This Has HUGE Implications For The Mets...

This has huge implications for the Mets. Yesterday, day two, the final day of the MLB amateur draft concluded and David Stearns is in very much need of finding diamonds in the rough and steals as he looks to retool the Mets farm system moving forward in order to really place them in a position where they can trade for veterans and also develop more homegrown talent and move away from signing overpriced free agents. What's going on, guys? I'm Josh Byrne. You're tuned into Mets Digest. Guys, thank you so much for all the support over recent weeks. Obviously, this has been a tough season. It's been a tough season for all of us. Somehow, the Metropolitans find themselves 17 games below 500 here at the all-star break, an all-star break that has mercifully come so that we can take a little bit of a respite from watching this god-awful team. David Stearns is the architect of said god-awful team. He's been under fire, rightfully so, but this MLB draft provides him an opportunity to at least somewhat regain confidence from the fans if they do pan out well, these prospects, but it is going to take a lot for the perception of him to change, but going forward, let's look at what the Mets did. Now, Steve Drumwright of grandcentralmets.com highlights the Mets' strategy here on day two, and he said, if you had the thought that the New York Mets had an eye on bolstering the system's pitching depth after day one, that belief crystallized big time on day two. The Mets' first four picks Sunday were college pitchers, and only two of them were, I'm sorry, they selected just, yeah, just two high school players, a catcher and an outfielder on Sunday. Just incredible to think of that, and clearly they had an idea in mind, but guys, before we get into the individual picks, this video is brought to you by PrizePicks. PrizePicks is America's number one sports picks app and the best way to get in on the action, and we'll have some crazy picks and some awesome promotions later, but make sure to download the app using the link in the description and pin comments and use code digest to sign up today. New users get $50 instantly in their lineups when playing your first $5, and it helps out the channel a ton. Now, let's get into the actual picks here. We know the Mets, as Steve Drumwright wrote, we're really targeting these more mature college level pitchers, and let's see what the pundits had to say about that. First, we're going to start off with Luke McNeely, and this is what Anthony Decomo said via MLB.com when he broke down this individual pick. He said, the Mets have a notable recent history of drafting pitchers from Florida, most prominently with Christian Scott, who's currently in the big league rotation. The latest in that line is McNeely, who, like Scott, spent most of his time at Florida in the bullpen. If McNeely can translate into his upper nineties stuff to a starting role, his prospect stock should only grow. Certainly upper nineties stuff sounds great. Again, guys, this is very much a crapshoot. We have no idea where these guys are going to be in a couple of years, but the Mets clearly figured that this was a strong class of college pitchers, and that is the route that they went. Now, the next pick that they took was Aiden Keenan, and Jim Callis via MLB.com had this to say about Keenan. Keenan missed two months this spring with an oblique injury and has logged a 5.79 ERA in three seasons at Stanford. He's unleashed the hardest pitch of the day at 98.9 miles per hour and averaged 97 with his four seam fastball while running his cutter up to 92 and his slider up to 85. This report actually came from the scouting combine back in May, which is why Jim Callis is writing the hardest pitch of the day. So Aiden Keenan did throw the hardest pitch of the day. You know, that is something there. So again, high upside, good fastball. We'll see if he can develop his entire repertoire into becoming a major league starter, or if he'll be relegated to the bullpen. Now the Mets finally went away from the arms and towards offense, specifically with catcher Ryan Taman, who they took from California Pauly. Now he's a catcher, but he's an offensive first catcher and certainly offense is something that the Mets probably felt that they needed at this point in the draft as they were very much pitcher heavy early on and really during the entire draft. And then they also took Nate Eisler, reverting back to the pitching realm. And Nate Eisler, he's a big guy, 6'6", armed from Dartmouth with a strong fastball and slider. He's also developing a changeup, but this is a guy who the Mets are very high on because not only is he a big dude at 6'6", but they really love his Ivy League education, his development. They already see his fastball and his slider as effective pitches that can work for him right out of the gate. And players who I believe will work right out of the gate in this upcoming all-star game are as follows, because again, guys, this video is brought to you by Prize Picks, and you know, I had to give my daily pick of the day. We're looking