2020 was a bizarre Covid year for baseball.
In normal 2019, 40 draft rounds.
In abnormal 2020, just 5 draft rounds.
So...how did the few 2020 draftees do?
Pete Crow-Armstrong was their first rounder, and his first pro action was...for the Mets in spring training. Who does that?
He started out after spring training for the St Lucie Mets like a house on fire - but about a week in, hurt his shoulder, requiring season-ending surgery. And then...he transformed and morphed into Javier Baez. Goodbye, Crow. We'll know if that trade was for the birds in a few years.
In the 2nd round, the Mets gambled mightily and took JT Ginn, who looked like a top 10 first round pick until his elbow needed TJS prior to the draft. He returned quickly, in mid-season 2021, and pitched very well for St Lucie and Brooklyn. He'll likely grab a spot in the Mets' rotation by some time in 2023. Overall, 5-5, 3.03, 1.05 WHIP, 92 innings. Nice season. VERY nice pick.
2nd round comp pick OF Isaiah Greene went from the Mets to the Indians in the Lindor trade. The 20 year old played 40+ games in 2021 and hit .289 with a .421 OBP in rookie ball. Indians, perhaps, may have gotten themselves a good one. Just 1 HR, though. A much better Greene read will occur in 2022.
3rd rounder Anthony Walters was a cheap pick to save money towards the JT Ginn signing. The cheaply signed Walters was kind of terrible, hitting .156 in 35 games. He did walk 20 times, though, but his final walk as it turned out was when the Mets released him. So, strategically cheap pick or not, I think a 3rd round pick not making it thru his debut season without being released is a failed pick.
4th rounder C Matt Dyer wasn't hitting much when the Mets included him in the Rich Hill trade. Those Rays are geniuses, though, it sure seems - after the trade, in 27 games, he hit a blistering .336/.383/.598. Shades of Mike Piazza, it seems. How good he really will be will become clearer in 2022.
5th round reliever, righty Eric Orze, made it all the way to Syracuse in his debut season. 3-2, 3.21 in 33 games, a 1.07 WHIP, and 62 Ks vs. 13 BBs in 47.2 IP. in 9 AAA outings, 2.61. Sounds like a guy who should be expected to help the Mets' pen in 2022. An EXCELLENT pick for round 5.
Overall, had the Mets kept Crow and Greene (except Walters), it seems it would have been graded as a brief, but outstanding, 2020 Mets draft. That said, I miss the Crow. Caw, caw!
11 comments:
I was thrilled when we drafted PCA but the trade was a good one for the Mets. It should reap benefits for years before Pete would be ready.
Mack, just gotta sign Baez to make me get over the Crow flying.
Forget the thumbs down stuff, we need superior players with a backbone. Baez is one of them.
If Crow and Dyer had stayed, what an impressive short draft - better than some years with the full 40 rounds.
As I have said in the past, the Mets have drafted very well in the past 5 years... but they keep trading them away
You wonder what would have happened if they bit the bullet and traded no prospects. Short term, the Mets would have had some rocky seasons. But, keeping all the prospects? Years of exciting times would lie just ahead.
Mack I jut cannot agree with you on Baez. Baez is not the face of team we should be looking for, and he has ALREADY proven to be bad influence or Influenced with Lindor. So I want nothing to do with Baez.
Have we forgotten the issues with cespedes that were not baseball related? Have we not learned our lesson?
Tom my question for you is about Cortes, he played exclusively in the OF after playing exclusively at 2b(which i think was a great idea to get him the reps he would need)
any details you could provide on what kind of OF he was?
Like JD was a OF but we know that is a mistake? While I dont know if Cortes is an everyday starter could he be a Ben Zobrist guy?
A Quick Lesson From Mets History
Stop getting these older players. Listen to this before you decide to. Thank you and have a nice day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I
On Javier Baez
Good player. But what do you do with like say 2B Robinson Cano then? Where will 2B Carlos Cortes play in near future after Robbi retires to do Geritol commercials.
If Javier was so terrific, why then did Chicago let him go? And how is a .260 BA so great?
Listen to this before re-signing Javier for a trillion dollars of motivation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I
Eddie, Cortes made ONE error in 64 OF games vs. 6 assists. Looks impressive.
Baez could have downside…but this team needs to generate REAL up side. The kind that was missing in 2021.
Cortes will exclusively play outfield in 2022
How many of the Mets executives that were involved in the 2020 draft were still with the Mets? We needed them during the 2021 draft. We were hurt badly with our failure to sign Rocker and not having a backup plan if he failed to sign. We will need to draft well this year with that 11th round selection.
Personally, I hated to see Crow traded, but I was also upset by including Greene in the Lindor deal. This system has a glut of infielders, but is woefully short of real outfield prospects. And Lee wasn't even in the system when Greene was traded. It will be interesting to see how Lee vs. Greene pans out in the long run. I like players like that - good defenders, good OBP, good speed.
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