Mack - Draft Notes

 

There are some changes coming up in the 2021 draft. As explained by Prep Baseball - 

- After being held in early to mid-June for decades, the 2021 MLB draft will move to July 11-13 and will be held in Atlanta as part of the All-Star Game festivities.

- 20 rounds minimum, and likely not to exceed 30 rounds total.

- College players who turn 21 years old within 45 days from the draft are eligible. This extends that deadline to August 27.

- Signing deadline has been moved to August 1, 2021.

- Payment of Signing Bonuses. All signing for players drafted or signed as a passed over free agent shall be paid under the following schedule:

     Within 30 days of approval: Up to $100,000

     July 1, 2022: 50% of the remainder

     July 1, 2023: 50% of the remainder

- In the event that each Club plays less than 81 regular season games in 2020, MLB has the right, after conferring in good faith with the MLB Player's Association, to modify the Draft order.

- Signing Bonus Values. The 2021 signing bonus slots shall be equal to the signing bonus slots associated with that same selection in the 2019 Draft, regardless of the number of rounds in the 2021 Draft (i.e., the signing bonus value for the first overall selection in the 2021 Draft will be the same as the signing bonus value for the first overall selection in the 2019 Draft).

- Passed-Over/Non-Drafted Players. Each Club may sign an unlimited number of passed over players for $20,000 or less.

- No Club may trade its Competitive Balance pick.

As a result of the draft date changes, look for more high school and college showcases, games, and leagues, and possibly a medical combine to be created moving forward. All of these would allow clubs to gather more information before they make their picks.

One direct effect of moving the draft back a month includes the elimination of one or two minor league teams for each MLB club. The short-season clubs would no longer exist outside of a team's spring training facilities and team complexes in the Dominican Republic. 

 

Patrick Ebert - @PatrickEbert44 

Really liked watching 2021 C Ethan Glossa play for

@RakeCityOrg – strong, sturdy build, equally strong arm helps neutralize opposing run game, squared up the baseball several times, uncommitted but that likely will change in the not-so-distant future

 

The @GRBRays has no shortage of arms (and overall talent) this weekend at Hitters Invite, 2021 RHP Ryan Schneider (

@UEAthleticsBASE) is one of those arms, offers plenty of phys. projection throwing 86-87/88, has touched higher in past, good spin/command to 76-77 curve ball 

 

I don't think 2021 RHP Eli Hoyt will be uncommitted much longer, threw well on Saturday for @stiksacademy at the Hitters Invite, easy 83-86 mph FB that he commanded well with a fast arm and room for a lot more, foundation for good CB too 

 

Uncommitted 2021 OF Ryan St. Ledger batted leadoff for

@RakeCityOrg all weekend at the Hitters Invite – needs more experience but there are clear tools, highlighted by his impact speed, and the ball jumped off his bat more than once 

You can read more from Patrick on his new site, “The Grind” 

https://thegrindbaseball.com/  

 

Kendall Rogers - @KendallRogers 

A quick look at some college MLB Draft prospects who are now eligible in 2021:

 

* @TexasBaseball -  LHP Pete Hansen (was on the fence before. Now def is)

 

* @UKBaseball - OF John Rhodes

 

* @OleMissBSB -  OF Jerrion Ealy

 

There will be more … 

 

TRANSFER NEWS: @CharlotteBSB has gotten two big eligibility waivers cleared by the NCAA — RHP’s Austin Marazos and Will Butcher. Marazos almost signed with White Sox this summer. Mid 90s arm. Butcher did not pitch for #NCstate last season. #CUSA

— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) September 1, 2020

 

 

JJ Cooper  - (@jjcoop36)

 

Two things to watch here.

1. Scouts are allowed in (if team opens its park to scouts it can send scouts out too). First chance for pro scouts to do in-person scouting since spring training was cut short.

2. No guarantee all teams do it. 

 

https://twitter.com/jjcoop36/status/1301000463446409216?s=20 

 

 

An excellent story on top prospect Gavin Williams - 

247 Sports  

 

And another great article on prospect James Wood - 

Baseball America  

 

And here’s one on C/RHP Tommy Splaine 

Prep Baseball  

 

Dan Drullinger   -  (@DanDrullinger)

Uncommitted RHP Stephen Pelli (@Stephen_pelli34)

Recent Live ABs

FB: 93-95 (T96)
SL: 81-83
CH: 83-85
CB: 78-80

Heavy FB complemented by a plus CH, works his tail off. UNC transfer, 3 years of eligibility remaining.  

