Long Island, New York native Steven Matz, the Mets’ top pick in the 2009 draft, underwent Tommy John elbow surgery on Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York according to several reports that have now been confirmed by his agent Rob Martin.
The young 18 year old left-hander injured his elbow while working last week in extended spring training, according to Mets minor league field coordinator Terry Collins.
The Mets have had a run of bad luck in the past with drafting high school pitchers, and hopefully Matz comes back healthy and pitches for the Mets unlike past high school first rounders; Nathan Vineyard, Bobby Keppell, Geoff Goetz, Kirk Presley, Jon Ward and others.
Before the surgery, Matz was throwing in the 95-96 mph range and given his youth there’s a good chance that he can regain his form and resume his career. That said, I wish the Mets would focus more on college players in this draft, who can help the Mets in a year or two.
Speaking of the Amateur Draft, last week Baseball America posted a mock draft for the upcoming 2010 MLB Draft and Jim Callis projected that the Mets will select Yasmani Grandal, a switch-hitting catcher from the University of Miami.
Grandal is hitting .425/.547/.754 with 20 doubles, 11 homers, 43 walks, and just 27 strikeouts in 47 games, and is considered to be the top catcher in the draft and the tenth best player overall. He is considered to be very close to Major League ready and is expected to develop into a pure power hitter.
The 2010 MLB Draft will air live on MLB Network and be simulcast on MLB.com on June 7th at 7:00 PM EST.
