Mets Vice President of Player Development and Scouting Paul DePodesta fielded questions for about an hour on Twitter yesterday. He did a nice job of tackling the many concerns and inquiries fans had about the most recent draft, many of the team’s prospects and where they fit into the plan, and also discussed his strategy and the organizations philosophy on developing players and their selection process.
I’m going to summarize some of the things that stood out for me, but for the full Q&A you can click #AskDePo.
DePo stressed more than a few times, that they don’t go into the draft with a mindset of taking either high school or college players. Each draft is different and their focus is on taking the best players available regardless of their age. They also look at each draft through the prism of a 4-year outlook down the road.
With regard to this year’s strategy, DePo said you take what each draft class offers you. For example this year eight of the top ten picks were position players, while in 2012 that number was four.
When asked who he felt would be the first impact player to arrive from their first three drafts, DePo mentioned lefthanded reliever Jack Leathersich, who was recently promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Also, when asked who he envisioned progressing the quickest through the system from this year’s draft class, he mentioned Brooklyn Cyclones second baseman L.J. Mazzilli, the UConn product and son of former Met Lee Mazzilli.
Of course, there was the obvious Wilmer Flores question, and when asked where he would play once he’s promoted DePo responded, “hitting in an RBI spot.”
He also took questions on Cesar Puello, Gavin Cecchini and Brandon Nimmo whom he’s very high on.
You can check out the rest of the thread here at #AskDePo.
