On night one of the 2023 MLB Draft, the New York Mets were able to make two selections that they hope can have a bright future in their organization. With pick 32, the team went with shortstop Colin Houck out of Parkview High School in Georgia and Florida right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat was chosen with the 56th pick. The Mets have a $8,440,400 bonus pool for the 2023 draft. The pick value for the 32nd pick is $2.61 million and $1.47 million for the 56th overall pick.
With these two picks, the Mets went with value in the case of Houck and familiarity in Sproat’s case when you consider the team selected him in the third round a year ago (received a compensation pick this year for not signing him).
Even though the Mets’ initial first round pick was dropped ten spots due to the competitive balance tax, they were still able to get a player in Houck that is widely considered a top-15 prospect. According to MLB Pipeline, he was the 12th-best prospect in the class, and his raw power is a big reason for it.
“Houck’s combination of strength and bat speed give him plus raw power, and the right-handed hitter already shows a propensity for driving balls in the air to his pull side. He does swing and miss and chase pitches more than is ideal at times, though there’s optimism that he can improve as a hitter once he concentrates solely on baseball.”
Colin Houck. Photo via 24/7 Sports
Houck does have a commitment to go to Mississippi State, but the 6”2, 190 lb shortstop will have the chance to fully develop the raw tools that he had if he chooses to sign and focus on baseball (was a quarterback in high school). According to another high school coach in Georgia (courtesy of the Gwinnett Daily Post), there are not many players that can hit the ball at his age the way he can.
“Houck was a machine,” said Archer head coach Eric Love. “He hit the ball on the nose in every at-bat and made every play look routine at shortstop. I cannot imagine there are many high school players who are as skilled and talented as he is.”
This past month, Houck was on MLB Now, where he was interviewed by former Mets GM Steve Phillips, and he was asked how he would describe himself as a player before saying he thought he had a similar swing and similar stance to current Braves third baseman Austin Riley.
“I’d say I’m a pretty good hitter, I’m pretty athletic in the field. Lot of power potential. I like to work gap-to-gap. Middle away is my approach. Smooth hands in the field, good action, and a good arm.”
Even though Houck is listed as a shortstop, which is a position the Mets have a good amount of depth at in the organization, that does not mean the team should pass on a premium talent. If things work out, they could try him out at a different position, such as third base, because of the strong arm that he has. If the Mets are able to sign him, he should instantly be one of the top prospects in the system.
“[He’s] an athletic kid,” Mets director of amateur scouting Drew Toussaint said. “We like the hit tool. … We like the defensive ability. We think he has the chance to develop some power. We’re real excited.”
While New York did not take a pitcher with their first pick of the night, they did address pitching by re-drafting Sproat. Now, the rules are that if you fail to sign a player that you draft, you can only redraft him if the player agrees to a deal.
Sproat elected to go back to Florida, a year in which the Gators made it to the College World Series Finals, where they lost to LSU. He threw 106 1/3 innings, pitched to a 4.66 ERA, and had 127 strikeouts to 92 walks. Yes, the walks can be high (5 walks in his CWS start against LSU), but he did have 15 starts this year in which he struck out seven or more hitters.
Keith Law of The Athletic had Sproat ranked 39th on his big board. “He takes a huge stride toward the plate to generate that velocity from his lower half, and fields his position well, both in terms of his athleticism and his instincts. It’s at least mid-rotation upside but with a lot of reliever and overall command risk.”
When you watch Sproat pitch, he is able to stand out with the fastball that is routinely in the mid-to-late 90s in velocity. He throws a slider and curve, but his best secondary is by far his changeup. If the offspeed pitches can continue to develop, he has a bright future as a starter considering the amount of big games he was able to play in while at Florida.
“It’s funny how the world works. In the same position last year, couldn’t work out a deal. But went back, bet on myself. It’s funny how things turn out. I’m super excited and blessed,” Sproat said.
All in all, the Mets were able to make two interesting selections on Day 1 that have the potential to be solid prospects for them down the road and will make following the lower levels of the system fun to watch.
As the team heads to Day 2 on Monday, one thing to keep an eye on is whether the Mets continue to add more pitchers. They will be one of the teams in the spotlight on Monday afternoon since they have pick 91, 101 (compensation for not signing Sproat last year), 123, 134 (compensation for Jacob deGrom), and 135 (compensation for Chris Bassitt). With a lot of early Day 2 picks, they have the chance to make the most noise despite not having a large bonus pool to work with. Picks will begin again at 2 p.m. ET on MLB dot com.
