The draft is slowly creeping up on us, and is now less than a month away. It’s do or die time for scouts, and for some draft hopefuls, coming down to the wire to show that they deserve a shot to call baseball their profession. On June 6, everyone is expecting the Houston Astros to take Stanford Pitcher, Mark Appel, with the first pick in the draft. After that, it’s really anyone’s guess.

The Mets have four picks in the first three rounds this year (11, 48, 76, 84). There are numerous draft strategies that teams use — drafting for organizational need, drafting players in premiere positions, taking best player available — many factors come in to play when looking at players to draft. The Mets have been said to be targeting college bats this season. This is a sound strategy, because the organization is overflowing with pitching talent, but it lacks offensive punch.

The fastest way to boost the offense is by selecting players that are still young, yet have been playing against top notch talent in college. College hitters should have a shorter route to the show, and be able to help out the big league team faster than high school players. Selecting polished hitters seems to be working out for the Mets, after seeing the early success of Kevin Plawecki, Jayce Boyd and Matt Reynolds.

With that in mind, here’s a look at the players the Mets should be taking a long look at when they are on the clock with their top pick:

Round 1: Pick 11 

Hunter Renfroe is said to be the pick here, mainly because the Mets are said to be targeting college bats. But a high schooler named Austin Meadows has more upside, and the Mets can probably get him with the No. 11 pick. Meadows is big and fast — 6 feet 3 inches tall, 200 pounds, and runs the 60 yard dash in 6.3 seconds. He’s physically mature for his age, and should fill out even more as he develops over the next few years.

Meadows a left-handed batter with a short and compact swing. The swing can get long at times, but his bat speed can make up for it when it does. He doesn’t load much, but has some lift which will produce the long ball. He shows ridiculous and effortless raw power, and good plate discipline. His pitch recognition is advanced for his age. He is a solid defender, and whether or not teams think he can stick in center field will determine if he is a top ten pick or not.

The Mets should go with Meadows due to the incredible upside. He’s said to be a quick learner and has good aptitude for the game. He projects to be a middle of the order hitter and has All-Star potential. He should be there at No. 11 for the Mets, and if he is, they would be foolish to pass.

If the Mets feel the absolute need to go with a college bat in round one, then the man they want is Austin Wilson. The Stanford outfielder stands in at 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 245 pounds. Don’t let the weight scare you, he’s extremely athletic for his size. He runs a 6.7 in the 60 yard dash, which is also solid speed for his size. He has a plus arm and is a solid defender. He is also said to have excellent character and work ethic.

He was previously drafted out of high school in 2010, but turned down the opportunity to play in the Cardinals organization to go play for the Cardinal in Stanford. He was labeled as an extremely raw talent coming out of high school, but his time at Stanford has helped him develop his game, although he still isn’t a finished product. He has good plate discipline and excellent power that could generate some moon shots.

If the Mets go with either Austin, it would be a solid pick. Both players have top-ten-pick potential, so for the Mets to get them at No. 11 would be a steal. If the Mets had their choice of the two, they would probably go with Wilson, considering he is a college bat. But since Wilson isn’t as polished as most college hitters, if Meadows is on the board, I don’t see how they pass on him. Either way, they both would be solid additions to the Mets organization.

Through the use of the scorecard, let’s take a look at how Andres Torres did this week:

I honestly don’t think I’d ever expect to say Andres Torres would win the Player Of The Week award, but he did well this week and produced for the Mets. While I still don’t feel he should replace Kirk Nieuwenhuis, he did quite well this week. I will also note he had a stolen base.

Honorable Mentions

These players, although not winning the Player of the Week award, had a very strong showing this week and deserve to be recognized. We will also show how strong a showing they had through the use of the scorecard.

Daniel Murphy

David Wright

Ruben Tejada

Frank Francisco

Bobby Parnell

Ramon Ramirez

Not So Hot

The Not So Hot area mentions a few players who did not have a good week this week.

Jon Niese

Chris Schwinden (now demoted)

Manny Acosta

Jon Rauch

Josh Thole

Ike Davis

Player Of The Week Scoreboard

This area shows the scoreboard of the Players of the Week, and who has won already this season and how many times.

David Wright – 1

Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 1

Johan Santana – 1

Andres Torres – 1

Trivia

To finish off the Player of the Week announcement each week, I’ll be asking you a trivia question. The answer will be announced during the next Player of the Week announcement, as well as the first person who answered correctly. Another question will then be asked. Last Week’s Answer is: Harry Chiti. Alex68 was the first person to correctly answer the question. So here is this week’s question:

When the Mets won Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, what Met pitcher was warming up in the bullpen to pitch the next inning if Mookie Wilson had made out?

Did you happen to see the Astros lineup the last three days? Jed Lowrie and Matt Downs are looked at as major offensive weapons. How did this team pull of a sweep?

Well, at least we can look at it this way: The Mets got their lowest point out of the way this season. Granted the team was on the road and had just played a tough three-game series in Colorado, but to get swept by a team that is projected to lose well over 100 games is embarrassing.

The three-game sweep brings the Mets down to earth a little bit. Had they been able to sweep or take two out of three, it would have crowned off a terrific opening month. As it stands, the first month was still exciting to watch, and we have a lot to look forward to.

It’s too early to start scoreboard watching (or is it?!?!), but the Mets are currently in third place at 13-12, just 2.5 games behind the Washington Nationals.

If you asked me at the beginning of the season if that would be the case, I would have been ecstatic. But after being swept by the Astros after coming into the series at 13-9, the feeling is bittersweet.

Let’s not panic fellow Mets fans. Yes, these past three days were tough to swallow, but we seem to be in a good overall place coming back for a homestand. Take two out of three from a tough Arizona Diamondbacks team, and we’re right back on track.

So the low point of this season (hopefully) is behind us. I’m glad we got it out of the way early.

But of course, the Mets never make things easy.  Four straight wins later, two against a team they are chasing for the wild card, Colorado, and there is an air of optimism again.  We’re still 5.5 games behind Colorado and San Francisco, with Florida, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Milwaukee all there to climb over.  But this thing is far from over, and who knows what the likes of Roy Halladay could do for this team?  Heck, if the Mets did somehow manage to win the wild card, they would have to have a guy like Halladay to pair with Johan Santana in a short series with the Phillies, who now have Cliff Lee behind Cole Hamels.  But it’s hard to imagine the Mets even having the goods on the farm to land a Halladay. 

So what does Omar do now?  As crazy as this sounds, the games tonight and tomorrow afternoon are probably going to determine if something happens before Friday’s trade deadline.  Lose both games, and we might be selling.  Win both and we could be buyers.  Split the games and it could go either way. 

What do you all think?