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The MLB’s 2008 First-Year Player Draft will begin today at 2 pm EDT, and will be televised on ESPN 2 and MLB.com.
The Mets have three of the first 33 picks, including the No. 18 and No. 22 overall picks.
I will start up a Live Blog of the Draft just before 2 pm.
ESPN’s Keith Law predicts that the Mets will select C Jason Castro from Stanford with their first pick, while taking C-2B Brett Lawrie from Brookswood with their second pick.
According to ESPN, “Lawrie has a great swing, keeps his weight back well, and aside from a slight back-side collapse and a tendency to get a little too power-happy, he does everything right at the plate. He should make plenty of contact and hit for average to above-average power.”
Regarding Castro, ESPN writes, “His upside is as an average regular catcher in the big leagues, unless he develops more power. He has a very high probability of making it as a backup.”
Meanwhile, in his most recent Mock Draft for Baseball America, Jim Callis also predicts that the Mets will select Castro with their first pick, writing, “The Mets need a catcher for the near future, and Castro has convinced scouts he can handle the defensive responsibilities and produce at the plate.”
However, at MiLB.com, minor-league guru Jonathan Mayo believes the Mets will use their first pick to select OF Ike Davis from Arizona State, 2B Jemile Weeks from Miami or the hard-throwing RHP Ryan Perry from Arizona.
By the way, to watch a video interview between Mayo and SNY’s Ted Berg, click here.
According to ESPN, “When Davis connects, he has plus raw power and would easily hit 30-plus homers in the majors if he can make enough contact.”
Either way, consensus across the Internet appears to be that the Mets will target college bats, since their farm system is void of young hitters.
Again, I will start up a Live Blog of the Draft just before 2 pm.
Come on, best player available, show me best player available…
If Hosmer is there and they pass.. I may loose it….
I couldn’t agree more.
theres little to no chance Hosmer is going to be available. don’t worry about it.
devoid of young hitters? I thought we had a Teenage Hitting Machine!
so that gives us a young hitter
Get Ike Davis and plug him into leftfield this weekend against the Padres. Will be an upgrade over Tatis, he is a butcher out there.
Now THAT’S the fast track!
LOL! thats funny and a tad true…
it’s nice now that espn has legitimsed the draft by hyping it up and covering it but am i the only one that wishes they would enhance this hype by going back to televising college games? i mean, really people are getting excited by stats on players they may have never seen and going by what the likes of law, mayo and callis says.
i admit i’ve never heard of any of these guys like davis, lawrie or tim beckham. i’m a draft junkie when it comes to the nhl, nfl and nba but with the mlb, it’s almost a case of tell me what happens when it’s over.
ESPNU as well as the “CBS College” network have been televising baseball conference tournaments. Both are available on Direct TV, not sure where else.
The lack of interest in college baseball can be summed up in one word.
“ping”
Exactly….I love it and follow it but will not watch it. That sound sends shivers down my spine when I hear it.
Well.. until college baseball programs can afford to buy hundreds of wood bats.. you’re stuck with the ping…
you know how long it took me to get what you meant?! :P i’m scracthing my head going, “ping”?
five minutes later, it hits me…duh. aluminum….bats…
nice. is it that big a deal?
Yes when a pitcher jams a hitter in college the aluminum bat is strong enough where the hitter could still hit a hr off that, where the wood bat would break and be an easy ground ball to the infield. Aluminum bats give the batter an advantage where a college kid could hit 20 hr’s but with a wood bat it might only be 5. Imagine if college football used one of those real small rubber balls where college QB’s could throw the ball 90 to 100 yards but once they hit the pros they suddenly struggle to throw 60 yards. To get a true feel for how a college player would relate to the pro game, they need to be using wood bats.
I think the minor problem is the sound, which I find grating. The major problem is the aluminum bat produces hits in circumstances where the wood bat does not.
Are aluminum bats that much cheaper than wooden ones?
Hopefully someone else can post an actual cost analysis of it, but just due to the fact that they last longer because they don’t break has a value impact.
Found a USAToday article which states “aluminum bats can cost $300, which is 5 to 6 times the cost of a wooden bat, but are more cost effective because they won’t splinter or break.”
Is anybody experimenting with any other materials? What about lucite or some other type of plastic. Perhaps some other metal with a less distinctive sound. Stone. Dried whale skin. Fossilized dinosaur bones. Processed mummy meat. Anything but aluminum bats, please.
They definately need to take a second basemen because there are never good second basemens in free agency. I want them to draft Rickie Week’s younger brother Jemile but I wouldn’t mind if they took Ike Davis either
I’d love to see them get Weeks as well. Wright, Reyes, and Weeks would be great. Power hitting 1B are a dime a dozen. To me, he’s a safe pick to make it to the majors while picking a pitcher you have a longer shot that they’ll make it.
If power-hitting 1B are a dime a dozen then why don’t we have one?
Why is the report for Lawrie listed twice?
Uhhh Matt…
Regarding Castro, ESPN writes, “Lawrie has a great swing, keeps his weight back well, and aside from a slight back-side collapse and a tendency to get a little too power-happy, he does everything right at the plate. He should make plenty of contact and hit for average to above-average power.”
