This Will Define EVERYTHING For the Mets

This will define everything for the New York Mets. The Major League Baseball draft has just concluded a couple of days ago and the final picks are the final opportunities for David Stearns to overturn a regressing farm system. A farm system that is needed not only to be great for the Mets to compete in the future, but for them to possibly acquire veteran star assets this upcoming offseason. What's going on guys? I'm Josh Byrne. You're tuned into Mets Digest. Shout out to each and every one of you for all the engagement and all the support over recent weeks. It really does mean a lot, especially because this has been a very rocky season. Maybe that's understating it. It definitely is. But at least here we get to take a break from dissecting the disaster that has been the Mets regular season and instead analyzing pieces of the future for the New York Mets because they're certainly going to need to overturn a farm system that's currently ranked number 24. If you're interested in that and all our daily updates, please do consider subscribing if you are not already. David Stearns, he is not a popular guy in Queens right now. And that's for a good reason. We've spoken in detail about the failures, the well-documented ones that he's had, whether that be Major League Baseball trades and veteran free agents. But this provides him an opportunity to reignite a farm system that is going to be critical in the Mets efforts to compete in the future. But before we get into that, guys, today's video is brought to you by Otis Edge Analytics. Sports betting changed the moment apps took over. Live betting, instant decisions, and endless opportunities are all at your fingertips. But they also make it easier than ever to make emotional bets and chase losses. That's where Otis Edge Analytics comes in. Otis Edge is where passion meets data and it gives you a smarter way to bet with daily expert picks, in-depth analysis, and a disciplined strategy that's built for long term success. Download the Otis Edge app today and see why their quick growing community is getting ahead of the game because that's the Otis Edge. Now, let's start off with Kahuyo Aloy. Now, this is your prototypical slugging outfielder who struggles with the breaking ball. But one thing to point out with Aloy is that he is coming from an absolute powerhouse of a program in the Arkansas Razorbacks. They just went to the College Baseball World Series, the Mets first pick of this draft, Carson Wiggins was a teammate of Aloy's. And I say that he struggles with the breaking ball. Most of these collegiate slugging outfielders do. That's not really a knock on Aloy, but it's going to be very telling to see how he does in the lower minor minor leagues and how he reacts to spin rates that he's never seen before and sliders with a curve on them that he is not used to have seen at the collegiate level. There's certainly an upside there. Scouts are mixed on his defense in the corner outfielder spot. He's never going to be a guy that's a center fielder. But if he can continue to produce robust power stats and at least compete against the breaking pitches, this is a guy who could someone for the Mets moving forward. Now, the next guy they took A.J. Cruddle and Steve Drumwright, who was mentioned in yesterday's video on the Mets day two selections. And if you want to watch all my reactions, we have a day one reaction video, as well as a day two video that were released in the past couple of days. I highly recommend checking those out. But Drumwright wrote via GrandCentralMets.com on Cruddle that, quote, his stuff and traits show the potential that the that the stats don't. He's the fifth member of the Gauchos pitching staff to be drafted this year, led by number four overall pick Jackson Flora, who was taken by the San Francisco Giants. Cruddle had a 5-6-6 ERA this year with 17 walks and 42 strikeouts in 35 innings. He also gave up 42 hits, including seven homers. So the Mets will look to do some fine tuning with them. Yeah, I mean, look, Cruddle is a guy's a raw product. All of these prospects are. And again, you have to keep in mind, yeah, the 5-6-6 ERA is not great, but in collegiate baseball, the ERAs are all inflated and it makes it a little tougher to analyze these guys, which is why Drumwright pointed out that the productivity and the potential of Cruddle goes beyond just the baseline statistics. Now let's get in to the next, the next pitcher. And look, I mentioned in yesterday's video, and it holds true with the final picks of this draft, the Mets went very much pitcher heavy, specifically at the collegiate level. They clearly felt strongly. Zach Gross, VP of amateur scouting, David Stearns, Toussaint, director of scouting. They definitely felt strongly that the collegiate arms were the meat and potatoes of this draft and they acted upon that. So the next pick was Zach Crotchfelt. Now Matt Manley via Shoresportsinsider.com wrote a very interesting excerpt on Crotchfelt saying, quote, pitching out of the Trojans bullpen as a multi-inning reliever, Crotchfelt went 7-3 with a 3-4-9 ERA in 67 innings, while allowing 66 hits, 23 walks, and striking out 81. More than those year-long numbers, Crotchfelt felt endeared, apologies, Crotchfelt endeared himself to his teammates with his performance during the postseason, both in the Sunbelt Conference tournament and the NCAA tournament that followed. In both tournaments combined, Crotchfelt pitched 21 in the third innings, sporting a 4-1 record and a 1-2-6 ERA, while striking out 23, walking 5, and allowing 17 hits. I mean, I'm a fan. I mean, first of all, his name is legendary. And then second of all, the fact that he went into the postseason and absolutely dominated, absolutely shoved, that shows me something. I don't know if he's going to be a major league pitcher, but there is something to be said for a guy taking his abilities to the next level under the brightest lights possible. That's the kind of guy I want on my team. Now moving on, we have, who do we have here? Oh yes, our good friend, or our new friend, Dustin Higgins Jr. Now, not a ton to