According to Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline, the Mets have signed first round pick Colin Houck. The prep shortstop will get a signing bonus of $2.75 million, slightly above the slot value of $2,607,500 for the 32nd overall pick.
Callis also reports that the Mets have signed second rounder Brandon Sproat a year after they will unable to sign the hard-throwing right-hander from Florida. Sproat’s signing bonus is exactly at the slot value of $1,474,500.
Houck, 18, stands in at six-foot-two and 190 pounds and went to Parkview High School in Georgia. Houck was the 2023 Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year. Naturally with winning the award, he put up an impressive senior year at Parkview with a 1.446 OPS. He also played on the school’s football team, earning 12 Division I offers from the likes of Virginia Tech, Miami (FL), and Arkansas, among other programs. His profile is an athletic one that gives him the ability to grow into more power as he gets older.
Colin Houck. Photo via 24/7 Sports
Houck ranked as MLB Pipeline’s 12th-best prospect in the draft, Perfect Game’s 13th, and The Athletic had him at number 21. Keith Law of The Athletic noted the possibility of Houck moving off shortstop, but said it is possible that he stays on the infield. He also mentioned that if Houck, “develops some pitch and ball/strike recognition the Mets may have gotten a top-15 talent without having a first-round pick.”
As a two-sport athlete, as mentioned above, Houck has offers to play football at Power Five schools. In talking about his balance between the two sports, Houck said:
“It was just a decision that me and my family made. I just to decided to kind of become the best baseball player I can be. That’s what I wanted. I’m pretty set on doing baseball, but I will be playing football my senior year of high school.”
SS Colin Houck (Parkview HS (GA), 2023) smokes one into the gap for an RBI standup double. Highly athletic tooled up prep bat, potential first rounder if he gets buy in on the glove at SS. Mississippi State commit. pic.twitter.com/pPMqFGrUHS
— Will Hoefer (@whoeferbaseball) February 20, 2023
The Mets have also officially signed the following picks: RHP Austin Troesser ($128,200 underlsot), sixth rounder RHP Jack Wenninger ($74,800 underslot), seventh rounder Noah Hall ($58,750 underslot), ninth rounder 3B Nick Lorusso ($125,100 underslot), and 10th rounder C Christian Pregent ($115,800 underslot). The Mets have also signed undrafted free agent RHP Dakota Hawkins to a six-figure signing bonus. The biggest bonus given by the Mets prior to Houck signing was for eighth round prep shortstop Boston Baro that got $700,000. Baro’s pick had a slot value of $192,900.
Houck instantly becomes one of the Mets’ top five prospects in their farm system.
