3/25/18

2018 MLB DRAFT - Mock Draft v5.0






Good morning.


Well, the mock draft season is starting to heat up, with 10 new ones on my current list. The results are interesting and seem to confirm both the up and down trends of some of the players being ‘picked’.

Rising to the top include:

USF LHP Shane McClanahan, whose five start, 0.00-ERA has now catapulted him into the second choice behind perennial first pick, RHP Brady Singer (Florida)

Mountain Ridge HS (AZ) RHP Matt Liberatore, who rose to #5 after not even being in the top 50 four mocks ago.

The big loser here is Clemson OF Seth Beer, who continues to un-impress and has now fell from a projected 5th position two mocks ago, to now 28th.

One thing about the Mets picks (6th and 47th). These are no the players I project that the Mets will pick. They just rank their in the mock process.


Here’s the current top 50:

1.     (1)     (1)           RHP            Brady Singer           Florida

2.     (5).   (15)         LHP              Shane McClanahan   USF   

3.     (2)   (7)            RHP              Ethan Hankins        Forsyth Central HS (GA)

4.     (4)   (2)            SS                 Brice Turang           Santiago HS (CA)

5.     (11) (23)         LHP               Matt Liberatore     Mountain Ridge HS (AZ)    

6.     (7)  (17)         SS                   Nander De Sadas   Montverde Academy (FL)     

7.     (6)   (9)           RHP                Casey Mise              Auburn 

8.     (3)  (--)           3B                   Nolan Gorman       O’Connor HS (AZ)

9.     (9)  (3)            2B                   Nick Madrigal        Oregon State

10. (8)  (4)           RHP                Kumar Rocker         N Oconee HS (GA)

11. (13) (8)       RHP                Jackson Kowar       Florida         

12. (12) (21)    LHP                 Ryan Rolison           Mississippi 

13. (10)  (6)        OF                  Jarred Kelenic         Waukessha West HS (WI) 

14.  (17) (31)    RP                   Logan Gilbert         Stetson        

15. (16)  (38)     OF                  Travis Swaggerty  South Alabama   

16. (14) (13)     C                      Will Banfield           Brookwood HS (GA)   

17. (15) (29)   OF                     Griffin Conine         Duke             

18.  (21) (37)    LHP                 Ryan Weathers      Loretto HS (TN)     

19.  (20) (39)   1B                    Greyson Jenista     Wichita State                    

20.  (28) (16)   1B/C               Lukan Baker            TCU               

21. (18)  (36)     SS                  Jeremy Eierman     Missouri State       

22.  (23)  (27)    1B                  Tristan Casas          Plantation HS (FL)            

23.  (26)  (32)    OF                 Tristan Pompey      Kentucky                 

24.  (25)  (49)   RHP                Carter Stewart       Eau Gallie HS (FL) 

25.  (22)  (10)   LHP                 Konnor Pilkington    Mississippi State

26.  (27)  (57)  C/RHP       Mason Denaburg     Merritt Island HS (FL)              

27.  (31)  (52)     C                   Joey Bart                  Georgia Tech          

28.  (19)  (5)     OF                   Seth Beer                  Clemson                  

29.  (34)  (51)   RHP                Sean Hjelle              Kentucky                 

30. (--)  (--)      RHP                 Chandler Day          Vanderbilt              

31. (29)  (--)     3B                    Alec Bohm               Wichita State                    

32. (32)  (48)    RHP                Slade Cecconi          Trinity Prep HS (FL)          

33. (--)  (--)       SS                    Sean Guibe              Berks Catholic HS (PA)    

34. (24)  (11)    OF                   Joe Gray Jr.              Hattiesburg HS (MS)       

35. (30)  (54)   RHP     Mike Vasil                Boston College HS (MA) 

36. (35)  (70)    OF       Steele Walker         Oklahoma   

37.  (33)  (--)  RHP       Tim Cate                   Connecticut                                    

38.  (37)  (45)  RHP     Austin Becker         Big Walnut HS (OH)         

39.  (--)  (--)    RHP      Ethan Reed              Laguna Beach HS (CA)                

40.  (42)  (--)   C           Noah Naylor           St. Joan Of Arc HS (Ont.)            