mention about Dustin Higgins, but he's a 6'2 right-hander out of University of Minnesota-St. Louis, and he's the first guy to be drafted out of University of Missouri-St. Louis in 21 years, since the Yankees took a player back in 2005. So congratulations to him. And moving on, we got Gavin Guidry. Now, look, Gavin Guidry, as Anthony Decomo points out, is not related to Ron Guidry as awesome as that might have been. But Decomo goes on to say, another Louisiana-born and bred pitcher, but Gavin Guidry has some lightning in his own arm, including what Gross called, Christopher Gross, VP of Mets Scouting, quote, a very good slider. Guidry showcased that and more in recording the final six outs of the 2023 College World Series Finals. Though he regressed a bit to post a 5.82 ERA as a junior, Guidry did still strike out 59 batters over 43 any third innings. Guidry, definitely competing with the highest caliber talent at the collegiate level. So again, the ERA being a little inflated, not terribly surprising. The question is, will he be able to develop enough pitches and command his way through the minor leagues to be a starter or will he be relegated to the bullpen? I don't know. And that's really the standard position on most of these guys. But if the Mets are seeing something in these collegiate arms, then they've certainly got a pathway forward. Now, Andrew Hutchinson wrote a good piece for bestofarkansasports.com on the Mets next pick, which was Cooper Dossett. And this, this came out before the draft and Hutchinson said, quote, it would be very surprising to see Cooper Dossett get drafted, but he does have a mid nineties fastball that led to him being projected as Arkansas's closer coming into this past season. Perhaps a team takes a chance on that potential. And the Mets did. Being projected as a closer, even though it didn't necessarily turn out that way for Cooper Dossett this past season, nonetheless, the talents there, he's shown sparks. He's shown a lot of potential at one of, if not the best baseball programs in the country right now. So the Mets very much going high upside there. Again, probably a guy that if he does make it to the big leagues will be a reliever. Moving on, Marcus Ward. Now, Marcus Ward is a 2026 outfielder with a 5'11", 160 pound build, according to perfectgame.org. Now he's from Alpharetta, Georgia, attended Kings Ridge Christian. Ward works from a athletically built frame with strength, strength proportion throughout, immediately impressed to start his event by posting a 651, 60 time. Now this was during a combine in 2024, but essentially Marcus Ward, he's a younger guy, high school product, and the Mets didn't take a word. It's one of them. And he is a two-way player, but I don't believe from what I've read that his pitching impressed enough to the point where he would take that to the professional stage. Nonetheless, the guy is very fast, is a plus in the outfield. And as is mentioned in the bottom of this excerpt, quote, did a nice job of creating leverage with strength in the hands, posted an exit VLO of 90 miles per hour. This was two years ago. It was not easy to get too much information on his background, one of the lesser known prospects in this draft, but it seems that the Mets went high upside on the raw potential given his athletic abilities. And I kind of like that. It kind of goes against the grain compared to most of the other Mets draft picks. And now we have reached the final two picks, the final two picks of the Mets draft. Now, will these guys end up being Hall of Famers? Probably not. But if they are, you may remember this video because we have documented every single pick. And it's going to start off with the penultimate pick of John Smith, the third. Now this is a switch hitter outfielder. Again, I like that we're going outfield here. I like that the Mets actually decided to go away from pitching. Look, I understand if you, if you think that the collegiate arms are the strength of this class, that's one thing, but I don't need to see almost an entire draft of those guys. I want to see a little bit of diversity in the positional department. And they added that with starting with Marcus Ward and then going to John Smith, the third. He spent one year at UCF and one at South Alabama. So we'll see about him. And then finally the Mets rounded out their draft with shortstop Cooper Schultz. Now, interesting thing about Cooper Schultz is he actually spent much of his collegiate career at community college, but eventually transferred to the University of Iowa where he put up an 840 OPS and had a breakout season. Let's address the obvious. Likely most of these guys aren't going to pan out. Is that an indictment on David Stearns? No, there's plenty of indictments on David Stearns you can make, but this is how the draft goes. It is interesting to read about these players, at least to me it is, and see what the Mets saw in this class, which was clearly elite raw talent from the collegiate pitching department. But we will not be able to comfortably diagnose this draft and analyze it from unbelievable success to morbid failure for at least two to three years. I mean, that's just how it goes. But nonetheless, it's exciting to see the Mets bringing in talent to their farm system. They need it. They have one top 100 prospect right now, and that's Jonah Tong. And Jonah Tong, I still have some confidence he can be a good major league pitcher, but it's been a tough year for him. It's been a tough year for the Mets, and it's been a really concerning season for the farm system overall. Ewing, McLean, Scott, Benj, they're all up, and they're all performing well at the major league level, but there's not many new names in the farm system to be extremely excited about in the immediate future. Hopefully this draft changes the narrative on that and at least allows the Mets some flexibility to go out and add some major league ready assets this upcoming offseason. Let me know what you guys think. The Mets capped off their major league baseball draft. What is your raw reaction to how they did? Comment below, let me know, and as always, let's go Mets.