What's on tap for Mets at 2024 MLB Draft?

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Over 11 seasons in the Astros’ organization, Kris Gross and his colleagues produced more big leaguers -- think Alex Bregman, Jeremy Peña, Hunter Brown, et al -- than any other team. For three of those years, Gross worked tangentially with David Stearns, who was then Houston’s assistant general manager.

Stearns, both up close and later from afar, came away impressed enough to make Gross one of his first hires, bringing him aboard last offseason as the Mets’ vice president of amateur scouting. It’s a big job. Gross is now in charge of MLB Draft strategies, which owner Steve Cohen has referenced many times as a crucial pillar of the organization’s long-term aspirations.

The new-look process begins on Sunday night with the first two rounds, live from the All-Star Game grounds in Arlington, Texas.

“It’s been a learning process on both sides,” Gross said. “We’ve taken a lot of good things the Mets have done, a lot of good things that I’ve done in my past, combined those, and I think we’re in a good spot, and ready to get down to Port St. Lucie and get this show started.”

Shortly after Gross arrived on the scene, Mets officials attended MLB’s second Draft Lottery, with hopes that they might score a protected, top-six pick. When that didn’t happen, the Mets saw their first selection in this year’s Draft fall to No. 19 overall because of Competitive Balance Tax penalties -- the price they paid for signing high-salaried superstars like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who contributed to the highest payroll in MLB history.

Still, Gross sees a Draft board rich in college position players and “a nice group of surprise arms” who could soon become Mets.

To be clear: Gross is not going about this process alone. Populating his war room are longtime Mets scout Tommy Tanous, who is now a special advisor to Stearns, and incumbent director of amateur scouting Drew Toussaint. Those three will join several dozen other employees at the club’s Spring Training facility in Port St. Lucie, Fla., next week.

For the past seven months, Gross has worked to teach his new team the philosophies he honed over more than a decade in Houston, while gleaning what he could from the Mets’ in-house processes. Things as simple as scouting lingo can vary from club to club, creating a learning curve on both sides of the equation.

“There’s some really good people over here,” Gross said. “Being able to take a little bit from each has really made this process and put us in a good spot for this Draft coming up.”

Here are some further details on what awaits Gross and the Mets:

What to expect Sunday night: The Mets’ first pick is No. 19 overall. It carries a slot value of $4,219,200, or a little less than half the organization’s total bonus pool of $9,572,200. Teams can go “over slot” to sign a player from any round, but they cannot exceed their total bonus pool without penalty. If they sign their first-round pick to a $5 million deal, for example, they’ll need to find savings elsewhere in the Draft.

The Mets will also make their second-round pick on Sunday at No. 46 overall.

What happens after that? Day 2 of the Draft will take place Monday afternoon, with rounds 3-10. The event will wrap up with rounds 11-20 on Tuesday. The Mets don’t have any compensatory picks this year, so they’ll finish with 20 selections.

Whom might they pick? In recent MLB Pipeline mock Drafts, the Mets have been linked to a bevy of college outfielders, including Oklahoma State’s Carson Benge, Mississippi State’s Dakota Jordan and North Carolina’s Vance Honeycutt. Considering Gross’ affinity for the college bats in this Draft, it wouldn’t be surprising to see New York go in one of those directions.