The New York Mets may have lost the final game of the first half, but looking back at their turnaround from the past six-plus weeks is still truly remarkable.
Host Ryan Finkelstein breaks down Sunday's loss, and also how the Mets front office deserves a lot of credit for the season this team is having.
Also, did the Mets get the steal of the draft with two-way player Carson Benge at No. 19 overall?
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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The New York Mets finished the first half on a sour note this Sunday, but we have to appreciate the incredible turnaround this team has gone on over the past six plus weeks. I'll be breaking that down on the show today and also the MLB draft, I think they nailed their first round pick with Carson Benj, so we'll talk about that as well on today's Lockdown Mets. You are locked on Mets, your daily New York Mets podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all you amazing Mets fans, you're listening to Lockdown Mets, 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. We have a ton to discuss on the show today and the first segment, I'll open things up with our game recap from Sunday's Lost to the Rockies, but in the second segment I want to break down the incredible turnaround the Mets have had from going out of playoff contention entirely to in the mix as we get to the all-star break and how the front office deserves to serve a lot of credit for not giving up on this season. Then in the final segment, got the draft to discuss, I believe the Mets absolutely nailed their first round pick, I'll tell you more about it in that final segment. Before we get to any of it though, I'm your host Ryan Fickelstein, if you want to find any of my work, follow me on X and Fickelstein Ryan, you can also find some of my writing at JustBaseable.com where I work as the managing editor. Today's episode of Lockdown Mets has brought you by Booking.com, Booking.Yeah, the right state can make you a fan of any city, even your rivals, check out Booking.com for your stay today. We have so much to discuss on today's show, we're going to talk about the front office and how they have been a steady hand guiding this team and you should feel very comfortable with your standing as a Mets fan moving forward, knowing this front office is going to make all the right decisions considering the turnaround they've been on lately and the way the draft was handled because I absolutely love the Mets first round pick. We'll be talking about that in the final segment of the show today. First things first though, let's discuss the final game of the first half, Rough Star from Jose Quintana. He gives up a two-run homer in the first inning, it was a base hit then a homer, so he gives up a crooked number before he gets it out. But he settled down and it felt like he was going to end up turning in a quality start. He retired 12 of the 13 batteries he faced after the first homerun, bottom of the fourth inning, the Mets got him a lead, Francisco Alvarez lead off single, Pete Alonzo, two-run homer to tie it, Jose Iglesias drew a walk after Mark Vientos flew out, Tyrone Taylor base hit, Jeff McNeil drew a walk to load the bases, Harris a bidder popped out and then Francisco Endor drew a bases loaded walk. But this was the first of many missed opportunities from the Mets because they still had bases loaded with Nimmo up and he ground it out, so they weren't able to do more in that inning, but still they grabbed the lead back and it was short-lived because right away in the fifth, Quintana gets up another homerun, the first of what turned into a three-home run game from Michael Poglia and that all happened from the fifth inning on, so that's pretty insane. Sixth inning, Quintana gets up a homer to Bretton Doyle to lead off that inning, gets to out, gets up another homer to Poglia and then he's pulled. So the Mets were down at that point, seventh inning, Adrian Houser comes in for the mob up duty, he gives up a two-run homer all of a sudden it's seven-three Rockies, the game sort of gets away from the Mets, bottom of the seven, the Francisco Endor that'll lead off single, Brettonimo walked after that, Francisco Alvarez, Pinalon's and Mark Vientos all struck out and that's where you started to think, "All right, the Mets might lose this one." And credit to the Rockies, they had an offensive outburst, Quintana home runs, Houser gets up another one in the eighth inning. This other we might have to talk about at some point soon here, maybe the shine is off on Houser in the Mets bullpen because he's had a couple of rough appearances in a row and when you get to a six-man rotation with Kodai Senga, which should be coming soon here, Senga had a quality rehab start on Sunday, 66 pitches felt good. So expect Senga to come back after maybe one more rehab start, if not just jump back into the rotation after the break, you can see a whirlwind of Mets are going to be in a situation