During the 2023 MLB draft the Mets selected a total of 23 players, including seven within the first four rounds. The Mets agreed to deals with their first 14 draft selections and 20 overall, with college pitchers Brady Kirtner and Christian Little, and prep pitcher Gavyn Jones choosing to forgo signing with the team. Most, but not all, of the draft choices who elected to sign made their brief...
The Major League Baseball Players Association announced the finalists for their annual Players’ Choice Awards on Tuesday. Francisco Lindor and Kodai Senga were the two Mets chosen as finalists in their respective categories. Lindor is a finalist for the Marvin Miller Man of the Year award—the same award he won last year. The award is named after Marvin Miller, the MLBPA executive director...
KODAI SENGA, RHP Player Data: Age: 30 (01/30/1993), B/T: L/R Primary Stats: 29 GS, 12-7, 166 1/3 IP, 2.98 ERA, 1.220 WHIP, 202 SO, 77 BB Advanced Stats: 142 ERA+, 3.63 FIP, 10.9 SO/9, 29.1 SO%, 11.1 BB%, 4.5 bWAR 2023 Salary: $14 million Grade: A 2023 Review The Kodai Senga hype started in the States after the 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season. The then 29-year-old had announced he was...
Third base has functioned as somewhat of a revolving door for the New York Mets this season. The position group has slashed just .210/.270/.332 while putting up -2.3 fWAR and -9 Outs Above Average, making it crystal clear that a pick-me-up is necessary. Brett Baty and Eduardo Escobar got the initial crack at cementing their roles as regulars at the position, but neither player seized the...
The 2023 MLB season starts in just about 48 hours. We’ll have a handful of prediction posts over the next couple of days, and we’ll start with the MVP, Cy Young and Rookies of the Year awards. Nate Mendelson NL MVP: Trea Turner AL MVP: José Ramírez NL Cy Young: Spencer Strider AL Cy Young: Jacob deGrom NL Rookie of the Year: Jordan Walker AL Rookie of the Year: Masataka Yoshida James...
What is a rookie card? That has become an age-old question in the hobby that has become highly subjective with an ever-changing definition over the past few decades. During the hobby’s vintage era, which is classified as when Topps monopolized the industry prior to the 1980s, the definition of a rookie card was cut and dry. A player’s rookie card was their first card. Collectors can easily point...
The New York Mets and right-handed pitcher Kodai Senga agreed on a five-year, $75 million deal that sends him from Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball. Senga, 29, wasn’t posted by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and triggered an opt-out in his contract to become a free agent. He was therefore not subject to the MLB-NPB posting system. The system has brought many Japanese...
Darryl Strawberry is the most hyped player and the best power hitter the Mets ever produced. His arrival to the majors in early May ’83 marked a sign of progress for a franchise searching for hope. After a slow start, Strawberry began to fulfill those enormous expectations and became the third Met to take the National League Rookie of the Year honors, joining Tom Seaver (1967) and Jon...
Dwight Gooden was the No. 5 overall draft pick in 1982 and quickly climbed the minor league ranks in 1983. Still, it was impossible to conceive this kind of a first season—one which easily earned him the National League Rookie of the Year. No Mets pitcher—not Tom Seaver, not Jacob deGrom, and not Matt Harvey—began his career with a better blend of fanfare and success than “Dr. K.” He...
Jacob deGrom arrived to the majors as a solid but not spectacular minor leaguer. With the likes of Zack Wheeler, Mets’ 2010 first-round pick Matt Harvey, Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard, and Steven Matz touted as the foundation for the major league staff, the 25-year-old deGrom was considered an afterthought. In mid-May, deGrom was called up to the Mets for bullpen help. He made his debut...
Six months earlier, there was uncertainty if Pete Alonso would make the Mets’ Opening Day roster. Now he was making history. It was the penultimate game of the regular season, one in which the Mets would not be playing beyond the scheduled 162. An otherwise meaningless game for the team, but an exceptionally meaningful night to Alonso and the crowd at Citi Field. In the third inning of...
