Mack – Random Thoughts on The Draft

Good morning.

Regarding the draft –

-         I’ve always considered the draft a crap shoot past the second round. There usually is only so many ++ players left in this game. And 60 might be the limit this year.

-         I loved the Mets first pick (David Peterson) and have touted him for the entire mock draft season. I think of him as an SP 3-4 Sid Fernandez workhorse type that is quickly going to work his way through the pipeline. Yes, expect him in Brooklyn this year (if they decided to pitch him at all after a long junior year at college) and, like Justin Dunn, expect him to bypass Columbia and so straight to St. Lucie next spring. This could create a situation where he finishes the 2018 season in Binghamton, returns there for the start of the 2019 season, ends the 2019 season in Las Vegas, and could be on the Mets mound as part of the 2020 rotation, with the likes of Dunn, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, and either Marcos Molina, Jordan Humphries or Merandy Gonzalez.

-         I also love the 2^nd round pick, 3B Mark Vientos. I had him as the second third basemen to be chosen in the draft (in the first round) behind Jake Burger. It will take at least four year for the 17-year old to develop, but scouts say he’s got a young Manny Machado written all over him. I’m sure he would only be GCL-Mets bound if he is signed. Caution: The Mets would lose this bonus money if Vientos doesn’t sign.

-         The Mets pick in the 3^rd round, Stanford LF Quinn Brody is another player I had doubts if he would be around this long. I had him as the 32^nd outfield in the draft, just behind Kier Meredith and just ahead of Taylor Allum.

-         Now, past this, I see a bunch of college seniors being drafted, which tells me one thing… Sandy and Company is trying to save slot money so he can go after one of the prime cut high school players that have verbally committed to premier colleges and talk them into second or third round money that could be invested now and set them up for the rest of their lives.

o   Three names stand out here as possibilities –

§  RHP AJ Labas – Trinity Christian Academy (FL) – Committed to North Florida. Labas seems to me to be the one guy the Mets sign out of this ‘list of 3’, though I can’t figure out the slot money changes this season. Anybody out there feel free to help me out here…

§  RHP CJ Van Eyk – Steinbrenner (I’m not making this up) HS (FL) – I had Van Eyk as the 33^rd top righty in the draft, just behind Steve Jennings and just ahead of Jake Thompson.

§  LHP Jack Eder – Calgary Christian HS – The 6-4 lefty is heavily committed to Vanderbilt, but, what the hell, draft him in the 34^th round and take a shot. I don’t see money being the motivation here because Eder comes from a wealthy family, but, we’ll see. I had him as the 9^th left hander in the draft, just after Trevor Rogers, and ahead of Zak Lowther.

-         Past this, there are a couple of intriguing names –

o   RHP Joe Cavallaro – The 6-5 21/yrs .old out of USF who has pitched 198 innings in three seasons, striking out 193. Has a 3-year WHIP of 1.26 but improved this year to 1.13.

o   LHP Aaron Ford – The 6-3 22-yr old out of Tennessee Wesleyan went 6-3, 1.94, 74-IP, 101-K this season.

Overall, it’s too early to tell, but, if you sign the top three picks, and one of the three high school, high ceiling, players I broke out above. I would be thrilled to fill in the rest of the team with any of the others, plus graduates from the two DSL teams of last year.