41.  (40)  (71)  OF        Mike Siani                Penn Charter HS (PA)                  

42.  (--)  (--)   RHP       Dominic Pipkin       Pinoli Valley HS (CA)                   

43. (41)  (65)  OF         Jake McCarthy       Virginia                                           

44.  (39)  (--)  3B          Jordan Grosham    Magnolia HS (TX)                         

45.  (49)  (--)  RHP       Blaine Knight          Arkansas                                         

46.  (47)  (72) RHP      Cole Winn                Orange Lutheran HS (CA)          

47.  (38)  (58)   OF       Connor Scott           Plant HS (FL)                                  

48. (--) (--)     LHP        Luke Bartnicki        Walton HS (GA)                             

49.  (--) (--)   SS             Xavier Edwards      N. Broward Prep (FL

50.  (--)  (--)  RHP         Tristan Beck            Stanford

17 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Mise and Gorman look interesting

Mack Ade said...

Mise should be a genuine consideration.

Through this weekend he is 6-starts,5-0, 2.04, 39.2-IP, 63-K, only 3-BB



Tom Brennan said...

Just as long as his elbow seems healthy.

Speaking of elbows, i really hope Anthony Kay is targeted for full season Columbia. Make up for lost time.

Eddie from Corona said...

Mack if the first 5 went that way would you still go with the Florida pitcher you had previously or have you altered your choice and for who?

Tom your so right about Kay we need some luck in the minors and he would go a long way in having the system bounce back

Mack Ade said...

Tom -

The reports I get (daily) fro St. Lucie is that Kay is 100% healthy and participating in the minor league games.

Mack Ade said...

Eddie -

My safe pick seems to be with Kowar or the high schooler Kumar.

My wild card is Swaggerty out of South Alabama (23-G, 81-AB,.309/.486/.568, 5-HR)

Tom Brennan said...

Question: I know how it we got the 6th overall pick, but how would our next pick be as far down as # 47?

Tom Brennan said...

With Kay having just turned 23, I hope they do challenge him with a full season assignment. Even if they were to cap his innings.

Mack Ade said...

Tom -

You have the additional supp-first round picks that are added due to things like QO signings.

Mack Ade said...

I expect the 1-2 punch in St. Lucie next month will be Peterson and Kay, followed by Thomas McIlraith and Thomas Szapucki when he heals.

TexasGusCC said...

Is Nick Madrigal’s injury really knocking him from consideration? He remains my hope for a difference maker.

Anonymous said...

BigMack, I wanted to know if you could envision Drew Smith as a starter here for these NY Mets one day soon, as I can? I say this because he has a big league fastball (two and four seamer 92 mph to 95 mph)and an 11 to 5 curveball that impresses. I think Drew could probably uptick his change-up to make it a little more effective too. That's four decent pitches, if he could. Pretty good and Drew is young as well.

I am trying to put together possibility AAA pitchers to start for 2018. I could see the re-assigned Zach Wheeler back here soon, maybe after a month of starts down at Vegas to get him totally back to where he was pre-arm injuries. Then maybe Oswalt, Molina, and Drew Smith (who looked good in ST with nice velocity), and then maybe too Chris Flexen, although he could take an entire 2018 to get everything fine tuned to where he needs it to be.

Anonymous said...

Weekend Impressives...

Steven Matz, he has fooled me I have to admit. He has progressed very nicely as of late and I am thrilled to see it happening.

Todd Frazier too. Evidently he has pushed out that university corpse that was stuffed into his #21 uniform earlier on this ST. Amen! Having taken over, Todd is showing some sincere signs of life again and I for one am quite impressed. Get'rdone21!

Brandon Nimmo. He and Plawecki are staying consistent. These two are my picks to be the 2018 most improved Mets players. Why else do I like these two the most? Because they did some work over the winter, it shows. Plus, they are only going to improve with playing time over the seasons. They have not yet peaked, but are very good already in their own development process.

Yoenis Cespedes. This guy is getting scary good with the round-trippers. Bo Jackson thighs and all!

PJ Conlon. I did not get to see his most recent start, but wished I could have because it sounded like he did marvelous. I don't even know for certain how to categorize his pitching style really, maybe a "junkballer" who can hit his pinpoint locations like a Tommy Glavine could? I like this Conlon starter a lot. He's a lefty and a young one at that. If he can hit 92 mph on the radar gun, I keep him up on the 25-man breaking camp soon. He's already close to that.

