Tom Brennan - 2017 Draft Report Card: PITCHERS

All the games for 2017 in the minors have been played.  

How did the June 2017 draft class fare? 

After all, it is our pipeline.

Not so well. At all.

My last draft-related article the other day focused on hitters - and offensive picks-wise, I generously gave Sandy Alderson a D- on hitters.   Why?  Two reasons: First, they only signed 9 offensive players, and second, the 9 hit anywhere from adequately to poorly.  If you missed that article, I append it after today's topic:

2017 DRAFT PITCHERS

Sandy signed 21 drafted pitchers, compared to just 9 hitters.  You can never have too much pitching, they say.  Well, I also say you can almost never have too much hitting, especially if you are a Mets fan who has seen over the decades far too many Mets teams hit below the league median. 

But today is about the pitchers, and for that batch of signings, I give Sandy a C+.  Maybe stretch it to a B-.  Why?

1) Many guys pitched well, some not so well (most of those being very young guys, so I cut some slack there).

2) I don't see a lot of projectable major leaguers in the bunch.  Hopefully, I am very wrong there, but year in and year out, guys seem to pitch well in relief in rookie ball but many end up hitting headwinds at higher levels.  Of course, a few of these guys who relieved in 2017 will be converted to starters in 2018.  In fairness, 2018 will give a much better read on all of these gentlemen.

1st rounder 6'6" 240 LHP David Peterson was the first of 7 pitchers drafted in the first 10 rounds.  He scarcely pitched because of a lot of college innings, where he fanned 20 in one game, and generally he struck out many and walked few.

In just 3.2 IP in 2017 in Brooklyn, he allowed one run, walked 1, and fanned 6. Hopefully, he will be great and be a 2020 rotation starter for the Mets.

4th rounder RHRP Tony Dibrell had an uneven season in 2017 in Brooklyn, but showed promise.  He ended up 1-1, 5.03 in 19.2 IP, allowing 19 hits (including 4 homers), 8 walks, and a fine 27 Ks.  He got better late in the season. 

6th rounder RHRP Marcel Renteria was shaky - in 9 games, spanning just 11.1 IP, he allowed 15 hits and 7 walks, ending up 1-2, 9.53.  The 17 Ks and 3 good late season outings give some reason for optimism for Marcel.

7th rounder RHRP Conner O'Neil was 1-2, 3.28 in 19 games spanning 24.2 IP, in which he allowed 24 hits, walked 9, and fanned 28.

8th rounder RHRP Trey Cobb was 1-2, 2.63 in 20 games.  In 27.1 IP, 21 hits, 10 walks, and 30 Ks.

9th rounder RHRP Cannon Chadwick was excellent, 1-1, 1.33 in 18 games and 27 IP.  He walked 14 but fanned 40!

10th rounder RHRP Steve Villines also excelled, going 3-2, 1.65, and in 27.1 IP, walked only ONE while fanning 41!!!!

Rather than go strictly in draft order for the remaining 14 pitchers, I will do the ones who did well and then circle back to the rest:

21st rounder LHRP Aaron Ford - his 4.29 ERA was mostly boosted by his 8 runs allowed in 5.2 IP in full season Columbia ball, but overall, he threw 21 innings and fanned 33, so he had a season to be proud of.

22nd rounder RHRP Joshua Payne - the 6'6" 260 hurler threw just 16.1 innings, but walked just 4, fanned 25, and was 0-1, 3.31.

23rd rounder LHRP Jose Sierra must have done it with mirrors, as he allowed no earned runs in his 11.1 IP, but walked a really high 12 and fanned 10.

24th rounder RHP Joe Cavallaro - starting 5 games and relieving in six others, Joe threw 34.2 innings and went 3-1, 2.34 with just 23 hits and 10 walks, but 35 Ks for Kingsport.

27th rounder RHRP Billy Oxford tossed for the K Mets, going 2-1, 3.75, and fanned 29 in 24 IP.

31st rounder RHRP Ryan Selmer for Kinsport had a funny year, with 21 hits, 11 walks and just 8 Ks in 21 IP, but 0-1 and a 2.14 ERA. 

33rd rounder RHRP Mac Lozer was 2-1, 4.30 for Kingsport, but allowed 29 hits and 9 walks in 23 IP, fanning 20.

