Mets Prospect: Brad Holt Is The Next Big Thing

Brad Holt has continued to impress ever since the Mets drafted him as a supplemental pick in the first round of the 2008 draft.

This morning, Bart Hubbuch of the Post gives us another reason to be pumped up about the Mets prospect who is in St. Lucie for his first spring training.

Right-hander Brad Holt doesn’t have an invitation to the Mets’ major-league camp this spring, but get used to hearing the name. The 6-foot-4 prospect, a first-round pick last season out of UNC-Wilmington, put his mid-90-mph fastball on display in an impressive bullpen session here yesterday during voluntary workouts. Holt, who struck out a 96 batters in just 72� innings for Single-A Brooklyn last season, could get some appearances with the Mets next month when the World Baseball Classic depletes their big-league roster.

Back in November, I wrote the following about Holt after ranking him the Mets fourth best prospect.

I love this kid. The young right hander throws extremely hard and was virtually unhittable in his first professional season in Brooklyn. He turned many a scout’s head as he piled up the strikeouts, and could emerge as the real Mets closer of the future if the Mets don’t overwork that precious arm of his.

In September of 2008, the Mets awarded the Sterling Award to Brad Holt. The award is given to the top player at each level of the organization. This is what Mets.com wrote at the time.

Holt went 5-3 with a league-best 1.87 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 14 games with the Cyclones. In 72.1 innings, he allowed just 43 hits, 18 runs, 15 earned, and 33 walks. In addition to leading the NYPL in strikeouts, his strikeout total set a new franchise record for the Cyclones, eclipsing the previous mark of 93, set by Kevin Deaton in 2002. Holt finished the season with a 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings, and was named to the New York-Penn League All-Star Team in mid August. Holt struck out 10 batters in a game on four separate occasions, and tied a Cyclones franchise record with 14 strikeouts in a single game, in just six innings, on July 24th vs. Vermont.

Many have estimated Holt’s arrival to come at some time in 2011. However, depending on how quickly he can refine his changeup, I believe we can see Holt as soon as 2010. One thing we can all agree on is that this kid is bursting with talent and has scouts drooling over him. I haven’t been this excited about a Mets pitching prospect since Scott Kazmir.