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12/24/23

Tom Brennan - Updated Retrospective on Mets 2014 Draft

 


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 (including those from beyond round 5) made it to the dance. 

Not to get too anciently historical, I thought I’d start at 2012 and work forward to 2022, a year at a time.

Today?  

The Mets' 2014 Draft: 

The first round brought us Michael Conforto 10th overall.  Mets' leadership was popping champagne corks when he (to their surprise and delight) slipped down to # 10 for them.  A very solid if not quite elite 10th overall pick, with 147 career homers and a 16.3 WAR so far.

HOWEVER…

Drafted a mere 3 picks after MC Hammer was All Star Trea Turner, whom Mack frequently touted as a guy to draft prior to that year’s draft. 

Trea has 33 career WAR, essentially twice that of Conforto. 

That dampens my enthusiasm over the “gleeful” Conforto pick.

Round 2 - no pick.  No pick = no fun.

Round 3 - Milton Ramos - a bust pick.  I mean really...Milton Ramos??

.241/.290/.315 in the minors.

Like so many Mets picks, he hit around .240 in the minors without power. He'd have made a fine pick several rounds later, but not the 3ed round. 

At the time, he was touted in the draft listings, I saw somewhere as high as 34th overall, and another example that the draft is a crap shoot.

Mack's take at the time was this:

Milton Ramos may be a very special player and could easily turn out to be the most talented shortstop in the Mets organization. This was a stroke of genius on draft day, who shouldn’t have been around when the 84th pick came up. He was easily one of the top 50 ballplayers available for the draft that year.  

But…is Ramos going to be another in a serious of excellent defensive Mets shortstop prospects who get their bats knocked out of their hands by quality pitching?

Mack was right - it is hard to tell, especially for real young kids, and yes, he mostly got bats knocked out of his hands thereafter.

Round 4 had Eudor Garcia, who seemed to be an emerging hitter of some promise, but PEDs made him short-lived and submerging.  A solid .282 in 940 career ABs with 131 RBIs - then, suddenly, poof, gone.

Call his selection what you want. I'll call it: Bust pick.

Round 5 - Josh Prevost - the 6'7" pitcher was big and bad - but "bad" in a bad way, not a good way.  

Bust pick.

The only other 2014 pick that made the bigs was the traded Brad Wieck, a very tall (6'8"), very high strikeout pitcher with control issues.  He was a PTBNL in the deal that brought the Mets big hat bust wild slinger Alex Torres.  Big Brad has 89 Ks and 24 walks in 59 innings in the majors, after 459 Ks in 326 innings in the minors.  Nasty. But TJS got him; perhaps he will resurface post-surgery at age 32 in 2024. He also lost some serious time due to the following:

"(The Cubs) transferred lefty Brad Wieck from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL, per a club announcement. Wieck, who is sidelined by an irregular heartbeat, will undergo an ablation procedure in an effort to address the issue, tweets Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. He had a similar procedure performed in February 2020."

I hope he makes a big comeback.

All in all, quite a terrible draft for the Mets, after the “all-too-obvious” Conforto selection. Which, compared to Trea Turner, turned out to be a less-than-optimal pick, especially since he was a huge obstacle to the Mets while playing for years with his drafting team, the Nationals.

Next up?  The 2015 Mets Draft Post-Mortem.

CABBAGE, LOTS OF CABBAGE:

From the NY Post: 

The Mets will pay a record luxury tax of $100.7 million, according to the AP, which obtained the numbers from MLB.


17 comments:

  1. Garcia actually called me on the phone to see if I could help him get back on the Mets

    A very nice person that was raised up in a country that sold PEDs out of their Bodega with no prescription

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  2. Turner was drafted by the Padres, not the Nationals. He was traded by Padres to Nationals.

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  3. True - thanks for that clarification. I keep forgetting that. If only Lana Turner would remind me...

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  4. Mack, that's cool. I looked and saw Eudor played some indy ball in 2017 and Mexican AAA in 2018, nothing since...Guess he gave up. Eventually, they almost all give up.

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  5. No problem. The only reason I remember was because Mack suggested Mets draft him so I following the draft hoping Mets would draft him and I was upset they passed on him , and I watched as he was drafted by Padres.

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  6. Cool - thanks.

    Hey Mack, BTW, Eudor's Baseball Ref page listed him at 6'0", 264. I guess he got really hefty as the playing career was winding up.

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  7. Do you think the Mets should go after Bauer?

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  8. Believing in the ability to reform, if Bauer has in fact reformed (think Scrooge, before and after) and is willing to be humble and respectful....maybe.

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    Replies
    1. I think if he repents, does 10 hail Mary's and washed Mrs. Steve's ride... no

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  9. Turner was the pick plain and simple. Why would you not draft a SS with all the tools he had over an outfielder with some power is typical Mets. Look we've been over .500 only 4 times since Citi opened in 09' through now 2 ownerships so no matter how you look at it we suck so what exactly is DS and SC gonna do about it? The Post had an article on the 22nd that said: We're going to be thoughtful and not impulsive and thinking about sustainability over the intermediate long-term (what the hell does that mean), but not focused on winning the headlines over the next week. What a bunch of crap and the same nonsense we lived through with the Wilpons seamingly forever. If your giving up on this year just say so don't give us the "we're going to be competitive garbage" as my love affair with Daddy Warbucks has come to a halt as the honeymoon phase is over it's time for put up or shut up. Frankly I want them to win at least some of the headlines as I remember a line from one of my favorite movies Aliens when Bill Paxton's character Pvt. Hudson says during a very bleek moment: hey maybe you didn't notice but we're getting our asses kicked and now as Met fans its pretty much the same thing SO DO SOMETHING PLEASE! The thought of battling the Nats for last place doesn't exactly get the juices following. Now Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

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  10. FAs,Giolito and JD Martinez or do you give Vientos a shot? Chapman,Hicks or Robertson? Who thinks Baty,Alvarez and Vientos are going to be ML players?

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  11. Woodrow, my article Wed 11 AM will outline what I think the Mets' plan ought to be

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  12. Mack, if the Mets signed Bauer, and next season is 24, I'd nickname him Mack Bauer.

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    Replies
    1. Now Juan Soto liked my story

      Should I start recruiting him?

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  13. Turner was a skinny, fast SS, no power. And his agent was Scott Bora$. That’s why he lasted that far down and why a Wilson would shit at the thought of negotiating with Boras.

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