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.

 

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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.

 

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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. 

 

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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.

 

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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. 

 

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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

Good morning.

I decided to change my Sunday FWIW post to one of observations the previous week in both baseball, in general, and particularly the Mets. It will begin with what I see on the past Sunday up to this week's Saturday. I can do this. It's my blog.

There's not much we can say about Sunday's thrashing by the Braves. The only good news, to me, is this kind of loss happened this early and showed some areas we need to work on early in this season.

Both the starters and middle relievers show there are adjustments needed to be made. I wasn't surprised at what I saw (different see) from Corey Oswalt. I've said a number of times last year that his only future in major league baseball is as a middle reliever. Rick Porcello, simply put, was a mess. We can not win anything this year unless we get quality starter pitching past Jake deGrom. And middle relief looks like the same problem we had for years here.

Yes, the bats are soft right now, but pitching might be our Achilles heal this season.

I awoke Tuesday to a three home run win against Boston. Buy, this was not the Red Sox I remember. The pitching alone has been decimated in one season.

Speaking of home runs, there were like 346 of them on Monday, which blows away the theory that pitchers are first ready when the season starts. One of those drones calling the game on ESPN said this was because of the difference of temperature from April to late July. Sounds like a good theory. I always thought that pitchers could prepare better in the off-season with maintaining a season like training schedule. Batters to me just couldn't duplicate game like conditions. I know of no batting case that can produce a 93 mph sinker, or a 95 mph fastball, with late movement. That being said, what was produced on Monday throws this theory out the window. With lots if sink.

The Mets inked catcher Bruce Maxwell to a minor league contract. Maxwell was a heralded second round pick in the 20212 draft by Oakland, out of Birmingham-Southern College.

Maxwell was a reserve catcher for three seasons with Oakland before being released. Some say this was done after the combined events of being the first player to kneel while the Star Spangled Banner was played and the fact that he wound up in the clinker for felony assault, 

He went down to the Mexican League in 2019 and produced a very impressive stat line of /325/.408/.559/.967, with 24-HR and 112-RBIs. This was the first year since his last year in college that he showed this kind of pop.

I'm sort of confused with this signing. The Mets already have four catchers on their 60-man squad, and have Ali Sanchez, Patrick Mazeika, David Rodriguez, and Austin Bossart waiting in the wings in Syracuse. Makes no sense to me.

No matter how hard I try, I can't build a viable lineup using Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) as the main factor. The addition of Jeff McNeil's sub-par performance in the field so far just adds to the agita one feels when a ball is hit, either in the infield or left field (don't get me started on J.D. Davis). Pete Alonso is no Keith Hernandez but you just can't keep sailing balls out of his limited range. 

In my opinion, the Mets are going to have to keep generating excess runs in order to turn this into a great season.  

Lastly. After one tenth of this season comes to an end, I have to share with you how underwhelmed I am with the results so far. The starters have been okay at best, the pen is still a mess, the defense still sucks, we still haven't found a decent closer, and our hitting has no urgency to it.

I see no reason to elaborate. 

Best Case Scenario

The Mets are 4 games below .500, are plagued with injuries etc... etc... Is anyone surprised? Well if you are, then you shouldn't be. Things happen... seemingly more often to the Mets, but all over sports. The Mets have performed beyond admirably, considering all of the many problems they've faced. So at this point does Terry Collins break out a nude dress-up doll of Fred Wilpon and take off a piece of clothing for every Met win? (Maybe better to put a piece on for every win and remove one for a loss) Or are the Mets just kidding themselves about 2011?

The FACT is, that 2011 has plenty of games left to play and who knows... maybe Lucas Duda will convert to Voodoo and start hitting HRs like he's Jobu's favorite son. You don't give up on the season because the Mets are not statistically likely to compete. But... there are some things you COULD do.

1. Shut Down Davis: Get him the surgery and have him healthy to start Spring Training 2012.
2. Leave Johan To Rehab: Rehab starts are fine but there is NO reason to rush him back for 2011. If all he did in 2011 was pitch in the minors and get back into shape, I'd be happy.
3. Slow Reyes Down...: He's already lowered his price tag for this off-season TWICE with injuries but he's also the future of the franchise. Don't need to push him back early or too hard once he's back.
4. View The Future: September Call-Ups are big. We need to see these kids play a little in the "Bigs." We don't need to see Willie Harris or Scott Hairston anymore.
5. RELAX: 2011 was deemed a .500 team AT BEST and that is basically what we've gotten.