Dan Drullinger 

 

Prep Baseball -   

What is the long term position for Tommy Splaine? Catcher? Pitcher? According to The National Athletic Trainers’ Association, high school catcher/pitchers are nearly 3-times more likely to sustain an injury. Although pitch limits are well established in baseball, the results of this new study indicate that a 2.9 times greater injury risk may result from cumulative throwing load from both pitching and non-pitching activities. Truth is, catchers throw significantly more than other fielding positions, period.  My point is this...Ultimately performance variables, success, and matters of the heart for the catching or pitching position will determine Splaine’s overall impact potential at the college or professional level. He will have to choose one or the other eventually.  Fact, Splaine is really good at both, and with 50+ representatives from 24 MLB Organizations in attendance, some teams 2-3 deep, and the profound talent on the NorCal ProCase roster , Splaine will certainly attract evaluators on both sides of the fence.

 

 

Tom Brennan - HEFTY JURADO

I have to confess that as a myopic Mets fan, I had never seen Ariel Jurado pitch.

Frankly, before this year, I'd never heard of him.  Myopia Man, that's me.

So, I get home, and it's pre-game, and I see this guy with goggles in the pen loosening up - and I think, "uh oh, this guy is our starter tonight?"

I see a young guy with a pot belly and I think, "you're a young athlete, dude, what's with the pouch?"

I think immediately, "I wonder if there is a correlation between carrying excess weight and a lack of intensity towards his pitching craft?"

Then I watch the first inning - missing the plate, getting rocked - and I think, hmm, may be something to that theory.  Remarkably, he walked no one - but those 9 hits in 4 innings ain't too spiffy.  Bringing his career totals to 223 hits in 181 innings.  

Is it just me, or are the Mets starting to collect "a HR allowed every six innings, career" sorts of "pitchers"?

If I had to guess, he looks like a guy with a 5.97 ERA - wow, I guessed right.

He ain't "Bartolo Colon Hefty," that much is clear.

Would have liked seeing Kevin Smith take that start instead.

Then, Franklyn Kilome comes in, and he seems like the type of pitcher who is almost very good, but his Italian chef tendencies are too strong - he just serves up too many meatballs.

His ability to stop serving up meatballs will determine if he has a long, successful career, or a short unsuccessful one.

Meanwhile, looks like the McNeil swoon is over, but Pete Alonso's miserable summer continues.  The big guy is coming up mighty small in 2020.  Maybe when Todd comes back, he can DH for a week, and Luis Guillorme (hitting 200 points higher than Pete) can be in the line up instead.  

Just a thought.  You may say to me, "you can't be serious."  I will say to you, "yes, I am serious."

This team finds losing games all too easy, if you ask me.

METS ANNOUNCE SCHEDULE UPDATES

 

Media Relations <mediarelations@nymets.com>	Fri, Aug 28, 9:02 PM (11 hours ago)
to

 

METS ANNOUNCE SCHEDULE UPDATES

 

 

FLUSHING, N.Y., August 28, 2020 – The New York Mets today in conjunction with Major League Baseball announced the Mets-Marlins game postponed on Thursday, August 27 will be made up on Monday, August 31 at 1:10 pm at Citi Field.

 

Additionally, the Mets-Yankees game at Citi Field on Thursday, September 3 will start at 4:10 pm.

2021 Draft Prospects: Ryan Cusick, Eric Cerantola, Gavin Williams, Andrew Susac, Kendrick Calilao

 

Kendall Rogers   

 

@Kendall Rogers  D1 Baseball

 

RHP Christian McGowan (ranked #123 College 159) was slated to transfer to Kansas State. He has now decided to stay at Eastern Oklahoma.

 

-  -  -  -

 

Ryan Cusick 

 

RHP   20/yrs. Old   6-6   220   Wake Forest

 

Fastball sits in the 92-94 range, hitting 96 in early innings. Plus slider and average change.

 

Has struggled with command issues throughout high school and college.

 

2020 limited stat line:  4-starts, 0-2, 3.22, 22.1-IP, 43-K, 18-BB

 

Mack Projection:

 

18 walks in 22 innings doesn’t hack it at any level. I just don’t see him becoming a pro starter unless he can curb the wildness that has been with him through grade school. I project him as a reliever due to the fact that he also is a strikeout machine, but I wouldn’t consider him in the first 10 rounds like other have, some as high as the 3^rd round.

