So speaking of the draft ...

[Frayed Knot]

Baseball's version comes up on June 4-6, and, as in that other sport, it's never too early to hear over-analysis from folks who pretend to know what they're talking about and/or cite the opinions of others as
if that knowledge is their own
... and that's where we come in.


From Jonathan Mayo at mlb.com:
Coming into the spring, scouts were enthusiastically optimistic about the talent in this year's class. That's still the case, though it's a scout's job to be critical, and every spring scout will poke holes in any class.
This year's crop appears to have more depth than elite talent at the top, with the prep set -- particularly pitching -- leading the way.
"It's a high school dominant Draft," one National League scouting director said. "There are some good college players at the top of the Draft, though maybe not the star potential of some of the Drafts of the past."

That last sentence flies in the face of the 'all this winning is terrible' attitude from late last season. At the moment, Casey Mize is being talked about as a cut above the rest


Anyway, here's what mlb.com's current top ten looks like:

1. Casey Mize, RHP, Auburn
2. Carter Stewart, RHP, Eau Gallie HS (Melbourne, Fla.) -- I truly hope that school is pronounced: Oh Golly!
3. Nick Madrigal, 2B/SS, Oregon State
4. Matt Liberatore, LHP, Mountain Ridge HS (Riverdale, Ariz.)
5. Brady Singer, RHP, Florida
6. Shane McClanahan, LHP, South Florida -- if he busts the team that chooses him will Rue that pick
7. Travis Swaggerty, OF, South Alabama
8. Jarred Kelenic, OF, Waukesha (Wisc.) West HS -- we expect a full scouting report from Monk in this guy
9. Joey Bart, C, Georgia Tech
10. Jonathan India, 3B, Florida

... and then here are the rest of the top 100 in case you want to keep alive a CPF tradition of latching onto the coolest name and rooting for him to still be around when the Mets pick at #6.
Kumar Rocker is the leader in that clubhouse for now.


Draft Order:
1. Tigers
2. Giants
3. Phillies
4. White Sox
5. Reds
6. Mets
7. Padres
8. Braves
9. Athletics
10. Pirates
11. Orioles
12. Blue Jays
13. Marlins
14. Mariners
15. Rangers
16. Rays
17. Angels
18. Royals
19. Cardinals
20. Twins
21. Brewers
22. Rockies
23. Yankees
24. Cubs
25. D-backs
26. Red Sox
27. Nationals
28. Astros
29. Indians
30. Dodgers


The Mets will next draft 48th, 83rd, 110th, and then every 30 picks after that.

[nymr83]

I don't want a guy named "Rocker" !

Seth Beer still has the best name, but is sadly a likely DH

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'd like to know Brady Singer's story. And how that fellow met his lady.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Madrigal and Singer both sound fine, though I'm also feeling real confident-ish about Swaggerty.

[Edgy MD]

I wonder how much having a name that evokes two Hall-of-Famers helps get you to the top of the list.

[bmfc1]

Mock:
https://www.mlb.com/news/projections-for-all-30-first-round-draft-picks/c-274577288?tid=151437456

Joey Bart:
https://www.blessyouboys.com/2018/5/1/17305808/mlb-draft-2018-joey-bart-scouting-report-georgia-tech-detroit-tigers

[Frayed Knot]

Jonathan Mayo (from the 'mock' link above):
Mets have gone the college route recently, taking three college arms with first-round picks in 2017 and two in 2016. The last college bat they took was Michael Conforto in 2014, and he got to the big leagues in a hurry.
The last high school pitcher the Mets took in the first round was Michael Fulmer back in 2011 and that seems like a less likely avenue for them ...


Not just to pick on Mayo, cuz most of these projections do the exact same thing, but I love how they make predictions on what type of player teams will pick with their top choice based solely on how
they spent their most recent two or three 1st round picks, as if those choices represent an unalterable pattern.
When I first started following drafts a bit the pundits were forever talking about the Mets as being a strictly college team who were all about pitching - at which point they proceeded to spend their next
five #1s in a row on position players, three of them HS'ers [Nimmo, Plawecki, Cecchini, Smith, Conforto]. And now that they reversed that mini-trend and used their last three #1s on college pitching
[Kay, Dunn, Peterson] it's suddenly assumed that the cement is already set for this coming year and those previous five drafts have as much to do with the current team as Casey Stengel and Jay Hook.

[HahnSolo]

Ryan Weathers looks exactly like his dad.

[bmfc1]

Another mock:
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2018-mlb-mock-draft-v-2-0/

[MFS62]

Omar Minaya had a great reputation for being able to scout and evaluate talent.
The Mets rehired him last December as Special Assistant to Sandy Alderson.
I would guess his job will be to help the team restock its farm system.
His first test will be the upcoming draft.
Let's see if he can put the organization back on the right track.

I thought of putting this is the " So What Now?" thread, but this seemed more appropriate because of the timing wrt the draft.

Later

[bmfc1]

The Athletic's latest mock. With all due respect to Shane's university, I'd rather the Mets get a college hitter.

6. New York Mets (slot value: $5,525,200) Selection: Shane McClanahan, LHP, South Florida The Mets have gone with pitchers with their last two top picks and they could go with a hitter here, but McClanahan’s potential as a top-of-the-rotation left-hander is tough to ignore. He has 111 strikeouts in just 66 innings this season. Although his command has come and gone at times this year, McClanahan has shown plus stuff, with his fastball touching triple digits and his changeup ranking among the best in this class. The South Florida ace had Tommy John surgery his freshman year, and command issues aren’t uncommon the first couple of years after that surgery. Others in play at this spot include India and South Alabama CF Travis Swaggerty.

https://theathletic.com/363388?shared_by=133087

[Frayed Knot]

The latest mocks have college players going in each of the first six picks as both Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo agree on the opening seven selections.
With the Mets picking 6th, their likely to either get what's left of the early college picks or their first choice of the HS guys.