with a seven-man bullpen soon and you're going to have to have some arms that are casualties there. Houser is one of the names that would be on the bubble as with Jake Deakman, Adam Adavino, all of those guys are on contracts where you're not going to be able to keep them in the organization, get the DFA, any of them, potentially all of them if you want to add to this bullpen. So that's just something to keep in the back of your mind. Senga's are starting to pitch himself back into that hot seat when it comes to the roster spot. And had they gotten better performance from the bullpen, they probably could have hung in the game and you can criticize Carlos Mendoza if you want to. I wouldn't because who else are you going to go to? They went to Phil Matan to get one out when they pulled Quintana in the sixth beyond that. Who else do you really trust? I mean, would Adam Adavino pitching after Matan been that much better? Did he be Deakman or Zee? I don't really know. Yes, you still had Edwin Diaz to use, but you weren't going to use Daniel Nunez. You weren't going to use Jose Budo. So, you know, the Mets were hoping that Houser could get them to Diaz or get them to Adavino, potentially whatever it was, just didn't work out for them. And the lineup, like I said, they had their opportunities, eighth inning, lead off single from Jose Iglesias, Tyrone Taylor, Drew Walk, Jeff McNeil, Rips a double to score Iglesias, who by the way was four for four in the game. Iglesias was. McNeil had some good at bats too, actually. Bader struck out with 200 in scoring position, though. Lindor walks below the bases. Brandon Emo grounds out that scores one. Francisco Alvarez lines out. So, those are another opportunity where more runs could have scored. The Mets were on the verge of a big inning, and it just didn't happen. Ninth inning, they get a couple guys on. They get the tie run-ups to the plate as JD Martinez, pinch hits for Jeff McNeil. Funny enough. I actually kind of wanted to see Jeff hit surprisingly because I thought he had some good at bats in the game, past the baton, a little bit further down the line, then maybe you get the pinch hitter, but I'm not here to criticize Mendoza. Once swinging the bat ties the game, I get why I went to JD Martinez. JD's just not swinging a good bat right now. I think he's one of the guys that really needs this break. There was all that stuff with his cleats, having the wrong cleats, his ankle. I think he just needs some time off his feet, getting ready for a second half push. But overall, you look at where the Mets came from and where they're at right now. I don't know how you can be upset with a loss on Sunday. I just don't. Yes. In the moments when you're watching the game, and Kitana has given up home runs, and Togui hits three home runs in the game, and Houser looks bad, and the Mets have opportunities to don't cash in on him, yeah, it's frustrating when you're watching it. But as you've now had time and you wake up this morning, I hope that's not something that's still on your mind. I hope you're not still criticizing Mendoza or whatever it is, because overall, this team just went through a remarkable turnaround where they have saved and turned this into a season. And I think that should be celebrated, and we're going to do that in the next second here, particularly the way the front office has responded from the moment a Jorge Lopez launched his glove into the stands until now. And the players deserve even more credit, but we've given the players a lot of credit throughout. Lindor, Nemo, the players only meeting. I've been talking about that stuff for weeks and weeks and weeks on end. The front office deserves their shine, especially on the same day where they made some good draft picks. So we're going to really focus in there in the next segment here. 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 your rival 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 right stay can make you a fan of any U.S. city, even your rivals. The Mets are going to be in Miami after the all-star break this Friday. If you want to check out the games, then I'll be their actual myself on Friday. So if you want to maybe say hello to me, book today on booking.com on the site or in the booking.com app. Today's episode is also brought to you by Supply House. Get supplies from the site that's made for skilled trades. Supplyhouse.com. Supplyhouse.com is a reliable way to order plumbing, HVAC, and electrical products online. They're using his website is packed with helpful resources in the latest product info to help you get the job done right. 