Tom Brennan - DRAFT DUDS 2015-17
In previous DRAFT DUDS articles, I covered the top 10 draft rounds' picks for each of the years 2008 thru 2014, identifying draft DUDS (what were the Mets thinking picking those guys) and DUDES (smart picks, whether they panned out). Guys I identified as DUDS were far less a critique of the selected ballplayers and far more a criticism of those doing the picking.
In draft years 2015-17, all covered in this article, I went less detailed on the players, since if I am critical, these newbies don't need it. So here goes:
2015 - an odd draft year where almost all players drafted in round 21-40 by the Mets went unsigned. Regardless of performance and injuries to date, I liked most of the Mets' top 10 picks this time around. No first rounder, again, but I still like OF Desmond Lindsay in the 2nd round, the traded P Max Wotell in round 3 despite a terrible 2017 in his new organization, love the picks of 3B David Thompson and P Tom Szapucki in rounds 4 and 5, am OK with P Chase Ingram in round 6, thought P Corey Taylor, C Pat Mazeika, and OF Kevin Kaczmarski were very solid picks in rounds 7-9, and the luck ran out with P Witt Haggard in round 10.
After round 10, the selections of crafty lefty PJ Conlon in round 13, fine starter Jordan Humphreys in round 18, and fine hitting Anthony Domino in round 28 made for a quality DRAFT...except for that forfeited first round pick.
2016 - brought us 2 first round picks in Long Island pitchers Justin Dunn and Anthony Kay. Not so good there so far, but very hopeful for 2018. Pete Alonso was a great 2nd round slugger pick, but the rounds 3-5 and #10 round hitters picked (Blake Tiberi, Michael Paez, Colby Woodmansee and Gene Cone) I am disappointed with - so far...maybe 2018 is breakthrough time for each, but it seems like those crucial rounds' hitter selections could have been better.
I want to see more power hitting drafted in these rounds.
The Mets went with pitchers in rounds 6 thru 9, and I like the Chris Viall (6), Austin McGeorge (7), and Colin Holderman (9) picks. The fact that # 8 Placido Torres is already released speaks for itself. Below the top 10, I like the 15th round pick of super speedy OF Jacob Damon, and a few relievers show some promise.
2017 - I like the David Peterson pick in round 1, as he may become a quality starter. I also like 2nd round, 17 year old slugging IF Mark Vientos. After that, time will tell, but I would have wanted more power bats and less relief arms drafted in rounds 3 thru 10. May I be proven wrong and all of the 3 thru 10 round guys dazzle us in 2018.
My conclusion for draft years 2015 thru 2017 is that all 3 years were solid pitcher-wise, but the drafting of hitters could have been greatly enhanced by a greater emphasis on power bats. Why power?
Because there are very few meaningful hitting roles at the major league level, and if a player lacks power, he already has strikes 1 and 2 against him, unless he has a true speed tool. If hitters lack power, most times they are wasted picks in terms of meaningful future major league contribution. Draft a power guy like a Paul Goldschmidt in the 8th round, or. Rhys Hoskins in the 5th round, and you may find you've gotten really lucky with that pick. DRAFT a low power guy? Good luck, Harry.
My next article will recap my thoughts on 10 years of Mets drafting, 2008-2017.
Hope everyone had as much Turkey as they could handle yesterday!
ReplyDeleteIn the immortal words of turner draft pick Shawn Amber “Gobble Gobble” ‘
ReplyDeleteMack loves kids who can gobble, gobble up grounders
ReplyDeleteMorning guys -
ReplyDeleteSo far, based on my 'find three ++ players and you have a great draft' theory, these have been three good drafts.
2015 - Right now, I have Szapucki and Humphreys as a +++ prospects, Mazeika as a ++, and Lindsay, Thompson, Dimino, Conlon, and Kaz as potential + prospects.
This could be a good one.
2016 - Love the first three picks (Dunn, Kay, Alonso) but it's far too early to tell yet. adly, I don't see much past this.
2017 - Like 2016, I like the top three picks (Peterson, Vientos, Broady). Past that, look out for 10th Rd. P Stephen Villines.
Mack, I agree - they are getting more right these past 3 drafts, no doubt -
ReplyDeleteI just would have like a total of 3-5 more power bats out of those 30 picks in the last 3 years' top 10 picks. Then I would have considered them potentially great drafts.
You list 5-6 potentially fine pitchers above, in just those 3 years, that hopefully will be ready in 2020-21 - that is far ahead of our hitters' corral of prospects - it reinforces to me that this year's top 10 should be biased towards power bats - I'd like to see 5 of them in the top 10. With all the relief arms we got, and with Flexen and Oswalt, seems we are pretty stocked, even if you can never have enough pitching.
Remember Tom...
ReplyDeleteWe built the team that went to the World Series a couple of seasons ago by trading for the bats we needed, using quality prospect pitchers.
Could happen again down the road.
Mack, good point. And right now, this organization is short on tradable assets.
ReplyDeleteJust looked at a video of Butch Huskey crashing into a wall after his Mets days - full speed - tough dude, he survived and laughed it off.
ReplyDeleteA puzzling guy in that he hit well but his major league career somehow ended before his 29th birthday.
PERFECT example of good Mets drafting - big, fast guy, huge power bat - drafted in 7th round. Saw a recent video of his being interviewed, he said he would always be first and foremost a Mets fan. Go, Butch!
In late 1997, he did this: Huskey's majestic fourth-inning homer fed their hope. It was just the second home run ever to reach the Vet's highest deck, and the first in left field. Willie Stargell hit a home run that reached the stadium's 600 level in right field on June 25, 1971 off fellow Hall of Famer Jim Bunning. A star is painted near the spot where Stargell's homer landed. "I got chills and goosebumps from it," McRae said. "Everyone on the bench was kind of in awe of what we just saw.
" Huskey acknowledged that his second home run off Phillies starter Matt Beech Huskey's ninth in 21 games "may be the furthest I ever hit" and suggested that the Phillies' measurements might be askew. "It's a long way up there," Huskey said. "Maybe 500 (feet). But I don't know. If they say 440, it's 440. But it's an asterisk.
How can we be short on tradeable assets? Didn't Sandy Alderson stockpile every mediocore reliever in baseball last summer? :)
ReplyDelete