Today's bonus episode of Locked On Mets is giving you all the latest coverage of the MLB Draft.
Host Ryan Finkelstein breaks down all eight picks the Mets made on day 2 of the draft.
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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. On this bonus edition of Lockdown Mets, I'm going to break down every single pick the Mets made on day two of the MLB Draft. You are locked on Mets, your daily New York Mets podcast. Show the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hello to all you amazing Mets fans, you're listening to Lockdown. That's part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown Mets your first listen every day. Lockdown Mets is free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. All right, in this part two episode of Lockdown Mets today, I'm going to break down all eight selections that the Mets made in day two of the MLB Draft. We'll cover rounds three through six in the first segment and then seven through ten in the second second. Before we get to that, I mean that though, I'm your host Ryan Fickelstein. If you want to find any of my work, follow me on X at Fickelstein Ryan, you can also find some of my writing at justbaseball.com where I work as the managing editor. This is technically part two of the show today. I decided to break it up into a two part episode because I wanted to spend a full show on Petalon, so not just his performance in the homerun derby, which was not great, but talking about the narratives that can change on a player in a contract year, how fans can sour on some quickly, how the media can come out of player differently, and how is it all going to play out for Pete now that he's passed the derby soon to be past the all-star break and hopefully in two weeks still in that beyond the deadline, what's that all going to look like, what's his second half going to be, and is he going to be with the Mets long term? So if you want to check out that episode, do so after this one breaking down everything from day two of the draft. So on yesterday's show, I talked about the first two picks that the Mets made. Carson Benj, who they drafted with the 19th overall pick, has been very widely regarded as a great pick. Hey, every scout that you're out there is, oh, that's great value for the Mets. At justbaseball.com, as I talked about on that show yesterday, we rank all the prospects going into the draft and Benj was our number 11 prospect. So the Mets getting him at 19, that is some really good value of potential five tool center fielder, who is still technically a two-way player that speaks volumes to the arm strength that he could bring to right field, even if that's ultimately the position that becomes his home. But there is a lot of upside with that pick and Carson Benj is really going to be that pillar, that foundation that's going to make this a really good draft class as far as I'm concerned. I think he might even be by the end of the season as we're going into next year. I think there's a pretty decent shot that Carson Benj might be a top 10 prospect in this organization. Now, with the second pick, the draft to Jonathan Santucci, we talked about yesterday, a left handed pitcher who's got really good stuff. The Mets do not have a prize left handed pitching prospect in their system right now that the hope is that Santucci can be that guy. As we look at the eight picks the Mets made on day two, there's a lot of high upside right handed pitchers who the Mets are gambling on to go into their organization with their new pitching lab and the hope is that the Mets can become something on the pitching factory where they can turn these guys into really good big leaguers. The Astros were able to do this for some time there where they were able to just manufacture some relief pitchers, manufacture some starting pitchers. They did great on signing. Some guys, if you look at Christian Javier and Fernborough Valdez, signing guys for next to nothing in the international market and all of a sudden they developed them into really good pitchers. So, I think that's the hope here, right? You're getting a lot of different arms that are going to go through your lab and then go through your system that you hope can develop into good starters if nothing else or nothing less nasty relief pitchers. So, we're going to start with the third round pick for the Mets at number 82 and that is Nate Dome from Mississippi State. Now, Dome is a 21 year old electric stuff. He pitched to a 1-2-3 ERA with 37 strikeouts in just four walks and 29 and a third innings pitch. Now, there was some that had him as a day one drafting, so going in the first two rounds. But some arm injuries that limited him in college probably dropped his stock a little bit so the Mets get him in the third round. Really good value there. Hopefully they can sign him and I think he is outside of Santucci. When you're looking at the right-handed arms that's Santucci being a lefty, Dome is clearly the guy that they're probably looking at as one that they hope can maybe even stick in the rotation if they can develop improperly but a guy that has a ton of upside that they're betting on. Let's move to the fourth round pick. At number 111 the Mets got Eli Serrano the third out of NC State. Now, on yesterday's show we talked about a connection between Carson Benj and Noel McLean, teammates at Oklahoma State both two-way players. Now, there's another common theme here connection and that's with Serrano and Ryan Clifford, Ryan