That could mean either Jonathan India, 3B, U of Florida, or Matthew Libatore a LHP out of a Glendale Arizona HS

Various scouting thumbnails on the upper level players can be found here

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Looking like Swaggerty or India, no?

If Madrigal hung around, though...?

[Centerfield]

bmfc1 wrote: The Athletic's latest mock. With all due respect to Shane's university, I'd rather the Mets get a college hitter. 6. New York Mets (slot value: $5,525,200) Selection: Shane McClanahan, LHP, South Florida The Mets have gone with pitchers with their last two top picks and they could go with a hitter here, but McClanahan’s potential as a top-of-the-rotation left-hander is tough to ignore. He has 111 strikeouts in just 66 innings this season. Although his command has come and gone at times this year, McClanahan has shown plus stuff, with his fastball touching triple digits and his changeup ranking among the best in this class. The South Florida ace had Tommy John surgery his freshman year, and command issues aren’t uncommon the first couple of years after that surgery. Others in play at this spot include India and South Alabama CF Travis Swaggerty. https://theathletic.com/363388?shared_by=133087

Sounds risky to me. I think the Mets would eventually rue McClanahan.

[Edgy MD]

I hope they get India inked.

[Frayed Knot]

MLB.com takes a look at the 2008 draft and re-drafts with a decade's worth of hindsight wisdom.
They don't explain what criteria they use to determine this new order, but it seems fairly reasonable.

Below is shown their top ten choices next to their actual round & overall pick and how many slots this re-draft would improve or drop them from their real draft position.

—	PLAYER	Actual Round / Pick	+ / -
1	BUSTER POSEY	1 / 5	+4
2	BRANDON CRAWFORD	4 / 117	+115
3	ERIC HOSMER	1 / 3	Even
4	CRAIG KIMBREL	3 / 96	+92
5	CHARLIE BLACKMON	2 / 72	+67
6	TANNER ROARK	25 / 753	+747
7	LANCE LYNN	1 / 39	+32
8	JOSH HARRISON	6 / 191	+183
9	LOGAN FORSYTHE	1 / 46	+37
10	JAKE ODORIZZI	1 / 32	+22

Nice job by the Giants here who got the consensus 1st & 2nd best players in that year's draft with the 5th and 117th picks.
This exercise has the Mets picking infielder Lonnie Chisenhall instead of Ike Davis (18th), and then RHP Brad Brach with the 22nd choice rather than the never to be a ML'er Reese Havens

In the meantime, the real 1st round/2008 featured such luminaries as Kyle Skipworth (6th overall), Aaron Crow (9th), Ethan Martin (15), David Cooper (17), Ryan Perry (21), and Daniel Schlereth (26)

[bmfc1]

It's Draft Day!
Fangraphs and The Big Lead have the Mets taking a cold-weather HS OF (Nimmo, the sequel). And because it's the Mets, they can save money which is more important to them than picking the best player available.

6. New York Mets – Jarred Kelenic, OF, Waukesha HS (WI) We think this is Kelenic or Florida third baseman Jonathan India, with late and hard momentum to Kelenic here for slightly below slot. If for some reason Mize doesn’t go No. 1 and goes at No. 3, that means Bohm is here, and they may prefer him to Kelenic, and it sounds like they do prefer him to India. They’ve been tied to some upside prep names in the second round like New York prep righty Lenny Torres, and they have been mentioned with Southern Miss righty Nick Sandlin in the third.

[TransMonk]

If they take Kelenic, I'll head to Waukesha for the CPF exclusive interview. I missed in the opening post that I was supposed to scout this dude. FWIW, I've never heard of him.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I find myself really hoping we land that India kid. 'Best all-around college hitter' were things being said about Conforto, too, and it didn't take him long to get to the bigs. India or bust!

[Benjamin Grimm]

He also has a great name. I wonder what its origin is?

[A Boy Named Seo]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: He also has a great name. I wonder what its origin is?

He's from Florida, so I'm hoping his ancestors were lost spice traders. I'm imagining his great great great great (great) grandad was called Gianni, but everyone kept giving him shit for not making it to India, his true destination. "Hey, you clay-brained strumpet, aren't you supposed to be in India right now instead of this seaport named after Saint Lucie? Hardy har-har, I say!"

And when another Gianni eventually showed up to Seaport Saint Lucie, they simply started calling this one Gianni India.

THE END

Draft Gianathan India!

[Vic Sage]

Boehm please.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Draft coverage starts in 15 min (6pm Eastern) but first pick isn't for another hour after that, so it will prob be an hour and a half before we hop on the Darjeeling Limited and book our ticket to India.

[A Boy Named Seo]

As expected, Mize goes first to Detroit. Mets choose in 5 picks.

[bmfc1]

Fangraphs still has the Mets taking the under-slot guy, I mean Kelenic.
India invades Cincinnati.

Edited June 4, 2018 by Guest

[A Boy Named Seo]

Phillies get 3B Alec Bohm. I think that's Vic's dreamboat? I hope he's a turd.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Oregon State shorty Madrigal goes 5th to the ChiSox. Reds on deck. Mets in the hole.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Those sonsabitches in Cincy grabbed my India. Mets on the clock. WHAT NOW

[Methead]

With all these hitters off the board, I guess it wouldn't be a surprise if they grabbed that HS lefty Liberatore

[bmfc1]

It's Jarred (2 R's) Kelenick. Billy Ripken says that "he loves to swing the bat" and "he comes to play every day" so I'm sold. MLBN comps: Logan Morrison and Mark Kotsay.