You got Vargas out a few games right? What better time to battle-test PJ Conlon! Mets can never have enough lefties on the pitching staff. Look at Boston, like four starters are lefty, plus Porcello. That's a lot. And like two more at AAA close.

What young player would I love to see the Mets get from Boston? Sam Travis. Just has some explosive power. Has not peaked yet but look out when he does.

Mack Ade said...

Anon -

Smith did pitch half of his games as a starter when he was a sophomore at Dallas Baptist.

However, his whole career, and mindset, has been as a reliever, and since he has a career 1.80 ERA in 90 professional games, plus 157 strikeouts in 136.2 innings pitched, I'd leave him in the pen.

Mack Ade said...

Anon -

any chance we could get you to join the site so we have a name in front of your comments?

Or, at leave leave your first name at the end

Anonymous said...

On Mets sluggish Spring Training...

I too don't care a lot about Spring Training stats overall because they tend to mean very little really. However, it is nice for the average fan (like me) to see improvement and players breaking their sitdowns out there as Spring Training progresses on. It shows that they care and want to improve. The ending was very, very optimistic and really overall this is what matters most to me and most fans. Optimism rules the day now. Chemistry under Callaway appears as good if not better than ever before. The whole team is looking fabulous now. I am wearing my NY Mets jammies (from '78) to bed, I am so thrilled! It's a beautiful new day!

Regarding the recent NY Mets pick up of Bryce Brentz, a player I had been watching for like four years too. Bryce is a Red Sox' outfielder that flew under the radar way too long. The Red Sox had almost too many really good young outfielders and Bryce was always the one left out. But the Mets finally have him here now and this is very good.

Bryce, as you mentioned BigMack, had a 31 HR/85/RBI/.271 BA 2017 at AAA Pawtucket. But he also had a .334 OBP and a SLG% of .408 which is solid. Now the part that is tricky here with Brentz is that he "may be" out of minor league options, meaning that he would have to break camp with the parent Mets 25-man roster. Is he worthy? Absolutely he is. Does it work for these NY Mets overall? Very much so, and here's why...

The reason "why" is this (as I see it anyway) Bryce could be the fourth outfielder and a more powerful bat pinch hitting for these Mets too. The Mets need that. But also here, if the Mets carried a utility bench of Brentz, Reyes, Evans, Flores, and 'Arnaud I think that all positions would be aptly covered should an injury (I even hate thinking this let alone saying this) occur in game. You see here that with Nimmo, Bruce, Cespedes, and eventually when ready Conforto centerfield will always be covered in 2017. At the corner outfield spot, the Mets have the two above starting outfielders, plus then Brentz, Reyes, and Flores to manage that as well.

Bryce Brentz was a terrific pickup by Sandy Alderson, and I am very glad that he made that move.

Anonymous said...

BigMack:

I understand your opinion with Drew Smith staying a reliever due to his solid experience there doing so. But I was thinking Drew as a starter because that was the impression he gave me the other day, that he would probably (with his four pitches, one the two seam and another the four seam fastball in the mid-90's) be very good starting as well. Plus, if you breakdown the potential AAA Mets best starters, most all are not quite ready yet due mainly to age and experience reasons with this.

However, Drew Smith just hit me as being beyond many of these younger Mets starters down in the minors, now. He had a solid assortment of pitches (four is somewhat unusual for a reliever) and excellent mound composure and presence that is required.

So what exactly am I saying here with Drew Smith?

I am saying that in the event the NY Mets were to get say two earlier on in the season injuries (a horrid thought true) that I might be thinking about Zachary Wheeler and Drew Smith first.

With the bullpen and why I never sweat the bullpen much...

It seems that with every new season, there will be a totally unexpected reliever/s stepping up and doing a terrific job that most of us fans would not have expected being so good. In other words, relievers stepping up and handling a larger piece of the bullpen's more crucial assignments because suddenly now they can.

My gut feeling with the current 2018 NY Mets bullpen is that it is solid and ready to go. This is precisely why I like this crazy notion of mine to get Drew Smith ready at AAA to start. Call me whatever because I am sure that people have before!

Here's my name..."Stork2"