4/3/16

Mack’s Sunday Draft Update - 4-3-16 – Jason Groome, Wil Benson, Nick Senzel, Bobby Dalbec, Ryan Scott




Good morning.

We return this morning to our seasonal weekly post where we talk about nothing but the upcoming draft, signings of International prospects, and where I or some other pundits have the Mets possibly drafting this upcoming June.

But first, a few Saturday highlights...


    #12 Kentucky was led by senior pitcher Dustin Beggs seventh straight win this season (2.74) in a 5-4 win against Tennessee. 3B Nick Senzel went 2-4, 1-R, double, 2-RBI for Tennessee.


#12 ranked Mississippi State ace pitcher Austin Sexton pitched a four hit complete game and allowed zippon earned runs against Ole Miss,,, final score 6-2. This was preceded on Friday with a 4-hit, 3-1 victory thrown by Dakota Hudson for the Bulldogs on Friday night.


The stars of the 8-5 drubbing Auburn put on LSU came from two of the 2016 potential prospect bats in baseball right now... Catcher Blake Logan, who had four RBIs, (.273), and CF Anfernee 'Penny' Greer, who scored three times (3-3, RBI, .471).



Averaging The Mock Drafts

We have done this for the past 10 years.

We gather up all the mock drafts we can find, average the rankings of the players on the list, and then come up with a top list based on combining all the information supplied.

Our first mock compilation includes seven mock drafts and the top 18 ranked players are:

  1.     LHP           Jason Groome    Barnegat HS (NJ)
  2.     LHP           A.J. Puk              Florida
  3.     OF              Corey Ray           Louisville
  4.     RHP           Riley Pint           St.Thomas Aquinas HS (KS)
  5.     RHP           Alec Hansen       Oklahoma
  6.     OF              Kyle Lewis          Mercer
  7.     SS              Delvin Perez       Intl Baseball Academy (PR)
  8.     OF              Buddy Reed        Florida
  9.     OF              Blake Rutherford   Charminade HS (CA)
 10. RHP           Connor Jones     Virginia 
 11.  RHP          Jordan Sheffield   Vanderbilt
 12.  2B-IF        Nick Senzel         Tennessee
 13.  OF             Mickey Moniak  La Costa Canyon HS (CA)
 14.  RHP          Logan Shore       Florida
 15.  OF             Bryan Reynolds   Vanderbilt
 16.   LHP         Matt Krook         Oregon
 17.  3B-P         Josh Lowe           Pope H.S. (GA)
 18.  OF             Nick Banks         Texas A&M
As we all know, the Mets will pick at the 19th pick and, according to this mock compilation, is:

OF Will Benson           Westminster Schools HS (GA)

Benson is a 6-6, 220-LB outfield/first baseman with + power and surprising speed for his size. He also projects as a possible candidate for right field.


His junior year at Westminster was particularly impressive: .369/.486/.750, 6-HR, 10-doubles, 10-K, 18-BB

 Prospect Pipeline has the following profile on him –

          Easy body comp to Jason Heyward, large, strong and athletic.
Very coordinated for age/size.
High motor, plays the right way, attitude is contagious, shows leadership skills.
Moves well in the outfield, strong arm. 
Agile around the bag at first.
Hands low at the plate, feet slightly wider than shoulder length.
Slight leg kick.
Gets bat through the zone with excellent bat speed.
Pull side approach, ambushes balls on the inner half, not as fluid on the outer half and on off-speed where he feels for the ball a bit.
Approach will need to be refined on outer half.

Mack – Benson sounds like a nice pick, but I think the Mets have to look past the ‘best player available’ theory this time and start planning on a future replacement for David Wright at third base.

Moreover, I think that pick should be a college third baseman that can be projected in a similar way Michael Conforto was during his first two years in the Mets system
.
Baseball America ranks the top 10 third baseman as follows -

1.     Nick Senzel    Tennessee
2.     Josh Lowe      Pope HS (GA)
3.     Joe Rizzo        Oakton HS (VA)
4.     Carter Kieboom      Walton HS (GA)
5.     Will Craig      Wake Forrest
6.     Bo Bichette    Lakewood HS (FL)
7.     Ulysses Cantu   Boswell HS (TX)
8.     Bobby Dalbec          Arizona
9.     Daniel Bakst    Poly Prep County Day (NY)
10.   Cole Stobbe    Millard West High (NE)

I particularly like Bobby Dalbec.

Dalbec is a 6-4, .220, R/R, third baseman completing his junior year for Arizona hitting .232, .451-slugging, .385-OBP, with 4-HR, 17-RBI, and 4-doubles in 82 official at-bats. He’s also walked 19 times and only struck out 29, He’s made one error for a .984 fielding percentage.

