The Mets have reached a deal with 11th overall pick Kevin Parada, MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis reports (Twitter link). Parada will receive $5,019,735, an overslot bonus that exceeds the recommended $4,780,700 price for the 11th selection.
It was perhaps a slight surprise that Parada was still available when the Mets were on the board, as pundits had the catcher solidly within the top 10 on pre-draft rankings. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had the catcher as the fourth-best prospect in the entire draft class, while Fangraphs, Baseball America, and Pipeline all rated Parada sixth, and The Athletic’s Keith Law was right behind in slotting Parada seventh.
Defense could be the reason for Parada’s drop, as there is some question whether or not he’ll be able to stick behind the plate, or if he could become a first baseman or even DH-only player. The onus would then be on Parada to hit well enough for such a role, though there is broad consensus that Parada is one of the best hitters of the 2022 class, with Pipeline and BA each going into the 60-grades on his power and hit tools. Parada is an all-fields hitter who consistently makes hard contact and also developed more power over his time at Georgia Tech, all while using a unique batting stance.
When the Mets and tenth overall pick Kumar Rocker didn’t reach an agreement last year, New York earned the 11th pick in this year’s draft as compensation. As a result, the Mets had both the 11th and 14th overall selections on this year’s board, and both players have already been signed. Since 14th overall pick Jett Williams signed a below-slot deal, the Mets ended up signing Parada and Williams for a total of $8,919,735 — less than the $9,024,500 combined slot prices for the two picks.
Nice!
Rocker > Parada
Time will tell!!!!
If you say so.
Figured Mets would have to go over slot for Parada. Regardless they had to get this signing done or forfeit the pick. Now hopefully they can get their 3rd rounder signed.
They went over slot, but it wasn’t by much at least. Still have enough money left over to sign the others.
Except Sproat who says he might go back to college
Is Sproat a college junior?
I believe he was a sophomore.
4 guys still unsigned. 3rd round said no already!
Mets at least will get a comp pick for him.
Now can they trade him for Soto ?
For what? Soto isn’t worth what they are asking and then you still need to give him 500m+. This is baseball and not basketball. No one player is worth what they want.
According to my rankings I had Parada 6th behind Elijah Greene #1, Jackson Holliday #2, Justin Crawford #3, Druw Jones #4, and Brandon Barriera #5
*Rankings brought to you by camden453, mlbtraderumors commenter
in what world was Justin Crawford 3, and ahead of Drew Jones?
Im really not high on Jones. He’s got a small frame size. Projects to me like Michael A Taylor. Yeah, he’ll fill out, but frame size and bone mass never change much
I think he’ll ultimately be overpowered, maybe even at AA
I said similar things about Victor Robles when he was the #1 prospect. I said he’s absolutely terrible and there’s no way he’s even remotely the #1 prospect
I was called an idiot and a moron by the masses who use the prospects lists as the ultimate authority
I was shocked Justin Crawford slipped so far. I did give Jones the benefit of the doubt because there’s definitely star potential and legitimate talent there, but like Michael A Taylor (who I love btw) I dont think he’ll develop much power
It’s hard to go by frame size alone. Edwin Diaz is listed at 6’3″, 165 lbs but he’s the hottest closer in baseball right now.
The psychedelic world….
I also wasn’t and still am not high on Acuna for similar reasons
I said before this season that he’s become very badly mechanically unsound with the years of playing beyond his body and going all in on every bat trying to hit a monster HR every time. I said he’s going to start to regress, lose power, speed, have injuries, the works. He’s very badly broken down and has lost his original talent and balance, which was good but not great to begin with. I said that in 3 years he would barely be an average major leaguer. I advised the Braves to trade high while they still can
I was absolutely canned and trashed by the herd for that, but it turns out once again I’m right
He has a .396 SLG going into August and clearly has lost a step
It never is going to “come back”. When you sell out like he did for monster years early on eventually the paycheck comes due and you have none of your original talent
This is what happens often with guys with smaller frames, they try to get big all the time
But the mob mocks and condemns condemns condemns the messenger because in the moment there’s a consensus formed and any breach of the acceptable standard is considered the #1 heresy in violation of the herd-think
I also said when Matt Harvey was in AAA that he wasn’t that great, would have a career similar to Joe Blanton statistically, for the simple reason that once he loses velo they’re just going to tee off on his bloated fastballs and off speed pitches. I was urging the Mets to trade high on him after the 2015 season, but as usual cowards can never offend the mob
I was 100% accurate then too. However hundreds went absolutely ballistic on me and said I was a “moron” because he was a consensus top prospect
People who don’t know rely on the herd-think and people who do know simply state reality irregardless of whether it’s unpopular or not
Trade the staff ace after winning the NL Pennant. Makes total sense.
Acuna has 22 Sb and missed the first month. He hasn’t lost a step. He’s one of the best five talents in baseball. Having a slight down year after missing almost a year is not saying he is now average. I would take him and contract over anyone in baseball.
@mlb1225, yes, bold, smart GM would have and they would have had very good prospects back for Harvey who fell apart the next season
Good executives make unpopular moves. The rest wait until it’s socially acceptable
And he wasn’t the staff ace. deGrom was. Which I was also saying at the time. Start deGrom in game 1. I was trashed for those insights too
@mets698622 and I’d trade him right to the organization you’re GMing, for all your best prospects
Check back with me at the end of 2025 when Acuna barely put up a 110 OPS+
At 14 m a year that would still be a bargain.
Also, when deGrom was in the low minors I said he had ace potential
I was absolutely trashed and mocked by tons of people because he was a 9th round pick and he wasn’t even on prospect lists yet. Nobody even knew who he was
Comments along the lines of, “You’re off your meds. deGrom isn’t even on prospect lists. He’s just an organizational player”
I continued to insist deGrom would be an ace and to keep on eye on deGrom
Once again I was right.
I argued with Keith Law on Twitter once over the Andrelton Simmons trade. All of his hordes of followers were utterly trashing me
Keith Law for some reason was so high on Newcomb. He was calling Newcomb a potential ace. He thought it was a massive overpay and the Braves got a huge haul for Simmons
I told Keith that Newcomb would bomb. The ball coming in looks like a softball. It was obvious there was no way Newcomb would be successful
I bet you saw that he would increase his average fastball from 93 to 100.
@mets69 No. In no way did I expect two Cy Youngs and potential Hall of Fame. There’s no way anyone would have predicted that
Now that prediction would have been crazy
@Camden
Since Acuna is “barely an average major leaguer”, maybe the Mets can trade Jankowski for him?
They signed their 2 1st rounders for a combined 125+k under slot. That works.
Im not sure why the Mets went after Sproat. Im sure they knew that he was iffy to sign.
Parada was one of the best hitters in this draft. The fact he fell to the Mets made this pick a steal. College bat should move quickly. Thank you Kumar Rocker for not only not signing but getting Texas to select you at three, helping to allow Parada to fall.
Anyone see the tik toks on how Parada was banging every girl lol
His physical came with an STD test.
What other non- sports job pays you 5 million dollars upon graduating college, with zero experience and zero credentials other than how you did against 20 year olds? Yeesh…