Clifford being the prospect of Mets Godard the other prospect along with you Gilbert in the Justin Verlander trade last year. These two guys were teammates at the same prep academy in high school. So now they joined forces and Serrano is a similar player to Clifford. Big kid, he's six foot five. He started off college at first base. They moved him to center field so that speaks to his athleticism. I imagine that helped him with his draft stock to be able to show that he can play in center. We'll see if he sticks out there if he ends up moving to a corner or if he ends up being back at first base but there is a lot of upside in this pick and remember Chris Gross who is running the Mets draft, he wasn't used to it. He picked Ryan Clifford in the 11th round and they paid him over a slot to get him to sign. Now you have a chance with Serrano to plug in a similar archetype into this system and I imagine Gross is looking at this kid and thinking, "All right, we can get some more power there. We can build it up. We can develop that." He hit 285 in NC State this past season with a 380 on base, 431 slope. So if you're hitting 280, that's pretty solid. Getting on base at a 380 clip. If the discipline's there and you have a six foot five kid, the hope is that you can really work on that swing path, work on ironing everything out and being able to tap into power that right now is not there, only hit nine home runs but you hope that one day it can be. So that's the motivation behind this pick. It's not going to be entirely easy to get him to sign because he was a sophomore at NC State. He can go back and try to raise his draft stock and if he can go from a fourth round pick to a second round pick, that's going to be a huge difference in his signing bonus when it comes to the slot value of those picks. Are the Mets going to have to pay Serrano a second round money to get him to sign? I don't know but if you're going to look at some guys in this draft that might have to get paid over slot to get them to sign, I think Serrano is definitely one of them. The other one is the fifth round pick that's made at number 144 and that is Trace Snyder. This is the only high school player they've drafted so far and he got a wonder. Has the NIL impacted that at all? Being able to get paid in college, I don't know what a Trace Snyder gets to go play baseball at Tennessee. I don't know how much money that really is but when you add that to the bucket of an decision that a kid has to make, going pro right away and playing baseball in the minor leagues where it's not always Paxtoniums, it's not always exciting. It's grinding in the South Florida heat and improving yourself and trying to move along in the Mets farm system. That might not be as fun as going to Tennessee and being a superstar and still hitting with an alumina bat and being a stud shortstop and potentially getting to compete in the college world series. There's a lot that comes with getting a chance to play in college and I think the NIL is going to get more kids to turn down major league baseball in the beginning, decide to develop in college first and improve their draft stock and find themselves. If you're Trace Snyder, a first round pick in a couple of years after enjoying this great college experience, I think that's why you're seeing some less high school guys going early. There's still going to be guys that get paid over slot and maybe you're going to see high school players get paid more now in the draft process because they have an even better option than they used to going to college. That's just something to monitor. I think that if Trace Snyder signs, he might get as much money as pretty much anybody outside of Carson bench. I could see him signing for more than a lot of these guys, especially as a fifth round pick. To get into who he is as a player, he's a shortstop. He was the Missouri high school Gatorade player of the year, hitting 391 with seven home runs, 36 RBIs and 22 stolen bases, had an OPS over 1100 during his senior season. He is regarded as a great defensive shortstop, really good athlete. The ability to stick it short, if that holds up throughout his development, that's just going to raise your floor as a prospect, especially because a shortstop could then potentially play anywhere if you need him to. When you have the defensive home sort of checked off that box, it does make everything else fall online. He also had some of the best exit velocities among the high school draft picks. It's a huge upside play here to get him to turn down his commitment to Tennessee. I would say outside of Carson bench, probably the most upside in the draft so far for the Mets with Trace Snyder. I'd say him and Serrano are sort of neck and neck in that regard with bench clearly being the topic up to this point, and going to be the topic in this class. All right. So there's four more picks to discuss. I'm going to break those down in just a minute. First though, a word from our sponsors. This episode of Lockdown Mets has brought you by booking.com booking.yea with summer travel heating up, especially travel for baseball games, it's time to explore those U.S. cities. You've always secretly want to learn more about yes, we're talking about you arriving in private travel cities with hotels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, resorts and so much more on booking.com. You might just find your perfect stay even in your baseball rival city. The Mets are going to be in Miami for a four game set starting