 

-  -  -  - 

 

Eric Cerantola 

 

RHP   20/yrs. Old   6-5   195   Mississippi State 

 

Cerantola has a 3-pitch mix which stands up with any of his peers. The fastball sits in the 92-96 range. An above average slider. And a downward fade change-up.

 

Control has been an issue. Lack of movement on his fastball have hurt him. More hittable than he should be.

 

2020 limited stats:  4-starts, 1-1, 3.18, 17-IP, 22-K, 11-BB 

 

Mack’s projection:  Notice the walks in 2020? The last thing the Mets need is another starter that deals up home run balls. Sounds like a right handed Steven Matz to me. For me, it doesn’t matter if this guys name keeps coming up available when it would be my time to pick him. I would make a pass here. 

 

-  -  -  - 

 

Gavin Williams 

 

RHP   21/yrs. Old   6-6   230   East Carolina 

 

Most draft experts consider Williams as the hardest thrower in this year’s class. His fastball touches 101. Add to that a + curve, and change that come in as low as 55.

 

Injury prone. A finger injury kept him out of most of 2019. Just 68 career college innings.

 

Floor is a power reliever.

 

2020 limited stats:  2-G, 3-IP, 0.00, 5-K

 

Mack projection:  I hate guys that can throw hard but stay injured. If this is happening now, why would anything change as a pro. How many guys have we had that had huge K/IP ration that didn’t pan out (take it away, Tom).

 

Relievers go after the 5^th round. His velo could make him an earlier pick but I would pass here.

 

-  -  -  -  

 

Andrew Susac 

 

RHP   17/yrs. Old   6-3   215   Jesuit HS (CA) 

 

Tall and very strong. Fastball touches 93-94. ++ upper speed high spin 70s slider. Definite a swing and miss pitch. His best pitch is probably his mid-80s change that falls off the table.

 

Strong MLB bloodlines.

 

Mack projection:

 

I like this kid and I can’t find anything wrong with him. He’s ranked somewhere between the 75^th-100th top prospect in this draft, so he should still be on the board when our turn comes up in the second round.

 

I would definitely send some scouts out this summer to follow and report on him. 

 

-  -  -  -

 

Kendrick Calilao 

 

1B/OF   20/yrs. old   6-1   200   Florida 

 

Hey! A power first baseman from Florida!

 

Kalilao is a strong, power bat, with a powerful swing. Specializes in timing and barreling up velocity. Has struggled with off-speed stuff trailing off into the dirt (who doesn’t?).

 

Potential is an average hitter with above average pop. A greay arm makes up for his poor speed and he is projected both at first and left field.

 

Top 100 prospect.

 

Mack projection:

 

I know a team isn’t suppose to pick specifically targeting positions. It’s the ole ‘best player available’ theory. Well, I just don’t think another poor running, fair fielding either first baseman or left fielder is in the cards for the Mets this draft.

 

For that reason, I would pass here.

Mack - Observations: Julio Franco, Cameron Planck, Jon Niese, Starter Solution, Jake deGrom, COVID Rest Time

 

Morning. 

 

A great week for attracting new followers. We welcome Julio Franco, Cameron Planck, and Jon Niese to our family of readers. 

 

Ageless ex-Met, Julio Franco, has now joined the faithful followers of Mack’s Mets. 

 

Franco was signed in 1978 as an international free agent, by the Philadelphia Phillies. He played for eight major league clubs during the 25 years… yes, 25 years he played in the majors. 

 

He played for the Mets in 2006 and 2007, hitting .256 in 215 at-bats. His major league career ended in the same year (2007) for the Atlanta Braves at the age of 48. 

 

He actually came back to organized ball in 2014, as a 55/yr. old, for the Fort Worth Cats in the Indy league (27-AB, .222). 

 

Cameron Planck came to the Mets as an 11^th round draft pick, out of Rowan County HS (KY). It was considered to be a real coup in signing such a heralded high school prospect who was not supposed to sign out of high school (his senior year was 74.1-IP, 0.38-ERA).

 

Sadly, shoulder pain and weakness set in that resulted in shoulder surgery. His rehab program only heightened the pain and he eventually retired with only 1.2 professional innings thrown over the 2018 and 2019 season. 

