Brad Penner/USA Today
With the signing of Michael Cuddyer this past offseason, the New York Mets sacrificed their first-round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. Thus, the team had to wait until the No. 53 overall pick to make their first selection in the draft, and when they did, the pick they made was a bit of a head-scratcher. The Mets took Desmond Lindsay, a high school outfielder from Florida, and with no disrespect to him, this was an odd direction for the Mets to go.
Since Sandy Alderson took over control of the front office, the Mets have used their first pick in the draft on a high school position player three times in four years, so the fact that they selected another high school player wasn’t a surprise. However, the Mets broke that trend last year by taking college position player in Michael Conforto, who has already reached Double-A. The thinking was that since the Mets are closer to contending, it made sense to draft a player who could reach the big leagues quickly. With the Mets even closer to contending now than they were a year ago, it would have made sense to continue that thinking and take another college player.
It may have also made sense for the Mets to draft a pitcher. They have built one of the best farm systems in baseball in recent years, primarily due to a strong contingent of pitchers. But with most of their high-end pitching talent already in the big leagues or on the cusp of the big leagues, the Mets need to restock the pitching in their farm system. And using their first pick in the draft on a pitcher would have been a big step towards accomplishing that, especially if it were a college pitcher who could move through the farm system quickly.
Even more puzzling about the pick of Lindsay is the fact that he was not considered a top 100 prospect by most talent evaluators. The Mets’ front office has said that a hamstring injury hurt Lindsay’s stock, and had he not been injured, Lindsay may not have been available at No. 53 overall. Even if this is an accurate assessment, there is some question about Lindsay’s ability as a contact hitter even if he does possess plus speed and raw power, further questioning the validity of the Mets’ first pick.
Obviously, it’ll be years until we know whether Lindsay was a good choice, and in general, there’s rarely something wrong with taking a player with impressive raw tools. However, considering the fact that Lindsay is not a college player, nor is he a pitcher, his selection was somewhat puzzling.
Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google.