this Friday, and I will be there in attendance on Fridays. If you want to come say hello to me, go to booking.com book your stay. Don't just do it for me. But do it for yourself. Get yourself a nice summer vacation. It's just a scorching, you know, it's hot down here, but you know what, there's beaches. The ballpark has a nice dome, it's air condition. Come on out. It's fun to watch the Mets right now. The red stick can make you fan of any U.S. city, even your rivals. So book today on booking.com on the site or in the booking.com app. You know we love talking stats here at Lockdown Rockies. Here's one that's super simple to remember. Discover automatically doubles the cash back you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cash back match. That means with Discover you could turn $150 cash back to $300. That's right. You could put it towards some memorabilia you've had your eye on or treat yourself to a premium sports network. You earn and discover doubles. See terms at Discover.com/creditcard. If you're never going to listen to the show, make sure you become a locked on Mets insider. After the draft on Monday, I sent over to the insiders a text for each pick in this draft. So they got a lot of the information you're getting now in text form first before anybody else. So that is the perk of being a locked on Mets insider. You can find the link in the episode description go to subtext.com/lockdownmets. All right. Round six, pick number 173, the New York Mets drafted Corey Collins out of Georgia. And this pick screams under slot. You pair it with Snyder back to back and it just makes sense because this is a senior bet out of Georgia, but a pretty damn good one. And one that could end up being a really good pick for the Mets, just not one you necessarily had to pay a ton when it comes to the signing bonus. He's a left-handed slugger. He had 20 home runs and 52 games playing for the Georgia Bulldogs. He was the second hitter on that team to Charlie Conden, who had number three overall. Very good lineup in an OPS over 1300 hit 354 574 on base percentage. So that again, 574 on base percentage. That's nuts. 772 slug. Well, when he had 20 home runs for the two games, yeah, that that's going to play. Obviously, he was a senior hitter in college with an aluminum bat. Okay. Don't expect him to hit 20 home runs in his first 52 games with a wood bat in St. Lucie in Brooklyn next year or in Brooklyn next year. Probably not going to happen, but the fact that there's power here, you like that caught some, but probably a first baseman in the minor leagues and hoping to latch on there. Go forward, a guy that could fly through the system though. I mean, there is absolutely that chance that Corey Collins can move very quickly as a senior bat. Round seven, pick number 203, right handed pitcher Will Watson out of USC. Now, Watson transferred USC for his junior year, pitched to a 393 ERA over 15 to third innings pitch with 46 strikeouts. So pretty decent numbers. They don't blow you away. He served as both a starter and a reliever, so there's definitely some reliever risk here, but I think the hope is that he's going to be able to stick as a starting pitcher. And he's sort of a like three quarters type release point from Watson. Good athlete. Okay. Mid nineties fastball, some good breaking pitches slider curveball, a nasty change up. Another guy that hit the Mets are going to put through that pitching lab and hope that they can turn him into a really good arm. You've seen so many guys as you're seeing their stock just skyrocket from Jonah Tom to Cade Morris, guys that were drafted around that range, right? Not necessarily first day draft picks, but second day draft picks that have good stuff that go through the lab that are getting developed properly now in this met system who could be really good pitchers moving forward. Will Watson has a chance to start, but even if not, there's probably a good reliever here. So another nice pickup. Speaking of good reliever, the eighth round pick from the Mets at number two, 33 is someone that I want to see in the Mets bullpen this season. I'm only half kidding. He's 21 years old relief pitcher pitched to a two, five, seven year array in his one season at Oklahoma after transferring from Minnesota. Now he also pitched in the MLB draft league, which is a 16 showcase league that takes place from June 4th to July 13th, ahead of the draft extra chance for these guys to get into a league. It's a five game schedule, see how you do, improve your stock, hopefully. In that league, Lambert pitched to a one, five O ERA in six innings with 10 strikeouts. And here's the kicker, no walks. There's been some control issues throughout his college career. So if that holds up a renewed sense of control of his arsenal for a guy that touched one O two on his fastball and can sit in the upper nineties, had a whiff rate over 30% in the draft league as a nasty fastball slider combination, Lambert, my prediction is going to be the first player from this draft class that makes it to the big leagues. That's my prediction. I don't actually believe it's this year, but when you see him in a MLB draft league, strike out 10 in six innings and not walk any and he's got a 102 and he's got a slider that's nasty. It just makes you dream a little bit. So I love the idea here of getting a guy that by 2025, potentially that's a more likely timetable if not 2026, but a guy that could fly through your system as just a stuff, stuff, stuff reliever. Don't have to worry