forward to it. The all-star game, it's a great distraction in the middle of the season from what's actually going on with the Mets. And you can see my picks right here. First of all, Christopher Sanchez, I'm going to go more than 0.5 Ks. I think that it's a pretty good bet that if this guy gets into the game, then he's going to be fanning at least one batter, you'd think, right? He's going to get into the game and he's going to probably face three batters because he's going to go one, two, three. And then Juan Soto, more than one and a half total bases. Most of that is predicated on whether or not he is going to be able to actually get enough at-bats in this game, but assuming he does, assuming he gets at least, I would say, three at-bats, I'd feel pretty confident that he can attain more than one and a half bases. He's been fantastic at plate recently and he's the sole representative for the Mets in the summer classics. So, no real reason to bet against him and I'm not going to. So, Max Meyer, more than 13 and a half pitches thrown. Largely predicated on whether he's actually going to take the bump in this all-star game, but I do think he will. The Marlins having a tremendous season. They've lost their past few games, but there's still seven games over 500 at the break, firmly in playoff position right now. A really good story there for Miami and Max Meyer has been their best starting pitcher, hands down. You would have thought maybe it'd be Sandy Alcantara. He's been a little inconsistent, but Max Meyer has certainly earned this sub-three ERA. I think he'll probably make an appearance, and I'm going to say more than 13 and a half pitches thrown. And then finally, the living legend himself, Mike Trout. It is so refreshing, and I cannot emphasize it enough, to see Trout actually healthy this season and putting together the season he is where he has an OPS not over 900, but almost 900 for the Angels. Of course, the Angels are a mess, much like the Mets are, but Mike Trout has been really a lone bright spot for them in a disastrous season for the Angels, and I think he's going to get a lot of at-bats in this game. I think he'll probably play at least six innings. So I'm going to go more than one and a half bases. And guys, you don't want to miss out on the great promotions that Price Picks has to offer. And one of them specifically is one of my favorites, and that is Taco Tuesdays. Guys, the tacos are going nowhere. Our board is serving up discounted projections on Tuesday. That means tomorrow, all day long. Once again, use the link in the description to download Price Picks and use code DIGEST to get started on Price Picks today. New users get $50 instantly in their lineups when playing your first $5, and it helps out the channel so, so much. So let's get into a couple more draft picks that the Mets made on day two. Joe DiMeo tweeted yesterday, with the 240th pick in the 2026 MLB draft, the Mets selected right-handed pitcher landed Koenig from Ole Miss, ranked number 328 by Baseball America. The 6'6", 245-pound frame, he was a reliever the last two years at Notre Dame North Dakota State and Ole Miss. His fastball sits 95 to 96 and touches 98 with a hard slider and splitter. You know, again, not really that much to say here. Another college arm. The Mets have been high on them. They really took that route as a strategy and a guide in this draft, and we'll see how it pans out for them moving forward. But a lot of hard-throwing guys, most guys are these days, and we'll see. Definitely an intriguing guy from Ole Miss. And finally, to round out this video, wanted to bring up another offensive player that the Mets drafted. They didn't take many offensive players. It was a very pitcher-heavy draft for the Metsies, but one guy they did take was Jacob Madrid. And Jacob Madrid is very much a defense first catcher, but some Mets officials, as Anthony DiComo wrote for MLB.com, are optimistic they can sign Madrid away from a college commitment to Oregon. That is true, but they are also optimistic that he can develop power. That is one thing that is leading Mets officials like Chris Gross, VP of Amateur Scouting, to believe that despite Jacob Madrid's perception as a defense first guy, his power gives him the potential to eventually be an everyday catcher. And taking him at that point in the draft, if he can develop into any sort of productive major league player, that would be a major win. Frankly, you could say that about just about any of these guys. But that'll do it for today's video. There were more picks that the Mets made, and I'll be releasing a breakdown of those picks coming tomorrow. But let me know what you guys think. Obviously, no one knows what these picks are going to turn into, but let's get a temperature check. How are we feeling about this? The Mets decisively went away from a balanced approach in terms of positional value and leaned heavily on pitchers, and not just pitchers, but collegiate pitchers. Do you think that's smart? Do you think that will ultimately benefit the Mets long-term? Comment below, let me know, and as always, let's go Mets.