2018 Draft - Mets Pick #3: - 2B Carlos Cortes

Third Round –

           2B Carlos Cortes – University of South Carolina

Joe DeMayo/@PSLToFlushing

Cortes was previously drafted by the #Mets in the 20th round of the 2016 draft. He is ranked #177 at Baseball America. He played outfield at South Carolina but Mets will flip him to 2B. He is under sized at 5-8 185, a switch hitter and ambidextrous.

Gamecocks –

           2018 (Sophomore)

Scored two runs and walked three times in the season opener vs. VMI (2/16)

Walked six times in the VMI series

Drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the win over Winthrop (2/21)

Drove in four, including hitting his first home run of the season, in a 14-2 win over Charleston Southern (2/24)

Homered and drove in a pair vs. Furman (2/27)

Drove in a pair of runs at Clemson (3/4)

Scored twice and walked twice vs. North Carolina A&T (3/7)

Homered in the win over Princeton (3/10)

College Baseball Daily –

           College Baseball Daily continues our Top 100 countdown with number 35 Carlos Cortes of South Carolina.

The sophomore hails from Oviedo, Florida where he attended Lake Howell High School. He was selected out of the 20th round by the New York Mets after hitting .395 with 19 runs scored and 17 RBI and picking up three saves as a senior in high school.

In his freshman season with the Gamecocks, he hit .286 (48-for-168) with 27 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple, a team-high 12 homers and 41 RBIs. He had a .565 slugging percentage with a .368 on-base percentage. He was named to the 2017 All-SEC Freshman Team and the 2017 SEC Tournament Team.

He spent the summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox where he appeared in 45 games with a .267 batting average, five homers, and 24 RBI.

           2080 Baseball –

                       Carlos Cortes, OF, Univ. of South Carolina

Ht/Wt: 5’7”/197 B/T: L/R Age (as of 2018 MLB Draft): 20y, 11m

Cortes utilizes excellent trunk and core strength to produce plus impressive power to the pull side given his size and demonstrates an ability to work for pitches he can drive. There are some plate coverage concerns, which were evident on the Cape last summer, but the raw materials are here for a big league contributor with the stick. Though his .244 batting average would indicate a down year, Cortes demonstrated on base skills by drawing more walks (39) than strikeouts (29) and hit 15 homeruns.