too much about it. You're not going to try to add a third pitch enough work. Now your fastball slider, that's what you do. Throw Chad, get strikeouts, get outs. Love this pick a Ryan Lambert at 233 round nine at number 263 Jackson Jelken from Houston. Another 21 year old pitcher missed 2023 at their needing Tommy John surgery that hadn't missed parts of 2022 as well, did not complete the 2024 campaign due to arm fatigue, did make seven starts pitched to a three before one area had 46 strikeouts in 34 and a third innings pitch touch 97 with the fastball nasty slider that accounted for a lot of those strikeouts. It's got some reliever risk for sure. And there's the health concern obviously, but I think teams, they look at a guy that got Tommy John in college and I wouldn't say it's a good thing, but to get that one out of the way, the first one and now have a chance to develop them right, build them up the proper way, it's a project. But I think the Mets are going to look here at Jackson Jelken with their, they're picking the ninth round and say, let's try to develop him properly. Let's take our time with him and he might just be a really good starting pitcher in a couple of years where you think, Oh, wow, ninth round pick Jackson Jelken. He could skyrocket. You don't know. It's it's draft day. We might not ever talk about Jackson Jelken again, we might not even sign, but definitely you see sort of the vision of what they're looking for with the guy who showed some really good flashes. There's the injury concern that you're going to have to worry about, but potentially another good project for this system. Last pick of day two, Brendan Gertin. This one is another one that screams under slot. Okay. Guerns, a senior arm and didn't even have good numbers in college. Okay. He comes from Oklahoma, but he spent three seasons at Texas Tech, one year at Oklahoma. Shrek out 47 batters and 35 and two thirds. That's good. ERA of seven, three, two, not so good. ERA throughout college of five, seven, nine bad has command issues, walks a lot of guys, but there's stuff that the Mets are betting on here and probably a reliever, I would think. I don't necessarily believe that they are looking at Brendan Gertin with the area that he has and what he did in college. I think that's the guy that we're going to try to build into a starting pitcher. I think it's all right. One of the two, one of the two pitches that UX sell at, let's tweak them, let's make them as good as we can. Let's go to war with that. See how you do in the minor leagues, see if you can develop another relief pitcher here. You never know. You never know what these picks end up turning into. I imagine with Gertin, he's not going to sign for a lot of money. Same as I said before with the six-round pick Corey Collins. When you draft a senior, typically the thought is, this is where we can save a little bit of money that we can divert in other places. You can send to a Trace Nighter or a Eli Serrano. That's what I imagine this pick was a little bit of. It was an arm that I'm sure they liked. They're not just going to draft the guy for no reason. I think they were probably thinking, "Okay, of the senior pitchers on the board, who's got the stuff that we like enough that we're going to take a gamble on here that we can sign under slot and still have a project that might just work out for us?" That is my rationale, at least, behind the 10th round pick in this draft. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do for the final 10 rounds of this draft. That will be draft now is 20 rounds. You also have undrafted guys that end up getting signed as well. If you like this content today, if you liked my extra bonus episode breaking down the draft picks, please let me know in the comment section if it's something you want me to do tomorrow for the final picks of this draft. We're going to talk about, let's see real quick, I can actually pull up my locked on Mets podcast ideas document. We'll see what we're looking at here. Are there any bets on the market that fit the Mets? That's going to be the show tomorrow. We're going to be talking trade deadline. Thursday's show is going to be bullpen-related. Five teams who could offer the Mets bullpen help at the deadline, so I'm going to go through those two different things here throughout the rest of the week. I will continue to do draft coverage. Let me know if you want to hear about the final 10 picks of this draft and we'll do some of that tomorrow. Otherwise, I might just rapid-fire it for a segment at the end of the bats show. Make sure if you are listening on the audio side, you follow your rate, your review, wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching on YouTube, do me a favor, hit that subscribe button or goal. Let's get to 10,000 subs by the end of the season, so I appreciate all of you who continue to subscribe. If you want to follow me on X you can do so at Finkelstein Ryan, follow the show at lockdown meds. Thank you for making lockdown meds. You're first, listening to your first watch every day, not for your second watch. Head over to YouTube and check out the first ever 24/7 streaming channel that covers everything. World of Sports, talking about lockdown sports today with our local experts from each team and our league, what I expect from each league, if I locked on sports today, streaming 24/7 on YouTube. A prime member. You can listen to this lockdown podcast ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today! (bright music)
