The Mets selected outfielder Nick Morabito with the 75th pick in the 2022 MLB draft Sunday. The selection came at the end of the second round as a compensation pick for Noah Syndergaard.
Morabito was ranked the No. 91 draft prospect by MLB and No. 82 by Baseball America. The 19-year-old comes from Gonzaga College High School and was committed to Virginia Tech. He stands at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds.
Baseball America had this to say on Morabito:
He has short levers and is direct and quick to the ball with no extra or wasted movement pre-pitch or during his load. He can naturally wear out the right-center gap and while he has limited physical projection, has shown plus raw power already. Where Morabito will play is perhaps a bigger question. He has played shortstop and center field, but he has below-average arm strength that might limit him to second base if he sticks on the infield. It’s more likely that he moves to the outfield, where his plus running ability could give him a chance to stick in center.
Morabito has experience at second base and shortstop, but he was announced as an outfielder. Brian Sakowski of Perfect Game wrote that he projects well to center field.
Here’s some video of him hitting, albeit from a couple years ago:
On July 1, he joined ATB Network scout Luke Krumich to talk about his rise in prospect rankings.
Morabito is the Mets’ fourth pick of the day and of the 2022 draft so far. They took Kevin Parada with the 11th pick, Jett Williams with the 14th pick and Blade Tidwell with the 52nd pick.