The Baseball Draft Report said this about Dalbec on 3-25-16
          11 – Seattle Mariners – Arizona 3B Bobby Dalbec - 


Dalbec deserves a lot of credit for battling back from a slow start to now have a more than respectable 2016 overall batting line. He also deserves respect for being one of the realest 2016 MLB Draft prospects out there. What you see is what you get with Dalbec: massive power, lots of whiffs, and a fair amount of walks. His arm and athleticism help make up for a lack of easy lateral quickness at the hot corner, so sticking at third should remain an option for the foreseeable future. The older, popular, and common comp for him has been Troy Glaus; on the flip side, I’ve heard Chris Dominguez as a possible outcome. The Glaus ship appears to have sailed, so something in between that and Dominguez would be a fine professional result.


Lastly, the top 10 college batters (with over 50 at-bats) on 3-30-16 were:

1.     OF Ryan Scott        Ark-Little Rock            .489/.570/.844/1.415
2.     SS Nick Mascelli     Wagner                         .486/.519/.639/1.157
3.     OF Adam Groesbeck    Air Force                .486/.554/.700/1.254
4.     1B Jameson Fisher    Southern Louisiana  .481/.591/.877/1.467
5.     OF Ryan Jantsch    North Carolina A&T   .471/.509/.725/1.235
6.     OF Keston Hiura    UC Irvine                     .468/.550/.797/1.347
7.     3B  Danny Hudzina    Western Kentucky   .465/.504/.594/1.098
8.     3B  Elliot Barzilli    TCU                             .465/.505/.756/1.261
9.     OF Tanner Gardner    Texas Tech              .463/.557/.600/1.157
10.   OF Kyle Lewis       Mercer                          .457/.582/.904/1.486

And another lastly...


 Perfect Game's   top 10 high school prospects -

1.       LHP Jason Groome       Barnegat HS (NJ)
2.       RHP  Riley Pint           St. Thomas Aquinas HS (KS)
3.       OF    Blake Rutherford        Charmanade College Prep (CA)
4.       3B-P    Josh Lowe        Pope HS (GA)
5.       RHP    Ian Anderson            Shendennehoa (NY)
6.       RHP    Matt Manning           Sheldon HS (CA)
7,       OF      Mickey Moniak           La Costa Canyon HS (CA)
8.       1B     Alex Kirilloff               Plum HS (PA)
9.       RHP    Reggie Lawson          Victor Valley HS (CA)

10.     SS     Delvin Perez                Intl Baseball Academy (PR)          



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I still would have to go with the best player available with pick #19. I believe the Mets also have a pick in the low 30s. I would take a 3b like Craig or Dalbec there. I think you're giving up to much to pick one of those two at #19.
Maybe Senzel is still around at #19 and the best available is a college 3b.

Tom Brennan said...

Good to start to get to know some names out there. I like the"massive power" of Dalbec...b6t his K rate is scary. I'd lean towards Benson and make him a 3B, but realize his development time could be long.

Maybe Wilmer or Cecchini show enough this year to be ready to be a high caliber 3B soon. Nobody else in the Mets minors jumps out at me right now for starting 3B post-Wright in this World Series caliber era.

Tom Brennan said...

Weather wise for tonite, Mets lucky it is in KC. Looks like it will be warm and kind of windy. In NY, it is cold and ferociously windy, Mack.

Stubby said...

Based on nothing at all, I have a feeling the Mets will go pitcher with their first pick. That's how the current squad was built. Even though two of the Fab Five were trade acquisitions, you have to remember that they thinned the organizational pitching depth considerably getting players for the stretch run. And, even if the Mets are willing to spend the money necessary to retain what they have, odds are at least 2 of them will want to swim in the free agent waters. Ideally, you want a constant feeder system of live arms when you build on pitching.

Put another way, a college 3B makes a lot of sense. Ergo, the Mets won't do it...at least not with their top pick. Or maybe Josh Lowe drops to #19 (though I actually think he'll go higher, not lower) and we'll draft a guy who could be either.

Fangraphs projected Rosario as a third baseman, so I don't see the Mets reaching for a Wright replacement. I would think Dalbec would still be available when we get to the sandwich pick we got for Murphy, if not even later.

Ernest Dove said...

Best........player..........available. ...........
Just acquire talent and go from there ;)

Mack Ade said...

Ernest -

they will go 'best player available on their draft board'...

I've already added three more mocks for next Sunday and will have the 'averaged' first two Mets picks

BTW all - I LOVE Dalbec also