7/17/19

Mack - 2020 Draft Notes and DSL Targets




Yeah, I know.


2019 was going to be my last coverage on drafts.


Word is that the 2020 draft will have more top end talent than any draft in recent years. College arms will particularly be prime beef.
Guys like RHP Emerson Hancock (2019 Georgia: 8-3, 1.99), Mississippi State RHP, J.T. Ginn, (8-4, 3.36), and Hancock’s teammate, RHP Cole Wilcox (mid-90s fastball, touches 98) should all be gone in the first ten picks.

My guess, right now, the Mets are going to pick 10th in the 2020 draft.

A good target could be another high school chip to enhance the direction this last draft went. The DSL and GCL teams are stacked with prime beef and why not keep adding at that level as guys like Brett Baty, Matthew Allen, and Josh Wolf move up the chain.

I’m going to start posting up each Sunday a target player we should learn more about before next June.

My first is OF Austin Hendricks, from West Allegheny (PA) HS. As a freshman. Henricks went 5-0, 0.82 as a starter, but his future is in the outfield: .371, 3-HR, 20-RBIs in 70-AB.

Perfect game ranked him as the number one sophomore in the country.

“The ball just flies off his bat,” said West Allegheny coach Bryan Cornell. “He has tremendous talent and great potential. There are a lot of very good baseball players around and he has to continue to progress. If he continues to progress, the sky is the limit for him.”


A much different outlook for the 2020 draft, rather than the starve-like lack of power pitchers.

The first mock draft out there, from Draft Express. Has the following breakout, by position, for the top 29 players in the first round:

                        RHP:      10 (5 in top 9)
                        LHP:       3
                        C:          1
                        1B:        1
                        2B:        0
                        SS:        3
                        3B:        0
                        OF:        11


If, and when, the Mets make a trade this next week with either Baltimore, Cincinnati, St. Louis, or Kansas City, they might attempt to include one of these ex-International bonus babies that are currently throwing, and starting, for their DSL team:


Baltimore DSL SP, Cesar Angomas   19/yrs. old

      Signing bonus: $150K
 
      Stat line: 8-starts, 1.63, 1.16, 38.2-IP, 42-K



Cincinnati DSL SP, Jose Franco   18/yrs. old

Starting pitcher Jose Franco /  was also named an All-Star. The 18-year-old from Venezuela is in his first professional season. Through his seven starts to begin his career he’s dominated, posting a 1.61 ERA. He’s thrown 28.0 innings while not allowing a home run, walking just five batters, and he’s racked up 33 strikeouts. His ERA ranks 10th in the league. His 33 strikeouts rank 15th best in the league.

      Stat line:  8-starts, 1.97, 1.06, 32-IP, 37-K, 6-BB


St. Louis DSL SP, Angel Cuenca   18/yrs. old

      Stat line:  7-starts, 1.25, 0.86, 36-IP, 30-K, 10-BB

     
Kansas City DSL SP, Andres Diaz   18/yrs. old

      Stat line:  7-starts, 1.82, 1.08, 29.2-IP, 22-K, 4-BB

7 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

A call to arms in 2020 - perhaps.

Hopefully, by then we are starting to get a good read on Matt Allen and Josh Wolf.

Reese Kaplan said...

I love the stats from those pitchers in the international leagues, but those teams got the draft picks of high quality due to their less-than-stellar records. St. Louis is perhaps the exception. I can't see Baltimore, KC or Cincy ADDING to their rosters at this juncture.

Eddie from Corona said...

Mack You cant stop ... Please...
this was exciting to read...
based on the first out look, it Looks Like OF or RHP for us... which is great...

Now all we need is the trading aways to being (Thor to San Diego Please for any 2 of their top 10)

Tom Brennan said...

Eddie C...how's it going?

Anonymous said...

I'd like to address a few quick things. Like Mackade, we all love underdogs and that's why we all are Mets fans really. It's optimum fun to win games. But winning should not be such a stranger either.

We all see the nucleus forming. It is young and it is good. To my eyes, it just simply needs a little more youthful support. As a result, I would now end the additions of veteran non tier one players. It has not worked here.

Last night's game was a second pitching gem in the SFG series, decided by a pop up fly ball to left. The result for the Mets was a classic younger player's error. I do not blame either player in that situation, there was a collision in each one's memory from 2018 on a similar pop up.

However, correction is quite simple for that play.

Amed simply needs to count out his running steps into the outfield, so that after a certain number of steps he realizes that the pop ball is the outfielder's domain and he then stops. The second thought that I have is to really blast out "I've got it" so that there is no uncertainty.

It's hard to realize just how far out a shortstop has run while intently chasing a fly ball like that. The "steps thing" should help him. In a close to capacity crowd of fans, hearing is not always a possibility. So the "steps thing" may be all a shortstop has to gauge by.

They'll figure it. I like both players a lot.

Anonymous said...

The Mets bullpen of current is pitching better I think. It appears to be somewhat settling in and that is a very good thing to see after the first half.

The MiLB players I am watching right now are: Here with the Mets Anthony Kay, David Peterson, Harol Gonzales, Matt Blackham, and Adonis Uceta with that 1.16 WHIP he has. It's a nice grouping of young pitchers and provides the team with options.

El Paso's right-hand batting 23 year old 6'1" (OF) Michael Gettys with a combined 2019 AA and AAA HR total of 38 dingers. Not bad!

Buffalo Bison's right-handed 6'4", 24 year old relief pitcher Zachary Garrett Jackson with the MiLB career totals of a 2.64 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 10.66 SO's per 9 innings. He's just now hitting his pitching stride scouts say.

Norfolk Tides' 6'3" 22 year old right-handed batter 3B Ryan Mountcastle with a .297 BA, 17 HR's.

At the Triple A level, I have noticed that both pitching and the catcher's position are quite thin overall. So sticking with the "homegrowns" mentioned above does make some sense, unless of course the Mets can pry away a Triston Mckenzie type "star potential" pitcher from the Cleveland Indians clasp.

I personally do not see either Boston nor the Yankees as trade partner possibility for these NY Mets. But to be honest here, Boston more than the NYY needs to add in one more very solid starter to their rotation just to have any chance at all in 2019.

Anonymous said...

Matt Harvey, the once "Dark Knight" is done. Long live the "DK".

Sad but true.