Kevin Parada, Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets went into Sunday knowing they had one of the more important drafts in recent team history on their hand with five picks in the first 90 and 22 selections overall. I believe most would say that the Mets continued to draft well including Keith Law of The Athletic that had all four of the Mets’ early selections in his top 50 draft-eligible prospects.

As we noted in a previous article, the Mets have been one of the better drafting teams and Mets vice president of amateur and international scouting Tommy Tanous and director of scouting Marc Tramuta hoped to keep that trend going in 2022.

Here are all of the Mets 2022 draft picks:

  • 1st RD (11th overall) Kevin Parada, C, George Tech – $4,778,200 slot value – #7 rank by Law
  • 1st RD (14th) Jett Williams, SS, Rockwall-Heath HS – $4,241,600 slot – #11 rank by Law
  • 2nd RD (52nd) Blade Tidwell, RHP, Tennessee – $1,474,400 slot – #32 rank by Law
  • 2nd RD Comp (75th) Nick Morabito, SS/OF/2B, Gonzaga College HS – $873,300 slot – #46 rank by Law
  • 3rd RD (90th) Brandon Sproat, RHP, Florida, $691,000 slot – #75 rank by BA
  • 4th RD (119th) Jacob Reimer, SS/3B, Yucaipa HS, $507,500 slot – #138 rank by BA
  • 5th RD (149th) D’Andre Smith, SS, USC, $379,100 slot – #153 rank by BA
  • 6th RD (179th) Tyler Stuart, RHP, Southern Mississippi, $288,700 slot – #302 rank by BA
  • 7th RD (209th) Jonah Tong, RHP, Georgia Premier Academy, $225,800 slot – #189 rank by Prospects Live
  • 8th RD (239th) Dylan Tebrake, RHP, Creighton, $181,800 slot – #365 rank by BA
  • 9th RD (269th) Chase Estep, 3B, Kentucky, $161,900 slot – #309 rank by BA
  • 10th RD (299th) Zebulon Vermillion, RHP, Arkansas, $152,400 slot
  • 11th RD (329th) Rhylan Thomas, OF, USC – #480 rank by BA
  • 12th RD (359th) Paul Gervase, RHP, LSU – #330 rank by BA
  • 13th RD (389th) Dylan Ross, RHP, Georgia
  • 14th RD (419th) Cameron Foster, RHP, McNeese State
  • 15th RD (449th) Jackson Jaha, 3B, Clackamas HS – #550 rank by Prospects Live
  • 16th RD (479th) Jimmy Loper, RHP, Duke
  • 17th RD (509th) Connor Brandon, RHP, Toledo – #430 rank by BA
  • 18th RD (539th) Chris Santiago, RHP/3B, St. Mary’s College – #454 rank by BA
  • 19th RD (569th) Jackson Lovich, SS, Blue Valley West HS – #277 rank by BA
  • 20th RD (599th) Eli Ankeney, LHP, Grand Canyon University

Here’s the breakdown of the Mets picks:

  • 16 college players, 6 from high school
  • 13 pitchers (all but one right-handed), 9 position players
  • 3 shortstops, 3 third basemen, 2 outfielders, 1 catcher

As mentioned previously, Law loved the Mets first day of the draft when they got Parada, Williams, Tidwell, and Morabito, and here’s what he had to say about it:

The Mets did really well. They had more scrutiny on them after they didn’t sign Rocker last year, but made up for it, using the compensatory pick they got for the Rocker selection to take Kevin Parada, a top-10 talent and in my view the best player in college baseball this year. They had four picks on Sunday and took four players ranked in my top 50, including a “gut feel” guy of mine, D.C. high school centerfielder/infielder Nick Morabito.

MLB Pipeline is singing the Mets praises on Wednesday as well, they ranked the top six best hauls from the 2022 MLB draft and the Mets are sitting a No.1.

New York got more than Parada, a Georgia Tech catcher who was one of the best all-around hitters in the college class, and Williams, a 5-foot-8 sparkplug beloved by scouts. The Mets concluded the first day with Tennessee right-hander Blade Tidwell (second round), a likely mid-first-rounder before he missed the first six weeks of the season with shoulder trouble, and Washington D.C. high school outfielder Nick Morabito (supplemental second), who combines hitting ability with plus raw power and speed. The hits kept coming afterward, including a power arm in Florida righty Brandon Sproat (third) and offensive upside in California prep third baseman Jacob Reimer (fourth).

In Parada, the Mets have selected a top 100 prospect in baseball, FanGraphs has the catcher ranked as their No. 67 overall prospect. That would give the Mets five prospects in FanGraphs top 100 with Francisco Alvarez (6th), Brett Baty (50th), Ronny Mauricio (73rd), and Alex Ramirez (80th) as the other four.

We will need at least four or five years to see how the Mets did in the draft but early returns look like another W from the duo of Tanous and Tramuta, their group of scouts, and the Mets research and development department.