Mack’s Apples – Jamie Callahan, Nick Gatewood, Nick Madrigal, Matt Harvey, Greg Cullen

Fangraphs   Top 18 Mets Prospects -

1      8. Jamie Callahan, RHP

       Drafted: 2nd Round, 2012 from Dillon HS (SC) 

A          Age   22       Height           6’2      Weight          230     Bat/Throw   R/R

        Also acquired from Boston as part of the Addison Reed deal, Callahan has a pretty violent, max-effort delivery that limits his command. He throws hard and has enough in the way of secondary stuff to profile as a solid relief option, even with only 40 future command.

Draft Prospects Trending up     -

     

      Nick Gatewood (Georgie State) - We have a player from Georgia and Georgia Tech, so why not Georgia State? And Gatewood has been pretty good. The 6’2” catcher has 11 HRs on the season and has totaled 18 extra base hits. His stats are right on par with Joey Bart.

Baseball America’s  Top 500 Prospects –

    

       3 – (Last: 3) - Nick Madrigal  4YR SS/2B  School: Oregon State

Ht: 5-8 | Wt: 165 | B-T: R-R | Committed/Drafted: Indians '15 (17)

Scouting Report: Most 5-foot-7 second basemen wouldn’t figure to be top-of-the first round talents if healthy, let alone if they had missed almost two months of their junior season. But Madrigal is far from the ordinary, undersized middle infielder, as he possesses arguably the best hit tool in the 2018 draft class. Northwest area scouts saw just six games of Madrigal (in which he hit over .500 with two home runs) before he went down with a broken left wrist after sliding into home plate during a February game against Ohio State. Fortunately, Madrigal’s track record is a lengthy one, as he played for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team during the summer of 2017 and also hit .303/.342/.376 as an 18-year-old in the West Coast Collegiate League in 2015, with more walks than strikeouts. Many area scouts and scouting directors alike are convinced that Madrigal would be a top-10 selection even if he never came back to the field, given the non-chronic nature of his injury combined with his prolific feel for the barrel. While Madrigal will never be confused for a slugger and likely doesn’t have much more fringe-average power, he makes the most of all the juice he has, with elite bat-to-ball skills that allows him to drive the gaps and use his speed to collect extra-base hits in the form of doubles and triples. He’s not just a hitter, however, as Madrigal possesses plus-plus running ability and matches that skill with savvy baserunning prowess. A potential top-of-the-order hitter, Madrigal also projects as a plus defensive second baseman at the next level. The hands that allow him to hit with such apparent ease also translate to the field, where he is sure-handed and quick around the bag with enough arm strength for the keystone. Arm strength is the one knock on Madrigal—aside from his size—and scouts are split on whether he can be a major league shortstop, as Oregon State teammate Cadyn Grenier’s defense was enough to push Madrigal to second base in 2016. Regardless of which side of the bag teams see him playing in the future, Madrigal seems like a lock to be taken inside of the first ten picks this June and could be a fast-moving college bat at the professional level, thanks to both his baseball skills and professional makeup and work ethic.

Fangraphs on Matt Harvey –

So what teams could (or should) take a chance on an erstwhile ace? The Twins come to mind as an obvious fit; they need rotation help badly and fancy themselves a contender. But they have bigger problems than their rotation (Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano being hurt). The Angels could be a fit, as they definitely need rotation help, but it’s not clear that Harvey would be any better than Jaime Barria. But the Mariners could be a good fit.

The top hitter in college baseball, Greg Cullen , hails from Penfield and plays for Niagara –

               

        Heading into play this weekend, Cullen leads the country with a .463 average and an incredible .555 on-base percentage, meaning he’s been on base in more than half of his plate appearances. Among his 69 hits are 12 doubles, 2 triples and 3 home runs which has sent his slugging percentage up to .631. For context, Mike Trout of the Angels is currently the career leader among active major leaguers in slugging percentage at .571.