UCLA Bruins, Matt McLain
Three major mock drafts dropped on Friday, and they all tied the Mets to a different prospect for July 11th’s Amateur Draft. The Athletic’s Keith Law, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, and Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo all released mock drafts just days ahead of the real deal.
Starting with Law, he connected the Mets to UCLA infielder Matt McLain. Regarding McLain and the Mets, Law said that “They’d love Rocker, and there’s a nonzero chance he gets here. ”
“There’s been a consistent rumor that they’d take Colson Montgomery here and cut a severe discount, but they don’t pick again till 46 and don’t have any extra picks this year, so that strategy only makes sense if they think he’s way better than most other teams think. If they wanted to reach a little for someone, it could be Will Bednar.”
McLain is poised to become a two-time first round pick after being selected in the 2018 draft at number 25 by the Diamondbacks. McLain categorizes as a second baseman longterm, considering his plus glove and speed, but the lack of a bat is cause for some concern.
ESPN’s McDaniel mocked infielder Colson Montgomery to the Mets in his Mock 3.0. He stated that “Montgomery has some momentum here and is the most likely option for the Mets, at least in part because his best recent comp is former Mets first-rounder Brett Baty.”
“There’s a mess of college guys in play here as well, with all three of the second tier bats (Sal Frelick, Colton Cowser, Matt McLain) and some of the second tier arms (Gunnar Hoglund, Ty Madden), but I think Frelick is their preference of that group.”
Montgomery follows a recent trend from the Mets draft brass, Tommy Tanous and Marc Tramuta, in taking prep bats in the first round. The Mets have done so in their last three drafts with Jarred Kelenic, Brett Baty, and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Finally, Collazo and Baseball America see the Mets taking Boston College outfielder and ACC Gold Glove winner Sal Frelick. Collazo says “The Colson Montgomery rumor is still lingering for the Mets, so don’t be shocked of that happens, but the names who we mostly hear tied to this spot are of the college variety. Most of the teams linked to one of the Frelick/McLain/Cowser trio are linked to the other as well, and there’s been some thinking recently that Frelick could still be the first of this group off the board.”
Frelick is a glove first outfielder that has excelled defensively up the middle for Boston College. His bat is contact first, he runs well, but the build raises questions considering he is smaller in stature at only 5’9″.
The MLB Amateur Draft kicks off on July 11th as a part of All-Star Weekend in Colorado. Metsmerized and Mets Minors will keep you up to date with all the latest development until the draft ends on July 13th.
