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
Mise and Gorman look interesting
ReplyDeleteMise should be a genuine consideration.
ReplyDeleteThrough this weekend he is 6-starts,5-0, 2.04, 39.2-IP, 63-K, only 3-BB
Just as long as his elbow seems healthy.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of elbows, i really hope Anthony Kay is targeted for full season Columbia. Make up for lost time.
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?
ReplyDeleteTom 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
Tom -
ReplyDeleteThe reports I get (daily) fro St. Lucie is that Kay is 100% healthy and participating in the minor league games.
Eddie -
ReplyDeleteMy 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)
Question: I know how it we got the 6th overall pick, but how would our next pick be as far down as # 47?
ReplyDeleteWith Kay having just turned 23, I hope they do challenge him with a full season assignment. Even if they were to cap his innings.
ReplyDeleteTom -
ReplyDeleteYou have the additional supp-first round picks that are added due to things like QO signings.
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.
ReplyDeleteIs Nick Madrigal’s injury really knocking him from consideration? He remains my hope for a difference maker.
ReplyDeleteBigMack, 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
Weekend Impressives...
ReplyDeleteSteven 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.
Anon -
ReplyDeleteSmith 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.
Anon -
ReplyDeleteany 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
On Mets sluggish Spring Training...
ReplyDeleteI 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.
BigMack:
ReplyDeleteI 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"