Tom Brennan: How Did First Round Catcher Kevin Parada Do?

 

Kevin Parada Pre-Draft

(Cue in the drum roll)

"With the 11th pick in the 2022 draft, the New York Mets select catcher Kevin Parada from Georgia Tech."

A catcher - and not a badly needed pitcher.

But why not Parada?  

The Mets didn't expect he'd be available at #11 is part of the reason.

After all, in 60 games that last college year, Parada had 88 RBIs for Georgia Tech, and 26 HRs, and .367/.453/.709, with just 32 Ks in 305 plate appearances and 11 of 12 in steals.  A sizable jump over his prior year Tech stats, which were also good.

It certainly seemed he could walk on water, and the Mets were happy to snag him. Even though not a badly needed pitcher.

But...has Parada similarly torn apart pro pitching since then?  

The answer is, no.  But he hit well enough  

1) after April 2023 

2) after excluding his injury-impaired August, 

3) as long as one chooses to ignore his crappy Arizona Fall league hitting performance, where he produced few hits and lots of Ks.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

In his 12 game pro debut in 2022, Parada hit a sold .275/.455/.425. 

"Bring on 2023!!"

But...he never played games in dreaded Cyclone Park in Brooklyn in college.

He started out his first full pro season in 2023 in High A Brooklyn and hit just .213 with a single HR in April, likely in part due to the cold, stiff incoming Atlantic Ocean breezes and gusts.

As it got warmer, so did his bat. 

He hit .283 with 9 HRs in 66 games in May, June, and July.

He then got hurt in late July, as almost all Mets do, missed 3 weeks, was just 1 for 12 in his St Lucie rehab, which ultimately turned into a 7 for 49 month, representing a real setback to his season.  

Part of the August woes was a 1 for 12 start to his AA career when he was promoted to Binghamton at the end of August.

Then he added a decent .255 with 11 RBIs in 13 September games.  

He did go 4 for 9 in the September playoffs, so his 17 for 60 September represented a nice rebound from August's injury-related 7 for 49 slump.

Overall, he hit .253, with 23 doubles and 14 HRs in 107 games.  Had he not been injured, 30 doubles and perhaps 20 HRs would have been a distinct possibility.

A bit distressing, however, were his 129 Ks in 107 games vs. just 36 walks, a far cry from his low K Georgia Tech days.  

He did get hit by pitches 11 times, which helped his OBP end up at .326.  

And that glimpse of college speed disappeared - he was just 1 for 3 in steals, causing Rickey Henderson to exhale in relief, knowing his 130 steals record will remain safe.

Surprisingly, while he hit a lower .243 at home vs. .263 on the road, 10 of his 14 HRs were on the road, despite Brooklyn being his home address most of the year.  I still wonder how many HRs he lost in Cyclone Park.

Finally, in 68 plate appearances with 2 outs and RISP, he hit just .226.  Disappointing when one considers his RBI machine nature in college, and an area to improve upon.

To me, it had to be a solid but somewhat disappointing season for him, although I am sure he learned a lot.

He was ranked highly pre-season 2023 (#50, #36, and #64 by 3 key rankers e.g., Baseball America). It might be possible he will have slipped out of the top 100 in all 3, when they soon re-rank.  

Right or wrong, I slipped Parada down to being my # 5 Mets prospect behind Jett Williams (1), Drew Gilbert (2), Luisangel Acuna (3), and Ronny Mauricio (4).

He is still very young, having been promoted to AA just before he turned 22, and will play almost all of 2024 as a 22 year old, so while he is not shooting up as fast age-wise as Francisco Alvarez did, my guess is 2024 is a big bounce-back year for Parada, and once he conquers AA and AAA, he could easily be a late-in-season call up to the NY Mets.  Or sooner if (heaven forbid) Alvarez is injured at some point.

Parada did, after all, really jump from a good 2021 Georgia Tech season to his outstanding 2022 Georgia Tech stats, suggesting he digests, learns and improves.

If he wants to hit in the high minors like he's at Georgia Tech again in 2024, though, that will be fine with me.

Catching-wise, everyone and their mother were stealing bases on him in April. so his 28 for 147 in caught stealing in 2023 (18%) was not as bad as it looked.  More like 22%-23% after April.  He made 10 errors in 72 games catching, which seems high until you realize how many guys are trying to steal in the minors, but he had just 7 passed balls. 

But...did the 5'11" 200 pound righty hitting Parada deserve to be the 11th overall pick in 2022?  

We will likely get a much better read on that in 2024.

Hopefully, the current answer to that murky question turns into a resounding YES.

Keep in mind, lastly, that in games he did not catch, he was the DH.  

So, the possibility of him taking over for Pete Alonso at first base in 2025 seems unlikely, although if he moves out of the catcher's spot, first base might be his ideal landing place.  Even in college, he only caught or played at DH, no first base.

And it is too early to tell if he could be another Pete Alonso bat-wise. I do have my doubts. But those tremendous 2022 G Tech #s suggest that Pounding Pete-equivalence on Kevin's part is still a possibility.

What are your thoughts and observations?  

How do you “Mack’s Mexperts” see him progressing in 2024?

Before I go, a rare photo of super tall Brooklyn and Binghamton teammate Paul Gervase and short fellow Brooklynite and Binghamtonian Jett Williams.

OK, just kidding.

 It’s a photo of former NBA greats Yao Ming (7’6”) & Muggsy Bogues (5’3”)

 Another small Stearns move yesterday:

Yohan Ramirez, recently DFA’d  by the Chicago White Sox, was inked by the Metsies. In 31 games in 2023, the righty hurler posted a 4.23 ERA. Ramirez was added to the 40-man roster.