Mack – Friday Thoughts: Shortstops, Draft Pitchers, 2020 Baseball, Summer Ball, Joe D

Good morning.

First of all, I want to welcome Mel Stottlemyre Jr., Alex Beras, Bradly Encarnacion, and Jose Medina to the ever- growing list of Mack’s Mets followers.

Justin Toscano  wrote last week that the position of shortstop on the Mets is currently firm… “for now”.

Critics have stated here on Mack’s Mets that the system is short of bats, especially in the upper levels. I agree, but we have no problem with depth at this position.

 Amed Rosario is 24 years old and could be an All-Star next year. Andres Gimenez will play Syracuse when the world opens up and should be ready for opening day 2021. Right behind him is top prospect Ronny Mauricio who faired well in Columbia last year. And, if that’s not enough, Wilmer Reyes hit .323 last year for the Cyclones, and Cesar Berbesi hit .316 for the DSL-2 team.

My hopes are the same as Matt Cerrone who wrote in his 2023 projected team piece that Rosario would be the starting center fielder on that team. I don’t know the rules on getting an established major league to play in the winter leagues, no less instruct that team to only play him in the outfield. The Mets would have find him outfield time somewhere.

I see Mauricio being the long term shortstop on this team and Gimenez probably being dealt away in a deal somewhere. Reyes and Berbesi are just too early to project.

I want to take a few moments to defend why teams like the Mets draft starters over players that are known for their plate actions.

I have followed the draft for 15 straight year and teams always pick more pitchers in the first round than the other 8 position. Here is a look at the top 10 picks in the last 10 draft:

            2010 –           5 pitchers

            2011 –           5 pitchers

            2012 -            5 pitchers

            2013 -            5 pitchers

            2014 -            6 pitchers

            2015 -            3 pitchers

            2016 -            6 pitchers

            2017 -            3 pitchers

            2018 -            3 pitchers

            2019 -            1 pitcher

That is 42 starters verse 58 other players playing 9 positions (including relief pitchers).

The main reason is they are better at what they do. You must go back to junior high school to track this correctly. As players are named to their school rosters, their tryouts are based on the old pitch, catch, throw, and hit process. A good friend/HS coach of mine told me “good hitters or field players will always find their way into a starting lineup, but a team doesn’t win unless their best players were taught to pitch at an early age. This is where you find the most talented players.”

Like volleyball players, their chance for success goes up the more they grow.

“You can teach fielding and hitting” said my friend, “but a fastball is something that must come natural.”

One more thing here… the 2020 draft not only has the most top talent in the last 10 years, but especially the most top pitchers. We should easily see 10 of the first 20 players picks being starters.

All sorts of unconfirmed rumors out there regarding when baseball will be back this year.

Two tweeters yesterday said we should look to July in all home stadiums for the return yet Tony Clark, MLB Players Director said on Tuesday: "Despite all that has been floated and all the rhetoric that is out there, we have not received anything formal that details an actual plan."

Scouts and real writers pounced on the two Tweeters, saying that some superstars would never agree to a plan like this that would be health risky at best.

The beat goes on here.

There was another summer baseball league delayed indefinitely. 

The Northwoods League will not make it’s opening day of May 26^th and the whole thing looks like it is going in the same direction as the Cape Cod League. That league and The Cal Ripkin League, the Golden State Collegiate League, the Hamptons Collegiate League, the New England Collegiate League, the New York Collegiate League, the Perfect Game Collegiate League, and the Valley Baseball League have all been shut down for the 2020 season.

Lasly, I want to send a special prayer out to Metsmerized founder, ‘Joe D’, who is recovering in a NYC Veteran’s Hospital from a severe viral infection. It is the second hospital he has been in this week and we wish him a swift return to his home to anchor the most read Mets blog out there. 

Joe built that from scratch and deserves all the credit for its success.