35th rounder RHRP Kyle Wilson - 1-1, 1.50, 18 IP, 13 H, 7 walks, 19 Ks.  Pretty nifty for a 35th rounder.  He and Lozer should remember that Seth Lugo was selected in the 34th round, so there is hope.

Weaker reliever performances included these, 5 out of 6 of whom were quite young, at an age where struggles should be anticipated:

13th rounder RHRP Nate Peden - just 18, he had a 6.35 ERA in 11.1 IP, allowing 19 hits and 5 walks and had 9 Ks for the GCL Mets. 

20th rounder RHRP Yadiel Flores - just turned 18 on July 31, he went 8.2 innings, for the GCL Mets, allowing 12 hits, 7 walks, fanning 6 and allowing 5 earned runs. 

29th rounder RHRP Liam McCall - yeah, yeah, he was only 18, too.  0-3, 7 earned runs in 8 innings, in which he allowed 10 hits, 11 walks, and fanned 5 in the GCL.

37th rounder LHRP Josh Walker is 22, so he is not a teenager like the above.  He was 2-1, but a 9.42 ERA in 14.1 IP with 21 hits, 6 walks, and 13 Ks.

39th rounder RHRP Noah Nunez - another 18 year old, he went 11.1 innings, 1-2, 7.15, 15 hits, 2 walks, 5 Ks.

40th and final round RHRP Ronnie Taylor, also 18, threw just 5 innings, allowed 8 earned runs, with 5 hits, 7 walks, and 5 Ks.

Overall, pitchers did satisfactorily, so there is a real reason to have hope for them collectively doing well in 2018. 



Here is a reprint of my drafted hitters' evaluations:

One player who looks like a fine pick was 17 year old 2nd rounder Mark Vientos.  The 6-4 SS played 47 games, mostly in the GCL, and hit .262 with 12 doubles and 4 homers. 24 walks, 42 Ks, and 0 for 2 in steals.

3rd rounder Quinn Brodey got into 63 games, mostly for Brooklyn, and hit .253/.303/.355 with 63 Ks.  Decent, but not great, although he did have 3 homers and 37 RBIs.  Maybe he will be good, we'll see.

4th rounder Matt Winaker also played for the Cyclones and got in just 21 games before his season ended, presumably with an injury.  He showed a fine eye, with a .402 on base %, but only had one double and no HRs.  That one extra base hit part makes him sound like a true and classic Mets offensive draft pick - but it is a small sample.

15th rounder SS Dylan Snypes scuffled mightily, hitting just .180/.301/.221 in 37 games for Brooklyn, with 52 Ks and 3 doubles, a triple, and no HRs and 3 RBIs.

16th rounder OF Rafael Gladu in 36 Kingsport games hit OK: .269/.342/.369 with 2 HRs, and was 2 for 2 in swipes.

18th round Cyclone Carl Stadjuhar had a season to forget, hitting .137 in 52 games with a staggering 76 Ks.  He did manage to hit 3 HRs.  No place to go but up, I guess.

26th round 1B Gavin Garay played for the K Mets, and in 36 games also fanned too much (47 times), but hit .246/.308/.354.  3 long balls.

27th rounder 1B Jeremy Vasquez was solid between Kingsport and Brooklyn. In 67 games, he had 15 doubles, 8 HRs, 38 RBIs, and hit .266 with 60 Ks, with the best of his production in Kingsport.

36th rounder C Robbie Kidwell struggled, hitting just 11 for 64.  One double, no HRs.

I do not need to spell it out for you...the numbers speak for themselves: the 9 drafted hitters were moderate to poor in production, especially homers and high strikeouts, and drafted in too few numbers - I mean, how do you draft and sign only 9 hitters?  NINE?

Also, in considering the overall grade, which I would say is a C- / D+, the three rookie league teams did very poorly.  While the draftees only comprised 30 of those 3 teams' players, the draftees' performance was not good.

The three teams had combined win loss records of 72-126 (Brooklyn 24-52, .316; Kingsport 29-37, .439, and GCL 19-37, .339).  I always like to compare to the Yanks, who did SO MUCH BETTER:

Brooklyn counterpart: 46-29, 22.5 games better.

Appalachian counterpart: 41-26, 11.5 games better.

The Yanks had 2 GCL teams, as compares to the Mets one. 
One was 33-27, the other was 32-27.  if you put their best on a single team, let's assume 40-18, or 21 games better than the Mets. 

Again, draw your own conclusions.