Copy and Pasting much? hehe.
he quotes it as per ESPN
I know. He just didn’t copy the right thing for Castro. He still had the quote from Lawrie copied.
I don’t care who we draft as long as we don’t adhere to the slotting system. Baseball America just had a great article about how the Red Sox missed out on 5 potential first rounders in this year’s draft (including Pedro Alvarez) because they refused to pay more than what is slotted by MLB. Of course, this was the same year (2005) they drafted Bucholz, Ellsbury, Lowrie, etc. There’s a lesson to be learned here and I hope Omar pays attention to it!
I’m confused? Did they or did they not use the slotting system? If they didn’t then what’s the problem, the players they got are great anyway.
In 2005, they adhered to it which is why 5 potential first rounders are in this year’s draft after previously being drafted by Boston. Had they not, Boston would have these 5 guys in their system along with Bucholz, Ellsbury, and Lowrie.
Once the Sox realized their mistake, they did away with the slotting system in 2006 and 2007 and paid whatever is necessary to get the top talents in their system.
Okay I see. Although it kind of makes me sick that a draft where they got Bucholz, Ellsbury, Lowrie, could have been that much better.
And by sick I mean insanely jealous.
In that case, I probably shouldn’t mention that they also got Craig Hansen and Michael Bowden in that draft who are projected to be a power setup guy and a middle of the rotation starter, respectively.
ugh. well at least we can say we got pelfrey…
i dont really like this…too me castro is just another brian schneider…except not as good defensively so whats the point…it doesnt seem to me that hell be a good hitter
The common comparison for Castro is AJ Pierzynski, without the being a pain in the ass part. (Which is essentially the nice way of saying a League Average Bat)
But really, last year was proof enough of how difficult it is to get a decent catcher nowadays because there is a scarcity at the position. Meaning people of that position, with the defensive abilities to be able to stick there, will be overdrafted.
PS: Regarding Lawrie, nobody seems to think that he’ll be able to stick at Catcher, but his bat seems to be good enough that he’d be valueable anywhere.
I’m a little leery of guys without a position, especially if they’re not power bats. I think of Gregg Jefferies . . .
Can someone explain to me why in the world they would want to draft hitters in the first round over pitchers? are there really no 1st round talent for starting pitchers out there. We dont need to develop hitters as much as we NEED to get some good young starting pitching prospects into this system pronto.
Has everyone forgotten about losing Humber, Mulvey, and Guerra?!?!?
It’s a total guessing game. Callis’ mock draft have us taking 2 pitchers. At this point, I think you go with the best talent available. If Matusz or Crow falls to 18, then you’d have to pull the trigger. Otherwise, due to the lack of top pitching depth in this draft, you take what is the best talent available.
Exactly. Best player available. There’s waaaaaaay too much that can happen between when the player is drafted and when (or if) he’s ready to make an impact on the ML level. In my opinion, drafting for ML need in the baseball draft (at least in the first few rounds) is a fool’s strategy.
We need both!
We’re also losing Alou and Delgado next year, Schneider another year after that, while Beltran and Castillo continue to march on to the wrong side of 30.
Just take the best player they can get there.
We need both, and they’ve gone pitching heavy the last 2 years, not that it’s produced many results other than Niese and Mulvey but still. We have Johan and Maine and I guess Pelfrey(ugh), for a while we’re going to be desperate for hitters before we’re desperate for pitchers.
Gina, you and I always agree.
If Mets go with Castro, does this mean they’ve cooled on the prospects of Pena?
Always good to have depth.
but a first round pick to add depth at catcher is a huge price. So unless they’ve cooled on Pena, this isn’t a smart move.
I think Pena is in low A ball so he is still projected as pretty far away and he is just doing average this year not better. Plus he was awful last year at 18 in the system.
Pena is forver away… and yes he did disapoint big time last year…
so we are then spending a 1st round pick for a stop gap at catcher? It makes sense if they’ve cooled on Pena but if not…
Well it still might be Ike Davis, or someone else. And maybe they think one of them can play another position? If nothing else if both of them develop bats and are competent catchers one of them could be decent trade bait.
Pena is a project, truth is nobody knows what kind of player he will be in 5 years. Drafting a Catcher now allows us to have insurance in the long-term plan if Pena doesn’t develop into the player we thought he would be.
And really, if he does develop and we also have Castro ready for the big leagues, well then we have great trade bait like the Braves had with Salty, no?
The thing is, Castro might turn out to be a solid catcher but he’s not going to be a blue-chip prospect. I think the trade value for someone like Castro is nowhere near that of Salty. Now if Buster Posey falls to us…
… then we’ll wake up and realize it was all a dream :-)
Would that dream cover the last 10 months too?
If we are drafting on needs primarily…it has to be starting pitching. There is very little in the system as far we have been told and can see. Maybe some young guys we are not hearing about yet but no one is excited about Niese and a few others down further in the system
I can also see drafting a second basemen, first basemen or some near ready college pitching relievers.
