Tag: Mets

Facts about the Mets 2021 MLB Draft Picks

Posted on by metbaseball

In this year’s draft, 60% of the Mets 20 picks were pitchers, including nine of the first 10, led by Vanderbilt star Kumar Rocker. However, that was not the most pitchers drafted by a team. The Dodgers drafted 18 (of 19 picks).

Nine newly drafted Mets pitchers throw right-handed, three left.

RHP Calvin Ziegler is the youngest draftee, born 10/03/02, while LHP Matt Rudick is the oldest, born 07/02/98.

Four of the pitchers ranked in the top 50 in D1’s Strikeouts Per Nine Innings. Levi David (pick 9) ranked third (15.34 K/9), ahead of Jack Leiter, Will Bednar, and Sam Bachman. Dominic Hamel (pick 3), placed 14th (13.35 K/9), and Kumar Rocker (pick 1) ranked 15th (13.23 K/9). Nathan Lavender (pick 14) was 27th (12.47 K/9).

SS Wyatt Young at 5’7″ is the shortest player. RHP Carson Seymour at 6’6″ is the tallest.

Only two of the first 10 draftees were position players, one a first baseman, the other a shortstop, both from the same school — UCLA.

Six of the last 10 draftees were position players, including a catcher, two shortstops, and three outfielders.

Two position players hit above .400. Jack-Thomas Wold hit .429, and Matt Rudick hit .410. JT Schwartz came close, hitting .396; his teammate, Kevin Kendall, hit .356. The remaining four position players hit from .323 to .340. Wold’s .429 was the sixth best batting average in D1 baseball, and Rudick’s was 11th best, placing him six spots ahead of JT Schwartz.

The Mets selected only one high school player and none from a junior college.

The bulk of the Mets choices were from four-year schools with enrollments greater than 15,000 including Texas, Florida, Illinois, UCLA, and San Diego State.

Twice they selected two players from a school, Fairfield and UCLA.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/draft/tracker/2021/all/team/mets

Mets best and worst hitters in July so far

Posted on by metbaseball

Through July 11, five Mets batters who have been in the batters box for at least 50 pitches have hit at least .300 led by Jeff McNeil, who is hitting .367. Just missing the cutoff is Dominic Smith, who has the highest SLG (.595).

Four Mets hitters are below the Mendoza line. Tied for the lowest batting average at .143 are Michael Conforto and Jonathan Villar, and though Villar’s faced fewer than half as many pitches as Conforto his SLG is more than double Conforto’s (.571 vs. .250).

The luckiest batter is Luis Guillorme, whose BA is 94 points higher than his xBA; whereas, the unluckiest batter is Pete Alonso. His BA is 69 points lower than his xBA.

Batting stats of Mets who have been at the plate for at least 50 pitches thru July 11

Source: Baseball Savant

Mets Catch McCann

Posted on by metbaseball
Artwork based on Image by Anne & Saturnino Miranda from Pixabay

When J. T. Realmuto priced himself beyond what the Mets wanted to pay, they focused their attention on a catcher who did not have Realmuto’s acclaim but was getting the job done: James McCann.

Though the Mets signing of reliever Trevor May was a significant move, at least one news source viewed McCann’s acquisition as the team’s first “big” one under their new ownership, one not burdened by the financial problems that handcuffed the Wilpons and limited the team’s player options.

There was competition for McCann. Fortunately, the Mets won. According to Maria Torres, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, the Angels offered McCann only a three-year deal.

A White Sox blog called McCann’s loss a “tough” one, adding that “The White Sox are losing a very important piece to their team with the departure of McCann.”

The blog article’s author, Vincent Parise, concluded his piece with this paragraph:

What are the New York Mets adding in McCann? They are getting a catcher who can do it on both sides of the ball. He can hit very well and be a phenomenal defensive catcher. He also is a fantastic leader for a clubhouse and will bring that dynamic to New York. He gets to work with pitchers like Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Marcus Stroman which should be really fun for them all. The New York Mets got a lot better today and should be very happy with the player they are getting.

Mets players have already started praising the team’s new catcher. One member of the Mets starting rotation, Marcus Stroman, expressed his satisfaction with the McCann acquisition.

We are in a new era of Mets baseball.

Let’s go Mets!

Jacob deGrom is reviving memories of Tom Seaver

Posted on by metbaseball

One of the best ways to judge a starter is by how many earned runs he gives up in his starts over his career.

Only one Mets pitcher has started more than 300 games in which he gave up three or fewer earned runs: Tom Seaver. In them, he had an amazingly low ERA of 1.68. The only current Met in the Top 10 is Jacob deGrom.

Mets with number of starts in which 3 or less earned runs were given up
The data source for this post is stathead.com.

In 245 of his starts, Tom Seaver gave up two or fewer earned runs. But he did not have the highest W-L% among the Top 7. Al Leiter won almost 90% of the games in which no more than 2 runners crossed the plate w/o the aid of an error or passed ball.

Among Mets pitchers with at least 80 starts, only one had a W-L% greater than 90%. That was Bobby Jones, who pitched for the team from 1993-2000. In 85 starts he won almost 10 times as many as he lost (53-5).

When the number of earned runs surrendered in a start reduces to no more than one, deGrom moves up to fifth place and his W-L% jumps to 94.7%. Further, half the pitchers in that Top 10 list are left-handed.

Since deGrom’s career began in 2014, only five MLB starters have pitched more than 80 games in which they surrendered no more than one earned run.

Jon Lester and Jacob deGrom tied for first; however, Lester had both four more wins and four more losses.

Two other Mets are in the Top 40, Marcus Stroman and Michael Wacha. Rick Porcello ranks 52nd, Noah Syndergaard 57th, and Steven Matz 91st. Ex-Met Zack Wheeler ranks 71st.