With depth in Draft, Mets see chance to 'have fun'

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.

Last year for the Mets, Draft day was a boon. With a pair of first-round selections and five picks in the top 90, the Mets believed they made franchise-altering improvements to their farm system.

This year, the Draft looks drastically different. Because the club exceeded Major League Baseball’s Competitive Balance Tax threshold by more than $40 million during their offseason spending spree, New York had its top selection fall from 22nd to 32nd overall. It will be late Sunday night by the time general manager Billy Eppler, vice president of amateur scouting Tommy Tanous and their team get to pick. They have just two selections in the top 90.

• Draft Central | Order | Top 250 prospects | Bonus pools

“Where the net was a little wider last year in scouting evaluations at the top of the Draft last year, your net gets a little wider at the back end of the first round,” said Tanous, who runs the Mets’ Draft board with the help of scouting director Drew Toussaint, assistant general manager Ben Zauzmer, and advisors Marc Tramuta and Steve Martone. “But we have the resources, we have the manpower to be able to cover either scenario. That’s one of the benefits to what [owner] Steve [Cohen] has brought to us.”

First pick and bonus slot: No. 32 overall, $2,607,500
Additional first-day picks: No. 56 overall
Total bonus pool: $8,440,400

The last time New York waited this long to pick was in 2015, when it forfeited its first-round selection to sign Michael Cuddyer to a free agent contract. That Draft was relatively forgettable for the Mets, who took Desmond Lindsey with their second-round pick and didn’t come away with a single impact big leaguer.

But Tanous has infused the system with talent since, unearthing Major Leaguers after the first round including:

• Pete Alonso (second round, 2016)
• Mark Vientos (second round, 2017)
• Josh Walker (37th round, 2017)
• Simeon Woods-Richardson (second round, 2018)
• Tylor Megill (eighth round, 2018)
• Bryce Montes de Oca (ninth round, 2018)

Others from more recent Drafts -- including pitching prospects Dominic Hamel, Christian Scott, Mike Vasil and Nate Lavender from the 2021 class -- have shown significant promise.

New York will look for more of the same from Sunday through Tuesday, when the 2023 Draft takes place in Seattle. Just because the Mets don’t have a first-round pick, doesn't mean they lack opportunities. Their top selection is higher than the Draft slots of David Wright, Jacob deGrom, Jeff McNeil and plenty of others throughout franchise history. Beyond that, the Mets have two third-round picks and two compensatory picks after the fourth round, offering them plenty of possibility.

“We have a chance to have some fun in the middle rounds,” Tanous said. “This Draft has a little bit of everything. It has more depth than probably we first thought. There’s college hitting. There’s high school hitters. There’s some college pitching that we like. It might be a little bit low on high school pitching this year, but this Draft actually has some depth to it.”

Here’s a look at how the Mets have fared with their top picks from the last five Drafts, with their current team in parentheses:

2022: C Kevin Parada (High-A Brooklyn)
2021: RHP Kumar Rocker (did not sign, later drafted by the Rangers)
2020: OF Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs organization, traded in a deal for Javier Báez and Trevor Williams)
2019: 3B Brett Baty (Mets)
2018: OF Jarred Kelenic (Mariners, traded in a deal for Edwin Díaz and Robinson Canó)