The 2020 MLB Draft will be an unusual one, as the league's annual Rule 4 Selection Meeting will include only five rounds and 160 total selections, including all Competitive Balance and compensation picks – a mere fraction of the 40 rounds and 1,217 selections that were made in 2019.
The shortening of the draft also means that undrafted talent will be at a premium, but it also means some potential lost opportunities; for instance, had the 2013 Draft been less than 12 rounds, the Mets may have never selected breakout star Jeff McNeil – but if previous drafts had been shorter, the Amazins may also have had a chance at players like Dellin Betances (Yankees' sixth-round pick in 2008) or Brad Brach (Padres' 42nd-rounder in 2008) before they finally came to Queens in the last year.
Those five players the Mets do select this year will hope to live up to the legacies left by these men: the team's best picks ever made in the first five rounds, according to WAR.
ROUND 1: Dwight Gooden (No. 5 overall selection in 1982, 53.0 WAR)It feels almost disingenuous to list only Gooden here, as the Mets' first-round history looks like a who's who of franchise lore. The best of the bunch is Doc, whose resume speaks for itself thanks to the Rookie of the Year Award, Cy Young Award, no-hitter, and three World Series titles on it. He even won a Silver Slugger in 1992, when his .264 average was the envy of utility players and backup catchers everywhere.
It was never the envy of David Wright, though, who clocks in with a 49.2 WAR and probably should've overtaken Gooden as the leader at some point. Then again, Darryl Strawberry, who is third at 42.2 WAR, had his own issues to overcome, so it stands to reason that if they stayed healthy and demon-free, this triad could've been well over 150 combined.
The rest of the top 10 includes Matlack, Kazmir, Burnitz, Jefferies, Mazzilli, Payton, and Backman, and No. 12 is Michael Conforto, who has plenty of time to add to his 12.4 WAR. A bounty of riches, indeed.ROUND 2: Mike Scott (No. 37 overall selection in 1976, 22.7 WAR)Scott is the winner of a close race with Mookie Wilson, edging Mookie out by just 0.3 WAR over their careers. Wilson wins for longevity, though, as Scott spent just parts of four years in Queens, notching a 4.64 ERA before being dealt to Houston, where he earned three All-Star nods and won the 1986 NL Cy Young Award. Wilson of course got the last laugh there, too, as the '86 Mets knocked the Astros out in the NLCS en route to the World Series title.
Beyond those two, the top five consists of Dave Magadan, Todd Hundley and Steven Matz, who sits at 8.0 WAR. Matz is one of two current Mets with a chance to move up the ranks, along with Pete Alonso, whose Rookie of the Year season in 2019 has him in eighth place at 5.2 WAR.
ROUND 3: Rick Aguilera (No. 58 overall selection in 1983, 21.8 WAR)The list of Mets third-round draft picks with double-digit career WAR is a small one – it's four, and fifth place is 2.9 – but it's led by one of the better closers of the pre-Rivera and Hoffman era in Aguilera.
Like Mo, Aguilera came up as a starter and was solid in his rookie season of 1985 and the championship season of 1986, but fate, and the World Series run, cemented his legacy; thanks to his great relief performances in 1986 and an elbow injury that cost him a good chunk of 1987 and 1988, the Mets moved him to long relief in 1989, and he became a closer in 1990 after being traded to Minnesota. The rest is history, as he racked up 318 career saves (seven of which came with the Mets) in 16 MLB seasons.
The rest of the crop is pretty fertile too, with Joe Smith – the active leader in games pitched – at 13.3, 1978 NL ERA leader Craig Swan at 12.7, and the inimitable Roger McDowell at 10.1 before a big drop to Kirk Nieuwenhuis at 2.9.
ROUND 4: Angel Pagan (No. 136 overall selection in 1999, 18.0 WAR)Pagan was a high school draft and follow in 1999, not signing until mid-2000 after a season in the Florida JUCO ranks, and he spent five years in the minors before being purchased by the Cubs prior to the 2006 season. He, of course, returned in a 2008 trade and played four seasons in Queens, but was dealt to the Giants after 2011 and spent five years there before retiring.
Beyond Pagan, the top five is a collection of solid-if-unspectacular players and/or guys known more for non-Mets endeavors. To wit: Mike Jorgenson (1966) played 492 games across seven seasons and two stints, but was notable for being part of the 1972 trade for Rusty Staub; Ken Boswell (1965) spent part of eight seasons with the Mets, including a starting role on the 1969 title team; Billy Koch (1993) didn't sign, but ended up being taken No. 4 overall by Toronto in 1996 and spent five years in the Majors; and David West (1983) debuted as a Met in 1988 but was part of the Rick Aguilera trade a year later.
ROUND 5: Burt Hooton (No. 85 overall selection in 1968, 35.6 WAR)To co-opt and paraphrase a famous saying: if it wasn't for Burt luck, the Mets would have no luck at all in the fifth round. Hooton wasn't even good luck, really, as he spurned the Mets in '68 to go to college; three years later he ended up as the No. 4 overall pick ahead of 15 years in the majors. That doesn't really help the Mets any, but it's a success story for Hooton.
The second-best of the bunch was Gerald Young, who also never played in Queens – he at least signed in 1982, but was dealt to Houston for Ray Knight in 1984 – so the best to play for the Mets was Nick Evans, a 2004 selection who played 159 games in Queens from 2008-11 and racked up a 1.5 WAR. That's good for third place on the list, and honestly, if you subtract Hooton, you get almost nothing – literally, as the 14 non-Hootons that were selected by the Mets in the fifth round and went on to play in the majors combined for an aggregate WAR of 3.8, and that's with Young's 6.0 included.
