Minors: BA’s Mets Draft Report Card
Baseball America has issued their 2007 National League Draft Report Card (subscriber only), with evaluations of each team’s crop from June’s Amateur Player Draft.
Among other categories, they rank best ‘pro debut,’ ‘athlete,’ ‘hitter,’ and ‘fastball,’ as well as ‘closest to the major leagues.’
BA gives specific attention to 21–year-old Mets RHP Dylan Owen, who was drafted in the 20th round out of Francis Marion University.
Owens was 9-1 with a 1.49 ERA in 14 games (13 starts) for Single-A Brooklyn, while walking 12 and fanning 69 in 72.1 innings.
The report also predicts that Mets RHP Eddie Kunz will compete for a big league job this spring.
On the draft class as a whole, BA writes:
“The Mets were pleased to get plenty of power arms, though most of them project to be relievers. The organization clearly could bring its revenue to bear in the draft like the Red Sox, Tigers and Yankees, but apparently has not found the right match of player, pick and bonus since signing Mike Pelfrey in 2005.”
…with the graduation of a number of the Mets top prospects, they need a serious infusion of life into the farm system…while not littered with big names, this draft class seems solid…owen, as well as Scott Moviel and Brant Rustich, two big second round arms, and 1B-OF Lucas Duda, drafted out of USC, all had solid pro debuts, and there are some good young power arms to be found throughout…
…mix the draft class in with an intriguing Caribbean crop at the Gulf Coast League this year, along with a larger than normal Latin signing class this summer, and you’ve got at least a promising foundation for a new wave of prospects…
