Mack - Draft Thoughts - Draft Board Adjustments, Gunnar Hoglund, Jordan Patty, Pick 1.1, David Festa, Matt Allan

 

Good morning.

 

I made some draft board adjustments this week:

 

I repositions the top four outfielders as Sal Frelick, Jud Fabian  (up from #3), Colton Cowser (up from #4) and James Wood  (down from #2).

 

Moved Ryan Cusick from my 11^th RHP to 7^th.

 

Moved Benny Montgomery from my 10^th outfielder to 6^th.

 

Moved Bubba Chandler from my 24^th RHP to my 12^th.

 

Will Taylor enters my board as the 22^nd outfielder.

 

Michael McGreevy enters my board as the 31^st RHP.

 

Peyton Stovall goes from the 15^th ranked SS to the 7^th ranked 2B.

 

The nation’s leading home run hitter, Mat Nelson, moes up to my 3rd catcher.

 

Virginia LHSP, Anthony Abbott, now is 2^nd in the nation in strikouts. I move him to 6^th, up from 12^th.

 

Bubba Chandler moved from 12^th to 8^th RHP.

 

Will Taylor went from the 22^nd outfielder to the 13^th.

 

Thatcher Hurd went from 18^th to 15^th RHP.

 

Will Bednar went from 32^nd to 12^th RHP.

 

Lowered RHP Kevin Abel from 22^nd to 64^th.

 

Moved up RHP Gavin Williams from 63^rd to 22^nd.

 

Moved up RHP Chase Silseth from 44^th to 35^th. 

 

 

Kendall Rogers reported that Ole Miss Friday starter, RHP Gunnar Hoglund, has returned to the rotation on April 30th. Hoglunc was schratched from the LSU series after he reported stiffness in his throwing arm. Thankfully, this seems behind him now. He pitched Friday night against South Carolina and retired 18 of the 19 batters he faced, including the last 15.

 

His stat line for the night: 6-IP, 0-R, 9-K, 0-BB, W 4-2

 

Hoglund is one of my favorties for the Mets at 1.10. 

(UPDATE - Hoglund was pulled once again early this past Friday night and I am awaiting any announcement on a new or recurring injury here...)

 

 

Central Michigan Jordan Patty threw a 7-inning perfect game this past Friday, against Miami of Ohio.

 

Patty, a 6-1 junior, raised his record to 6-1 and has a 2012 stat line of 9-starts, 5-1, 1.95, 55.1-IP, 50-K.

 

 

The 1.1 pick in the draft seems to be in play.

 

Sure fire favorite, Vanderbily RHP Jack Leiter, threw a monkey wrench into the dryer on Saturday, going 4-IP, 5-ER, 4-K (L 7-2). Then, the Vandy brass decided to take Jack out of the weekend rotation, with no explanation.

 

His teammate, RHP Kumar Rocker pitched the night before that, going 5-IP, 2-ER, 8-K (W 10-1). Then, two nights ago, he gave up six earned runs in five innings pitched.

 

And the 5-tool SS, Jordan Lawler, continues to flaw flawless baseball at Dallas Jesuit HS (TX).

 

No… the three horse race is now definitely on.

 

 

Speaking of no-hiiters. 6-6 Seton Hall (17-15) junior RHP, David Fester, through a 2-hit, 7-inning no hitter against Georgetown (4-11).

 

Fester’s seasonal stat line, as of 5-2, is: 11-games, 7-starts, 4-2, 1.70, 1.05, 47.2-IP, 40-K.

Lastly...

I finally was talked off the ledge last night after hearing that the Mets top pitching prospect, Matt Allan, went down for TJS.

This comes when our second best prospect, JT Ginn, is still recovering from the same surgery, and our third, Thomas Szapucki, is, yup, still reaching for top speed after that friggin' procedure.

Past that, we have steak knives.

I know how many times you have heard that 'you can never have too much pitching', well it only takes one look at the Mets to prove that. 

They currently have three great starters (deGrom, Stroman, Walker), another puttering out (Peterson), another all puttered (Luccese), a new one that looks like he will never pitch this year (Carrasco), two on the Syracuse IL (Oswalt, Gonzalez), and a recovering TJS patient to be named later (Syndergaard).

Tell you what...

Look for the Mets to draft heavy on college pitchers this draft. Especially the deep list of righties. 

They need to desperately fill in the cracks with 2/3 more top pitching prospects to get this team balanced with what Steve Cohen is doing with his paycheck.