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It was a disaster. The Mets were 10 games back in the Braves and weren't even counting the Braves at that point because the thought of the Mets could be in the same conversation with the Braves at any point this season was completely unfathomable. Guess what, I did a podcast about the Mets being able to overtake the Braves a couple of days ago because now that's a reality with what has happened. And since that point where the Mets were 6 games out of a wildcard spot and they had the third worst record in the national league, the only two teams that were better than were the Rockies and the Marlins, two teams that aren't even really trying this year. The Mets had every single excuse to fold up shop. David Sterns knew to the job inherited a team that he had every right to tear down to the studs. You could have made the argument that the best thing for the Mets to do was to play out the string, hope that their guys on one year deals played really well, and then just sell like crazy. Take advantage of what was going to be a seller's market. What is a seller's market? When you're in the row, using your money, leveraging it on the trade market to build the best farm system in baseball or a top five farm system in baseball. And just completely mail it in. But that front office is competitive and they're not in the business of giving up seasons until you absolutely should because as David Sterns has said many times, the baseball calendar will sort of tell you what to do when you get to the trade deadline. That's where you decide if you're a buyer seller. And so the process that you have to put in place is doing everything you can to win each day, to win each series. The New York Mets have had over 50 players on their roster this year. That speaks to the churn of the relievers in particular, but also the different combinations the Mets have tried to find a winning one. And yeah, there are some clear things that are just star related that have led to this success for the Mets. With the Cisco Indoor Brandon M.O., the leadership they've displayed, the way that they've played at all star levels, even fringe MVP levels for both of these guys throughout this run of success for the Mets, where they have put up numbers as good as any tandem in the nationally. They've been amazing. For Cisco Alvarez coming off the aisle, we have seen the impact of the young catcher. It's been palpable. I mean, it's been huge. So again, there's a lot of things. And we're not just going to give the front office all the credit. But when they were down in the dumps, they made moves, Jorge Lopez, you're going to embarrass the organization, you're going to launch a glove into the stands, you know, you're going to have that media session that went so bad, and you can blame the Mets for that if you want to. But regardless, he hadn't pitched well. He didn't conduct himself well. They had to send a message. They cut him and when Diaz wasn't pitching well, they put him on the aisle with the shoulder injury, let him rest, you know, a guy that is just trying to get back after a year of missing all baseball action. And that has helped him. Yes. There was the sticky stuff suspension in the middle of this run. But you can't deny it when Diaz looked a lot better since that I else did. And by doing that, you brought up Daniel Nunez and he has been an absolute find. You make a trade with the Yankees to get Luis Torens, who has been ridiculously good at controlling the running game. And it seems like every time he gets a start, he hits a double. You call up Jose Iglesias and you send Brett Beatty down. And there's no world where anyone on that front office would have thought that Jose Iglesias would be a sensation on and off the field. He's going to the all-star game, or at least the home run derby, to perform OMG. Because he is that much of a storyline for this baseball season that has now spanned beyond the Mets. But other players around the league are using his song as walk-up music and everything else. His song has been huge. And that's great. He's also hitting 380 with the 417 on base percentage to 5-82 sugaring percentage. As a 999 OPS, he's been unbelievable. He has earned a starting spot in the second half, whether that's at second, sparing me on toes at third base a little bit at times. He has to be on the field at all times because his defense has been spectacular as well. No one could have seen that coming. But guess what? The front office signed him to a minor league deal. The front office brought him into the organization, and yes, you can say what were they waiting for? Or maybe they called them up at the exact right time. Sending Beatty down, sending Christian Scott down. Guys that are going to be a big part of 2025. If you're turning the page of 2025, you're letting those guys play it out. At a certain point, maybe you're trying to find an early trade to clear out a spot so you can play both Vientos and Beatty. Or still, you're investing more time in the former first round pick and Beatty, who at one point is the top 20 prospect in baseball, who has had all the hype attached to him. But Mark Vientos started hitting, and so they decided to give him the runway, and he has rewarded them handsomely with that. He's been ridiculously good. So many things went to match with