But no need to address catcher in the draft. That is a position not where we are strong but where offense is not really a big need. We need stronger and younger and more productive 1b, LF and 2b prospects
I agree, at 18 they need to grab the best available player though. Then the rest of the draft grab that 1b, 2b and OF prospect.
Agreed. Most teams dont build their system around Catchers. They are almost ” a dime a dozen”. And they break down younger than other position players.
I want to see them focus on Pitching, Pitching, Pitching, and then 1B and 2B.
we have plenty of 1st base prospects…see Carp, Evans, Luda, even Murphy they were talking about switching over there…
How is Catcher not a need? Sure we have Schneider/Castro and Pena waiting in the wings, but both Schneider and Castro are only on 2 year deals and on the wrong side of 30, and Pena hasn’t produced enough to cement his Catcher of the Future Status to date.
It might not be #1 on the list, but I have no problem with taking one if available.
We’re not saying we shouldn’t draft any catcher…just not Castro in the first round. Buster Posey - sign me up, Kyle Skipworth - DITTO, but Castro?
Callis posted another mock draft at BA today and has changed his Met pick:
18. NEW YORK (NL). Despite their financial muscle, the Mets will accede to MLB’s bonus guidelines and focus on talent that can rise through their depleted farm system in a hurry. They could go for pitching help with Friedrich, Cashner or Perry, with the idea of converting the latter two from relievers to starters. Davis and Castro (after whom there’s a huge dropoff among catcher) are position-player candidates.
Projected Pick: CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH, lhp, Eastern Kentucky.
that would be cool with me, if only because the guy that trained CF during his HS career has also trained my son, who is entering his junior year. I don’t think my son will be a 1st round pick anytime (or even drafted) but would be cool for the pitching coach.
really need them to select pitching, a second baseman, and a catcher, we have enough OF/1B/3B, and pitching, and all need to be ready relatively soon…so targeting mostly college players
i’m looking forward to seeing who they select
i understand what youre saying altru but drafting by need is the worst thing you can do. The mets really need to just take the best player available and things work themselves out.
true, and good point, maybe taking best player available, say a top 1b college level soon to the bigs, makes room for dealing a guy like carp or something in a trade…
I thought we had the C of the future in Tony Pena’s kid. He is a big boy and probably makes Delgago look like a speedster.
I think the operative word is … lumbering.
Pena is a sure bet defensively but the jury is way out on his hitting.
Cutter Dykstra.
I’ll take 2 Dykstras even if only one of the are related to Lenny.
Bingo. (And I want him in Bingo in couple years.)
The Mets really ought to draft BPA, but as between similarly graded players, aren’t hitting prospects more of a sure thing, even if pitching is more important, generally? Take more risks later with pitchers.
If they let Cutter Dykstra go to the Phillies I’m gonna be pissed off.
Can we draft Jay Bruce?
Too late?
haha couldn’t we have had him if we didn’t draft pelfrey or was Bruce before?
nope he went 3 spots after Pelfrey.
To be fair, Pelfrey was a big time prospect then that fell on our lap. We’d be stupid not to take him then.
Well Bruce went 0-4 last night so he’s down to .485 if that helps.
Bench. (and I’m not talking about Johnny!)
I like Ike
Yes, Go ASU!
The impression I got from reading about Castro above isn’t that great. He may hit enough to be sustainable. I mean ESPN says he’s average. We can go out and get a catcher. If a better player is available then can we please get him. If it means its Ike, then get be it Ike. We like Ike. imagine the fun NY will have w/ his name….
See previous post. LOL
Ike’s a genius! And Canadian!
Jason Castro is TERRIBLE
2006- .283 .363 .396 759
2007- .167 .287 .225 512
This would be your typical Minaya move
He’s not terrible…and not great. To be fair, he did hit in the Cape Cod in 2007 against top college talent (had the second highest average in that league).
I would like to see a pitches per plate appearance stat for hitters (maybe there already is one) and stock my farm system with young hitters who take a high number of PPPA. Think of a lineup where each hitter sees an average of like 7 or 8 pitchers per at bat or more, and think of how devestating such a lineup would be to other teams. In an age of pitch counts, a lineup with players who see a high amount of pitches would just kill other teams’ starters and pens, especially division rivals throughout a long season. I think such a statistic should be almost as important as OBP, AVG, and RBI when evaluating talent.
This is random but I was looking through our past drafts and apparently we drafted Niese and Parnell in 2005 as well. I guess we must have really wanted them.
our recent draft strategy seems to be two-pronged: lock in on certain guys, or go conservative with low-ceiling, tall pitchers who project to ML quickly. sometimes we do both on the same player. :(
Mets need a masher regardless of position. And do not turn him into a catcher! We need his bat in the line up everyday! It’s pretty sad that our single season homerun leader is 41!!! Sure we need pitching. Who doesn’t? But drafting pitchers is such a crapshoot. We haven’t had a great pitcher come up through the system since what.. Gooden? And the next best we let go to Tampa!
Jason Castro was pretty good on Idol.