PC - Mack |
Good
morning.
Let’s
face it… you can count on one hand how many great catchers there are in
baseball.
Why?
Well, one
coach told me that, along the way, the worst ‘athlete’ was handed the catching
equipment as they entered any form of organized ball. You not only have to keep
your focus on the direction of the ball, but you have to survive the constant
barrage of balls being fouled off your garbanzos, direct the pitchers what
their next pitch needs to be, have a rifle arm to second base, keep your knees
healthy, and, oh yeah, hit like Mike Piazza.
Good luck
on this.
In my
opinion, the Mets have had three great catchers… Jerry
Grote, Gary Carter, and Piazza. That’s three in the 57 years this team
has been playing baseball.
Francisco Alvarez may be
the next one.
Alvarez
was given a record $2.7 million bonus to sign last July as a 16-year old out of Venezuela.
The 5-11, 220 beast is a power first hitter and possesses a strong arm. Weight
control will be the key here.
Alvarez
may come stateside and play for one of the stateside short season teams, but we
will have to wait to see if that happens.
There are
others in the chain that show promise. Ali Sanchez is
easily the best defensive catcher in the system. Patrick
Mazeika, is a bat playing both first and behind the plate behind
Sanchez. St. Lucie’s Nick Meyer is hitting .266
in 64 at-bats. And 2015’s international signee, Andres
Regnault, hit .333 for the DSL team last year… but the pipeline has far
too little talent at this position.
So, are
there any out there to draft this year?
We know
of two, but they will probably go 1-2 in the draft (which may be the first time
two catchers were the first two picks). Oregon State’s Adley
Rutschman and Baylor’s Shea Langeliers will
be long gone before the Mets pick comes up at #12.
I
literally have only nine catchers on my board, six of which will be picks
somewhere past the first five rounds. The other, Mississippi’s Cooper Johnson, should not be picked in the first
found, but he is a viable option at #42 in the second round.
Prospect Junkies said this about Johnson in 2016 –
HITTING
– Johnson’s bat is behind the glove at this point, but most human’s bats are
behind Johnson’s glove. With a wide
stance and simple load, Johnson has a line drive stroke. At the Super 60, Johnson sprayed balls to all
fields and registered a 92 mph exit velocity.
Pitch recognition has been a challenge for Johnson in the past and his
bat speed is below some of the other prep bats in this draft.
POWER
– Johnson uses a powerful lower half to generate line drives. He gets good extension on an uppercut swing
to drive the ball into the gaps. As the
hit tool progresses, I see projection in developing additional power as a
professional.
Where has he progressed to at Mississippi
this season –
45-G,
142-AB, .282/.379/.472/851, 6-HR, 23-RBI
Other catchers on my board (in order) –
Jonathan French - Parkview
HS
Ethan Hearn - Mobile
Christian
Ivan Gonzalez - West
Virginia
Thomas Dillard - Ole
Miss
Hayden Dunhurst - Pearl
River HS (MS)
Jaxx Groshams - Kansas
***RHP
Alert***
We
have spent the entire mock season projecting Cypress Ranch (TX) HS RHP Matthew Thompson and Porter Ridge (NC) HS Brennan Malone as the first two righties tagged in the
draft.
Well,
the latest mocks have two others that are catching,
and in some mocks,
passing Thompson and Malone by.
The
first is Bulloch County (GA) HS’s Daniel Espino:
PG
- Daniel Espino is a 2019 RHP with a 6-3 200 lb. frame from Statesboro, GA who
attends Georgia Premier Academy. Athletic build with a very strong lower half.
High flexible leg raise, gets his strong hips turned well, very long arm action
in back and shows the ball to the hitter, extended 3/4's arm slot.
Fastball topped out at 98 mph, comes in hot and hard, works the top side of his velocity range the majority of the time, life and fastball command best at his highest release points, has consistently thrown this hard in numerous events thus far this summer.
Throws both a slider and a curveball, slider is a much better pitch right now with good tightness and 2-plane bite, curveball tends to be too soft in comparison to his fastball with a slower arm at release. Flashed a firm change up that should continue to develop. Elite level arm strength, a plus second pitch in his slider and has always thrown strikes.
Panamanian native who has been in the United States for two years. Verbal commitment to Louisiana State. Selected to play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic.
Fastball topped out at 98 mph, comes in hot and hard, works the top side of his velocity range the majority of the time, life and fastball command best at his highest release points, has consistently thrown this hard in numerous events thus far this summer.
Throws both a slider and a curveball, slider is a much better pitch right now with good tightness and 2-plane bite, curveball tends to be too soft in comparison to his fastball with a slower arm at release. Flashed a firm change up that should continue to develop. Elite level arm strength, a plus second pitch in his slider and has always thrown strikes.
Panamanian native who has been in the United States for two years. Verbal commitment to Louisiana State. Selected to play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic.
The
second is Semenole (FL) HS Matt Allen –
PG
- Matthew Allan is a 2019 RHP/1B with a 6-3 210 lb. frame from Sanford, FL who
attends Seminole HS. Big and strong athletic build, mature physically. Slow
paced delivery with a big leg raise start, low effort mechanics, 3/4's arm
slot, showed better stuff and more consistent mechanics from the wind up.
Fastball topped out at 94 mph, gets to his velocity easily, mostly straight with the ability to throw it to spots. Breaking ball is his best pitch, slider shape with curveball depth, very consistent spin and very good feel, strikeout pitch. Very comfortable working glove side. Rare change up was firm and developing.
Fastball topped out at 94 mph, gets to his velocity easily, mostly straight with the ability to throw it to spots. Breaking ball is his best pitch, slider shape with curveball depth, very consistent spin and very good feel, strikeout pitch. Very comfortable working glove side. Rare change up was firm and developing.
Remember
these names. One might be the Mets’ first pick come June.
4 comments:
I like those power pitchers. And if Pat Mazeika keeps hitting like he has this week, he could be surging past his Mets minors catcher competition. A slew of RBIs recently, and his lefty bat gives him a huge platoon advantage. Including an occasional fill in at 1B.
There’s a lot of work in this piece Mack. Nice job. I apologize if I’m not over the sacrifice of Jared Kelenic by our geniuses, so why bother caring who’s next? We could say, “are there any outfielders available?” But, the Mets need outfielders, pitchers, catchers, and plenty of them because the cupboard is so bare.
They should just pick the best player available, LHP or RHP, or OF or C.
before I run off to do my plans, I wanted to add that Mazeika in his last 7 games has 17 RBIs, 10 for 27, 5 HRs. 5 HRs and 17 RBIs are not bad for a month, much less the last 7 games.
NYM changes are necessary now, mainly because what they are doing is clearly not working so far. This needs a shaking, one of proportion and size. For this team to even just climb back into the NLEastern race, they will need to take personnel risks. Some will pay off, and others maybe not. Finding a diamond in the rough may be possible.
Here's a few thoughts
SP Anthony Kay and Harol Gonzales (Mets have nothing to lose in this)
RP Ryley Gilliam and one more from the Stephen Villines, Joe Zanghi, Matt Blackham list.
CF Rajai Davis (team needs a little more veteran leadership)
C Rene Riveria (ditto above comment with Rajai)
The inevitable trade using a very confident Dominic Smith now makes some sense from his and the team's point of view. Maybe package in one of the relievers above with Dominic. Dominic needs to start on first somewhere MLB. Here is hurting his career.
Good Luck!
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