other things didn't. During this same stretch, Sean Reed Foley hit the I.L., Drew Smith, lost for the season. Brooks Rayleigh lost him earlier in the year and officially got the surgery on his elbow. I mean, there's so many things that have gone bad. Reed Garrett now hitting the I.L. And the bullpen has not been great. They're proactive, though, and they're able to make a trade for Phil Mayton, who looks to be a piece that's absolutely going to help them in the second half. Meanwhile, you look at what this front office did in the off season. Some of the signs that were made. The production they've gotten in the first half from the least separated on Sean Maniah, two guys that they signed that anybody could have had that have been healthy all year and have both been huge parts of this rotation. Harrison Bader is hitting 273, got an OPS over 700. It's actually 20 points better than his career OPS, he's in the 730s, his career OPS in the 710s. As a 1.6, wins above replacement according to fangrass, made a great catch today in center for this one. Awesome. Tyrone Taylor, Adrian Houser. Have they been great all year? No, they've both gone through some stretches where they've been bad. Have they been good depth to acquire for a pitching prospect and Coleman Crow, who might not ever amount to anything? Absolutely. That was a good trade. Yes. There's been bad moves. Jake Deacon and Adam Adavino. Those signs have not panned out, but this front office had to continue to tinker and they have pushed forward trying to win and the players have rewarded them. And now this team is in a position to make a run this year. And you could say, oh, that wasn't the best thing for the franchise long term, but you know what? There's a draft, there's international signing, there's a farm system that's already in place that's been much improved. And there's a lot of ways to get better as an organization. It's about setting the right process from the top down from jump. This is the first baseball cycle as David Stearns has said, and you don't want to spend a baseball cycle trying to lose games. You want to try to win games until the team proves to you that they aren't good enough. And this team has proved that they are good enough. And so now it's going to be their first deadline to make moves and we'll be covering that over the next week here in particular in, of course, the next couple of weeks. But I'm going to have a lot of deadline shows. As a Mets fan, you have to be really at ease with seeing what David Stearns has done in this short period of time, because the Mets have last year, when they saw some adversity, it crumbled and absolutely crumbled this year. Every time where there's been a little bit of adversity, they have risen above it. And throughout this stretch, they went 27 and 13 over 40 games. They jumped six teams in the standings. You look at the series breakdown. They won eight of the series that they played. They split four. They only lost one. That was the series against the Astros who have been really good as well. They've also completely flipped the narrative of their season over this time period. And if you look at those four splits that that's had, they also had four sweeps, which really do counteract those splits. And that's how you get to the 27 and 13 record and you shoot up the standings, because if you pair a split with the sweep, it's almost like a serious win. So if you look at it that way, 17 series played, 16 of them essentially went to Mets way when you look at trying to win two of every three games and then you lost one. That is incredible stuff from this team. And if you're not bought in on the Mets yet, you're just a pessimist and you're refusing to hop on the bandwagon because it feels like it's going to be a fun ride down the stretch. And I can't wait to be there with you guys every single day as we cover this 2024 Mets team that has just been a roller coaster, but a really damn fun one. Speaking of this 2024 Mets team, there's a draft that has to take place each year. And I think the Mets had an absolute home run with their first round pick Carson bench. So we're going to talk about that in just a minute, how the front office isn't good hands for the draft as well. So we'll go through it first though, a word from our sponsors. Today's episode is brought to you by game time. Game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy and theater events near you. If you want to go to the Mets first Marlon series in Miami or just the next time they're up in city fields, make sure you use game time. And here's my strategy. I told you I'm going to the game on Friday. I will not buy tickets until I am outside the ballpark. I'll park in the garage, I'll pull open the game time app and I'll scan for deals because game time is the place for last minute tickets. I'll take a view of the different seats that are available. You can see what the sightlines are. You can view your seat before you purchase and they have all in pricing up front. 