 

Niese, a particular favorite of mine, was drafted in the 7^th round of the 2005 draft, by the Mets, out of Refiance HS (OH). 

 

He pitched in 10 major league seasons, of which nine were for the Mets. His signature year was 2012 when he went 13-9, 3.40 in 30 starts. 

 

His complete Mets stats were: 61-62, 3.99. 

 

Please welcome them to our site.

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I work up after the Corey Oswalt led victory on Tuesday with some thoughts on how the Mets may want to operate (bad choice of words) their rotation for the remainder of this miserable season.

 

First, the good news. Jake deGrom can pitch late into the games and insure us a fighting chance to win more games than he loses.

 

More good news. The pen is starting to mellow out and produce numbers any playoff team would be proud to have these days.

 

And last good news. The bats have awoken and we are now generating 4-5+ run games consistently.

 

So, my suggestion going forward is to take the rest of whoever we throw out there as a starter and allow them to pitch either 4.0 innings pitched, or 60 pitches, whatever comes first.

 

Then, create an eight man pen which would include at least four rotating relievers throwing two innings each.

 

This could work if we continue to generate the kind of runs this crew is capable of.

 

The starters won’t like this but we are even. We don’t like their ERAs either.

 

-  -  -  -

 

Fangraphs had these thoughts on the possibility of trading Jake deGrom:

deGrom is 32 years old and needs to maintain five-plus win seasons his age-33 and 34 seasons to justify placement on this list. If he pitches well, the $30 million salary in 2023 is well worth it, or deGrom opts out. There’s the risk he pitches poorly, and that the team trading for him will have committed more than $100 million in addition to sending good players the Mets’ way. While most teams would love to have Jacob deGrom, even at his salary, trading for him is not be in the cards for every club. It’s possible there would be enough teams interested to build a solid market, but a massive haul likely isn’t possible.

 

-  -  -  -  

 

Lastly… the delay in the Mets schedule sets up a whole new development in creating a rotation from this fractured list of starters.

 

First, it must be determined how many games will be postponed.

 

Two members of our rotation… David Peterson and Michael Wacha could be ready to return sometime in the next seven days. This would allow both of them to be added back to a rotation headed by Jake deGrom. Add Rick Porcello and Seth Lugo and things wouldn’t look as bad as this weekend looked before the delay.

Tom Brennan - UPDATING MY EDWIN DIAZ AND DOMINIC SMITH POSITIVITY TRACKERS

Directions: Best When Taken Daily in Proper Dosages

I did an article earlier this season strongly suggesting, in the case of Edwin Diaz, of going with the flow, doing what works.

To whit, as a Met, the 9th inning hasn't worked well since his arrival in 2019 in Mets pinstripes, while his pitching in other innings speaks for itself.  

So I post the following, both to update and to remind the reader:

Edwin Diaz as a Met in 9th innings: 

38 runs allowed in 46.2 IP.  Sixteen homers allowed, 19 walks.

Edwin Diaz as a Met in the 7th, 8th, and extra innings:

Hitters are 9 for 65 with 5 walks, 3 runs allowed, no homers, and 36 Ks out of 72 batters. 

The numbers in the 9th are awful.

For the 7th, 8th, and extras, though, the numbers are stunning - Mariano Rivera, John Franco and  Billy Wagner would look at those numbers and wish they could have done that.

Conclusion: Set up innings are almost as important as closer innings in winning games.  Avoid the temptation of moving Diaz back to his closer role.  Use him where he has been extremely great instead.

DOM SMITH UPDATED 550 AT BAT PROJECTION WATCH:

The other day, I looked at Doms's mostly sporadic plate appearances in 2019 and 2020 and marveled.   Some guys can't hit well with sporadic at bats, most hit better when they play regularly.  

With that in mind, what would his 2019 and 2020 numbers look like, say, over 150 games in a season at that rate of performance?  I thought they were worth updating, for your viewing consideration/pleasure:

550 at bats, 104 runs, 158 H, 39 doubles, 41 HRs, 100 RBIs, 63 BB, .287/.362/.581.

His projected .287/.362/.581 splits compare favorably to, say, Mike Piazza's career Mets splits: .296/.373/.542.  Just thought I'd add that.

Numbers that speak LOUDLY for themselves. Scream loudly.

Read the Dominic Smith prescription directions closely, Luis Rojas: 

"Administer daily.  Effects are cumulative. Do not miss a dose."