Mets News and Links is very proud to present Baseball insider and life long Mets Fan David J. Rubin and his thoughts on today's Day 2 of the 2023 New York Mets Draft:
Day two was another very interesting day for the Mets in their quest to build up their farm system. They once again strengthened themselves up the middle, with 2 excellent shortstop picks & one defense-first catching prospect in Christian Pregent, a Stetson Senior (Jake's alma mater) who also has pop in his bat. There were a number of college arms with enough skills to put the team's Pitching Lab to the test, but in drafting a number of college picks they've once again given themselves the option of offering under-slot in order to go over-slot on their first 2 picks from day one as well as, potentially SS Boston Baro, a UCLA commit, and the very intriguing 2-way prospect, RHP/OF Nolan McLean with the 91st pick overall. MLB Pipeline says McLean “generates high exit velocities and massive raw power to all fields with a combination of bat speed, strength and leverage.”
His fastball tops out at 98mph & he possesses an above-average slider, but needs work on his control. On the mound, he projects as either a closer or, potentially, a mid-rotation arm with upside, and at the plate scouts have his power potential at 60, as he needs work on his pitch recognition & reducing strikeouts(both common problems with today's hitters). The good news for now is that, in the "days of Ohtani," the Mets' Development Team is willing to let him both pitch & hit, allowing him enough rope to run with his talents to see where it takes him. They should be commended for that, as his intrigue as a prospect is what led them to draft him a year after the Orioles had drafted him, and would not sign him due to questionable physicals. With Baltimore, though, "questionable physicals" seems to be a very common outcome for a number of the prospects they've decided not to sign or trade for, so at this point, it does not pay to focus on that.
I was able to briefly speak with an amateur scout friend today, and he said that the Mets might have 2 very interesting sleepers on their hands in Shortstop AJ Ewing, who has first round talent, and lefty pitcher Zach Thornton, a tall gangly kid who can put on 15-25 lbs & will be another great project for the new Mets pitching lab. With his frame, if he gains strength & adds 2-4 mph on his fastball he can potentially be a mid-rotation starter & at 21 if he's a fast learner could potentially be in Queens in 2-3 years
As always, so far, this draft has been a gamble on potential, and the New York Mets braintrust has shown a penchant over the last seven years of bringing in a combination of obvious and not so obvious talent that has created a quality core now & for the future. I am excited to see how this draft finishes out tomorrow and when all is said and done, in three or four years, we should know just how well the team did in providing the baseball operations team with sufficient talent either on the field or to utilize as trade chips.
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