whalen- 12th round
Matt Bowman- 13th round
Chris Flexen- 14th round
(talk about three great late picks)
Vanderheiden - 19th round- nice looking reliever
The top of this draft (Reynolds, Koch, Kaupe, Stankewicz (who didn't sign) Welch and Cecchini) looks very very weak in a deep and talented draft pool. Amazing but Robert Whalen, the 12th round pick, might end up being our best selection that year. Plawecki should be, but Whalen's been my system sleeper for a long time.
2013 is harder to gauge as we only have a couple months of evaluation but again i don't have many positive strong feelings about the senior signings in the early rounds. I think those rounds should be used for more impact talent. However, a lot of good pitching here again:
- Casey Meisner
- Andrew Church
- Ricky Knapp
- Kevin McGowan (maybe)
…but this draft was far, far different from '11 and '12.
What I see in '13 was the same (kinda annoying) affinity for low-risk, no-impact college juniors and seniors (probably to save money to use later, which they did) in players like Oberste, Mazzili, and King (these guys might be good, but I just don't see much impact talent here) but they also took a number of huge risks both early and mid-round and some of those picks look great:
- Ivan Wilson
- Champ Stuart
- Meisner and Church also fall into here
then grabbed two really good looking shortstops in the mid rounds:
Jeff McNeil, who is killing it in PSL and
Luis Guillorme, a defensive whiz who is probably the best defensive infielder in the entire system…already. Including Tejada.
And then there's Smith, who I think has a real chance to be a star in this league. Not kinda good, acceptable…a true star in the MLB.
I think I'm just going to write an article on the matter…practically just gave you one haha. But does that answer the question?
100%. Enjoyed it! Spoken like a real deal Holyfield Mets fan .
ReplyDelete