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See terms at discover.com/creditcard. If you're an everyday listener to the show, make sure you become a locked on Mets insider. This is our text and service we get updates from me. Anytime some news breaks from the Mets can also ask me questions anytime and take part in our locked on Mets signed photo giveaways. If you want to be locked on Mets insider, find the link in the episode description. We're going to subtext.com/lockedonnets. Now speaking of the front office, one of the big moves this offseason was bringing Chris Gross. Chris Gross was running the drafts in Houston with the Astros. The Astros have drafted very well. The Mets beneficiaries of Chris Gross's drafts when they traded Justin Verlander to Houston at the deadline last year, getting Ryan Clifford and Drew Gilbert guys that have sort of outperformed where they were drafted. And that's something the Astros have continued to do. It's find gems in the draft. So you bring him in. He's now heading up all the scouting for the Mets and having him in place with a scouting department that was already pretty solid, Tommy Tanos, still with the organization. There's a lot of others. The Mets have a great infrastructure in place to continue to do what they've done in recent years, which has been pretty solid when it comes to drafting and even developing players. But they've gotten even better. I mean, the developing part, of course, you've seen what the pitching has done this year. That is right there, proof of the pitching lab and how that is already starting to benefit this organization. But now you have a really highly sought after executive and gross that was able to be brought in because you got David Stern's. Once you have that guy that pillar at the top, you get better talent from the industry to filter in. And I just think because of that, you're going to see the Mets nailing their drafts moving forward and continuously finding new players to plug in because the reality is if you're competitive team for a long time, like we've seen the Dodgers, the Ashgroves, some of these franchises, there's a lot of churn with your prospects. You got to trade guys because you are going to have to at deadlines supplement your roster. And so, yeah, you could say, oh, the Mets should have sold this year because that could have stockpiled things. Guess what? You're going to have to, over the years, continue to stockpile just by drafting well and signing well. I think the Mets aren't in a great position to do that moving forward with how they have structured their front office, the people that are there. And again, having the young, but very accomplished executive at the top of all in Sterns and now Chris Gross being under him but leading the scouting department, I just think this Mets franchise is in great hands with the draft. So now let's actually talk about the draft. The New York Mets were picking at number 19 in the draft. And basically, for those of you who aren't aware of how this works, they do rounds one and two on Sunday, Monday, it's three through ten, and then I guess on Tuesday, it would be 11 through 20 throughout this 2024 MLB draft. So the Mets were slated to pick at 19 because their first round pick gets docked 10 slots because of being a luxury tax paying team from last year. So 19 is not as ideal as a top 10 pick, but still a place where you can get a lot of talent. And I think the Mets had an absolute home run with Carson Bench. 21 years old, he is a two-way player from Oklahoma State. If that sounds familiar, the Mets last year drafted Nolan McLean, another two-way player from Oklahoma State, but these guys are different. From McLean, it was always sort of rumored and speculated that the hitting would probably fall by the wayside. The pitching was something that he was really drafted for. With Ben, it's the opposite. He's more a hitter than a pitcher. And now it seems like they might keep him as a two-way guy. He wants to keep trying it for now, similar to McLean. But funny enough, Ben just let the cat out of the bag, which I think if you were paying attention, you probably would have figured, which is that Nolan McLean is not a two-way player anymore. He last hit on June 20th. He is just going to focus on pitching at an A49 OPS and high A, AA 565 OPS. So McLean, no longer a two-way player. Which for now is, but really what you have to be excited about with Carson Benj, it's the bat. So he hit 335 this past season, 444 on base, 665 slug, at 18 home runs, two triples, 24 doubles in 61 games. Meanwhile he pitched to a 3.16 ERA in 37 innings. So there is something there with the arm, but really I'm excited about seeing that arm in right field potentially. You look at the future for the Mets and not to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but you have Drew Gilbert who could be a center fielder, you have Jett Williams who could be a center fielder. If you wanted to, you have