11/30/21

Tom Brennan - Retrospective on Mets Drafts of Years Past: 2012


Wikipedia states:

retrospective (from Latin retrospectare, "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past.

I thought it might be fun to look back and see who got drafted by the Mets in rounds 1 thru 5, how they panned out, and which of them (and those from rounds beyond round 5) made it to the dance. 

Not to get too historical, I thought I’d start at 2005 and work forward towards 2021 from there, a year at a time.

Today?  

The Mets' 2012 Draft:

A weak draft it was, in 2012, especially after the strong 2010 and 2011 draws.  But there were a few major surprises in 2021 from a few of those drafted players who are now ex-Mets.

Round 1 - Gavin Cecchini - an ultimately unsuccessful 12th overall pick - he just has not hit enough nor fielded enough.  These sorts of picks that don’t provide real future MLB impact hurt you down the road when you find yourself signing big bucks free agents because your first rounder didn't succeed. 

He did hit .317 in AA in 2015 and .325 in AAA in 2016, and certainly seemed to be on his way offense-wise, but his major league totals have been limited to .217/.270/.301 in 83 ABs with the Mets.  

Cheech hit .259/.290/.358 in 91 minor league games in 2021 with another franchise, and he will be 28 next season.  Maybe 2022 is the charm.  28 is prime age in a baseball career for many.

Comp Round Pick - Kevin Plawecki - never hit as a Met, and as a back up Red Sox catcher, he has hit better, more as I thought he might, but his stolen base rate in 2021 was ghastly (3 caught out of 40).

Round 2 - Matt Reynolds - similar player to Gavin Cecchini.  Got a few MLB ABs - 226, to be precise, in which he hit .212.  Not a sufficiently impactful pick for round 2.

Round 2 - Teddy Stankiewicz - never quite made the majors - as such, a bad pick.

Round 3 - Matt Koch - has pitched some in the majors, not with the Mets, and not very effectively.  6-6, 4.88, 125 innings.

Round 4 - Branden Kaupe - 4 doubles, 6 triples and no homers in 600 plate minor league appearances.  Short guy.  Wasted pick.  4 doubles in 600 plate appearances?  Really?  Seems impossible. 

Round 5 - Brandon Welch - pitcher didn't make it.  He went 4-2, 4.13 in 65 total minor league innings.

Seven picks in the first 5 rounds and not nearly enough to show for it.  

Two later-round guys who had been miserable Mets failures that turned into MLB sensations with Seattle in 2021: 

10th rounder Paul Sewald and 14th rounder Chris Flexen.

The duo stunningly combined to go 23-9 this year.  With the Mets, they couldn't come close to 9-23.  Everybody tells me "it happens."  But why does post-Queens success happen after Queens mediocrity?

7th rounder Corey Oswalt has had limited major league action and limited major league success.  Too hittable.  4-5, 5.89, 95 innings.  He is now a free agent and could, of course, go to pitch for Seattle and win a Cy Young award, as I expect he will.

8th rounder Tomas Nido catches a good game, but has a .244 career OBP.  "Walk" to him is a 4 letter word, as he has just 18 walks in his career.  I'm tough on Nido, I know - I just like offense. His Fangraphs projection for 2022?  .223 average, .267 OBP.

12th rounder Rob Whalen managed to compile 36 major league innings, going 1-3, 5.75.  He was terrific in 2013-16 in the minors, and to all accounts, appeared to be on his way.  It did not go well at all thereafter, though.  He was part of the trade in which the Mets got Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe in 2015's exciting pennant run.

13th rounder Matt Bowman compiled 7-13, 4.02 in 183 MLB relief outings with the Cardinals and Cincy.

20th rounder Tim Peterson was 2-2, 5.91 in 35 MLB innings.

So, 11 guys drafted by the Mets in 2012 have spent at least some time in the majors, but the Mets got almost nothing to show for it all.   As such, for the Mets, it was in my opinion largely a failed draft.  

Seattle, though, thought it was a terrific draft.

Next up? 2013's draft.


9 comments:

Mack Ade said...

Cheech - a nice guy that the Mets flew into Queens for a hush hush tryout just before the draft. WITH LUCAS GIOLITO who they passed on.

Place kind- still pissed off he cancelled a big interview with me at the last minute.

Flexen and Whalen - I loved these over slot picks. Flexen just couldn't find the zone in Savannah.

Tom Brennan said...

Mack, my brother was steaming when they passed on Giolito.

Flexen is a hopeful story for guys like Oller who were/are considering to give up. Sometimes, a little bit more and magic happens.

Eddie from Corona said...

Ugh is the guy who ran the draft still around?
Cecchini was selected because Sandy wanted a SS, not best player available. we missed out on Seager and golito. I know they wanted addison russell which i believe was picked 1 selection before us.

BEST PLAYER AVAILABLE...

Reese Kaplan said...

I interviewed a very unhappy Gavin Cecchini when he was banished to AAA and was in town to play against the El Paso Chihuahuas. I chose not to publish some of the things he said for his own career protection. He was not impressive, but then he labored under the moron with the losing history.

Tom Brennan said...

Eddie, in the long run, logic tells you that selecting the best available player (not named Kumar Rocker) is a superior approach.

Bob W. said...

Mets missed out on Seager, Giolito and Joey Gallo for Gavin Cecchini.

Only one worse 1st rounder that I can think of: Ryan Jaroncyk in 1996(?) Jaroncyk hated baseball, but was pushed by his father to play. He just up and quit a few years later, throwing his glove in a trash can at the local little league field.

Tom Brennan said...

Reese, power is not automatically added if you add muscle, but I wonder if Gavin should have gone all out to beef up, move from SS, and become at least Phillip Evans or TJ Rivera, if not Jeff McNeil, all of whom muscled up and made it better than Cecchini.

Looking back at 2015/16 Cecchini, he hit .321 in AA and AAA spanning those 2 seasons, and in 885 at bats, had 53 doubles, 6 triples, and 15 HRs, with 110 RBIs. 90 walks vs. just 110 Ks. Doesn't THAT sound like a top prospect, especially if you could somehow have doubled that HR total? Puzzling.

He needs to dig deep and give a run for MLB one more try, I'd say.

He is listed at 6'2". 200. I'd go all-out gym rat, muscle up to 225, and give it a shot.

If he's gonna continue to play at all, that is my guess as the best path forward.

Tom Brennan said...

Jaroncyk I didn't remember - how the heck did they select a guy 18th overall as an outfielder, then he hits just 1 HR in over 600 plate appearances? They could not figure that out ahead of time? It's one thing, I guess, to miss a guy's attitude (he did sign for almost $1 million, so many would pretend for that), but to miss the absence of power in a power position is baffling.

TexasGusCC said...

Reese, bravo to you for using good judgment and a humane instinct to understand that the young man needed protection from himself. Nowadays, it seems that no one passes up a juicy story if it can bring them some attention and some reporters may even embellish it, if need be. Even though Cecchini would quit on his own soon thereafter, doing the right thing is always nobler. I tip my hat to you.