Louisa Melacunya who could be a center fielder. And now you add a guy in Carson Benj who could be a right fielder with a cannon of an arm that is exciting stuff. He will be a plus defender in right, but Chris Groves after drafting him called him a five tool center fielder, has the potential to be a five tool center fielder. I am thrilled about this pick also because I take all of my sort of cues when it comes to the scouting of players and all of the prospect stuff from the company I work for in just baseball. We're on the managing editor and we have our own Layton who is the co-founder of our company who is as big of a prospect head as you're going to find. He spends so much time on the draft, on the minor league, just studying video on these guys. And he ranked the top 30 prospects in this draft. Do you know where Carson Benj ranked? Number 11. If you are watching our stream with just baseball, as it was leading up to the pick, arm said, I think the best player on the board is Carson Benj. The Mets got the best player on the board from our write up on just baseball, which I will link in the episode description today, looking at the top 30 prospects in this draft, where again, you can find Benj at number 11. Here are the strengths that he points out. He says, another legitimate two way prospect, Benj was effective as a swing man for Oklahoma State with a low 90s fastball on a trio of second areas, following up a standout red shirt freshman season. He missed 2022 with Tommy John. So with an even more impressive sophomore campaign, Benj is looking like one of the more intriguing outfield prospects in this class. At their struggling to elevate in 2023, Benj slashes ground ball rate by more than 10%, more than doubling his home run rate total to 18, while increasing his slope by 130 points. Benj really shows off his athleticism in the box using his base well while creating plenty of whip with the barrel. He has great hand eye with impressive swing variants to get to pitches in tough spots, boasting a zone contact rate of 92% and an overall contact rate of 84%. Now all of that again, written by Arm Layton on the site, but I wanted to read you the skyrim part to give you a sense of what this guy can be for the New York Mets because the thing that arm is getting out here when he's talking about his own contact rate and contact rate, it's barrel control. It's a guy that has a good feel to hit and a guy that has been a two way player that had to rehab from Tommy John when he was in college. So now, yeah, he might pitch a little bit. It might be a Noel McLean style. He starts off next year, potentially in high air. We'll see if we see him at all this year, but he makes a couple of starts or has a couple of appearances out of the bullpen, gets up to double A and eventually just a ban is the pitching and focuses on the hitting because if he can just focus on that, what Arm talks about here as he gets to the outlook, he says, "Banges a unique athlete who may just be scrapping the surface of the player he can ultimately be, has a wiry build and could probably add some strength without losing any speed. It's not uncommon for two way players to add mass upon shifting their focus from the mound. Adding strength could facilitate a simpler operation in the box. Banges more of a projection play than the other college bats in this range, but he has the potential for a plus hit in at least average power while playing a viable center. He talks about him being an above average runner, being able to play right field, if not sticking center. All this stuff talks about a patient approaches the hitter walking more than he struck out when he was at Oklahoma State and having a low chase rate as well, which are looking out here as good play discipline, good barrel control and the potential to add on more power if he builds some strength, which if he just becomes a position player, that will likely happen where all of a sudden a plus hit tool and setting yourself up with good discipline where you're getting yourself a good hitter's count. Also seeing that progression in college where he went from hitting the ball in the ground a lot to lifting more and already tapping into his power, he was asked during his media session what he wanted to get better at. He talked about being able to turn on the inside pitch and being able to lift more. So all of that is projecting forward a guy that is going to check the box on defense, he's going to have the speed, he's very athletic, he's got a good hit tool so you don't have to worry about that. If the power is there as well and he's got an arm as a pitcher, it's a five tool player that then that's got a number 19. He could turn into one of the steals of this draft. I absolutely love this pick by the New York Mets and to make it better, you also have a new bromance because he and Noel McLean again go to a players from Oklahoma State in his media session Carson bench said that they just click right away both being gingers and two way guys. It was just quick friends and they are still we say tearing up rocket league as they play whatever it is PlayStation or Xbox or PC whatever they play games online together still to this day. They've been talking a lot throughout this draft process. McLean has been talking up the Mets organization and bench was clearly very excited to have been selected by the Mets. He couldn't really hold back that excitement when you watched him talk to the media said it was one of the teams he was most looking forward to potentially joining and here he is. So I think the Mets for having fallen 10 slots, they were able to get a player that has a really high ceiling, a player that could progress quickly because he's a college bat. He might take a little bit more time than a college bat that hit for three years in college and didn't have a lost season mixed in there, but he has all the tools and if he just focuses on hitting, which I think will come maybe not right away, but at some point next year or the following year. I think you're going to find out that this guy might just be a huge piece in that future. We won't know until they start playing games, right? And that's why as the draft progresses, I'm not going to give you a detailed analysis on every pick one through 20, but the first round pick you got to talk about and an absolute steal it feels like to end up getting this guy after falling. Awesome stuff for the Mets and hopefully they continue to find some other gems throughout this draft and I will be talking about them just not as as in as much length in detail as I'm giving you on bench. Also though, there was a second round pick, so let's not leave Jonathan Santucci out of it. Shout out to my friend Chris, who might be listening to this, he's a truck driver and he's not even a Mets fan, he's maybe he's now turning into a Mets fan, hasn't even been the biggest baseball fan, but I think he misses me, so he tuned into the show. I just just for him, Tucci, anyway, that's a joke for one person, I'm sorry, but hopefully Chris is listening. Now, Santucci had a 3-4-1 ERA at Duke this past year and 13 starts. He's a left-handed pitcher, 58 innings pitched, 90 strikeouts. After looking at a guy who's got some real upside, coming from the left side, he looked at the Mets system, not a lot of left-handed pitchers, go through the top prospects in the system. Chris and Scott, who's up, Brandon Sprott, who we talked about a lot in yesterday's show, if you missed that, check that out. I talked about Brandon Sprott, it could be a secret weapon for the Mets this year, I have a follow-up article, I was trying to get it out on Sunday, but it's probably going to be Tuesday release at just baseball and Sprott, but again, top two prospects in the system, right-handed. Blade Tidwell, right-handed. Jonah Tong, right-handed. Nolan McLean, right-handed. So, there's not a top-end left-handed pitching prospect in this system right now, and all of a sudden you might have one here with Jonathan Santucci, so we'll see exactly how he progresses and everything else. We'll learn more about him as he really gets into the system, gets into the pitching lab and all that, but when you can strike out 90 guys and 58 innings and you got a projectable arm that scouts really like, something for fans to be excited about in the future, we'll see exactly how long it takes him to go through his development. But so far, so good in this draft, two picks in, you can't grade it too much, but when it comes to the bench pick, I'm giving the Mets an A. Santucci, I'd be lying if I said I knew enough about it to give you a grade on it. I'm not going to just say, "Oh, yeah, it's a B+, like, what does that mean?" But what I will tell you is I like that they're getting a high upside left-handed pitcher for a system that can use one, and we'll see how they continue to progress throughout this draft and make their other selections. We'll be talking about that throughout this week in a ton of deadline stuff. You got Pete Alonzo competing in the home run derby on Monday night, so I'll of course break that down on Tuesday's show. But I also want to talk about the narrative around Pete Alonzo and how he has almost been a shield for Francisco Lindor and Brandon Emo this year. Not necessarily a knowing one or a willing one, but that's sort of how things are broken out. I just want to talk about the season that he's having, of course, there's all the all-star drama, but can he turn it around a little bit more in the second half? So we're going to do a lot of stuff on Alonzo tomorrow as well as covering the draft. So make sure you check that out. If you're listening on the audio side, follow rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. Appreciate all of you for helping me get to that goal of 9,000 subs by the all-star break. The next goal, 10,000 subs by the end of the season. So continue to subscribe. 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