The second through 10th rounds of the 2021 MLB Draft were held on Monday, and after selecting Vanderbilt RHP Kumar Rocker with the No. 10 overall pick on Sunday night, the Mets were set to add nine more new Amazin’ prospects to the fold.
Stay up to date with our capsule profile trackers below:
ROUND 2 (No. 46 overall): RHP Calvin Ziegler, TNXL Academy (HS)
Ziegler was the top prospect in Canada, and moved to Florida to play at TNXL Academy this season after the Junior National Team’s usual trip to Florida was cancelled. The righty has a mid-90s fastball, a low-80s breaking ball that acts as both a curve and a slide at times, and a show-me changeup.
He is committed to Auburn, but the two-time Canadian Junior National Team hurler was ranked anywhere from No. 77 (Perfect Game) to No. 271 (Baseball America), and Joe DeMayo of SNY posits that he may turn pro, but be a potential under-slot signing (his slated bonus is $1.62 million) to make up for the possibility of having to go over slot to sign Rocker.
ROUND 3 (No. 81 overall): RHP Dominic Hamel, Dallas Baptist University (Sr.)
Hamel spent two years at Yavapai JC in Arizona before transferring to Dallas Baptist, and in his lone full D-1 year, the righty was 13-2 with a 4.22 ERA (those 13 wins second in D-1) and a school-record 136 strikeouts in 91 2/3 innings.
Per MLB Pipeline, Hamel is a spin-rate guy who has a low-to-mid-90s fastball, two solid breaking balls, and a developing low-80s changeup with sink – and their scouting report says “he has a ceiling of a No. 4 starter and also could be a useful multi-inning reliever at the next level.”
Listen to New York sports talk now on Audacy and shop the latest Mets team gear!
ROUND 4 (No. 111 overall): 1B J.T. Schwartz, UCLA (Redshirt Soph.)
Schwartz was a two-year starter for the Bruins after redshirting as a freshman, and slashed .377/.481/.561 with eight home runs and 53 RBI in 59 games. His .396/.514/.628 line in 2021 won him the Pac-12 batting title, and was the No. 2 OBP and No. 7 batting average in a single season in program history. That line earned him First Team All-Pac 12 and All-American honors.
A lefty hitter, Schwartz’s power profile is unknown, but he looks to be an elite hitter with strong on-base potential – and as a first baseman only, MLB Pipeline posits that “with that limitation comes pressure to be a run producer and power source, though teams definitely were taking note of his increased production this spring as the Bruins' cleanup hitter.”
ROUND 5 (No. 142 overall): RHP Christian Scott, University of Florida (Redshirt Soph.)
Scott, who was technically a third-year sophomore after redshirting following seven appearances in 2020, was 4-2 with a 3.00 ERA and two saves in 26 games for the Gators this season, with one start mixed in. He had a 3.72 ERA in three seasons in Gainesville, pitching 121 innings in 55 games.
The 6-foot-4 righty sits mid-90s and has touched 98 with his fastball, and mixes in a mid-80s slider that plays best down in the zone as well as an occasional curve or changeup. MLB Pipeline pegs him as a “control over command” guy with “some effort in his delivery,” but “he has shown his stuff should be effective” in an MLB bullpen.
ROUND 6 (No. 172 overall): RHP Carson Seymour, Kansas State (Redshirt Jr.)
Seymour, a two-time Academic All-American, spent his freshman year at Dartmouth before transferring and playing two years at Kansas State. He had a 3.92 ERA in four starts in 2020, and a 6.19 ERA in 56 2/3 innings over 14 games (10 starts) in 2021. Per MLB Pipeline, Seymour “has some of the best pure arm strength in the Draft,” with a fastball that sits mid-90s but can reach 100 and an upper-80s slider that hits the low-90s, but has some control and consistency issues that make him best suited to a relief role as a pro.
ROUND 7 (No. 202 overall): SS Kevin Kendall, UCLA (Redshirt Jr.)
UCLA’s leadoff hitter in 2021 after missing 2020 to injury, Kendall slashed .356/.413/.498 with 88 hits, four homers, and 37 RBI, with 10 stolen bases. He hit .309 overall in three seasons, but moved to center field in 2021 after playing shortstop in 2019-20, but the Mets listed him at SS on their draft card.
ROUND 8 (No. 232 overall): LHP Mike Vasil, University of Virginia (Junior)
Vasil was thought to be a potential first-round pick out of high school, but committed to Virginia and became the team’s No. 2 starter in 2021, going 7-5 with a 4.52 ERA in 81 2/3 innings pitched. The 6-foot-4 righty has “the kind of repertoire and feel for pitching that points to a future in a big-league rotation,” per MLB Pipeline, thanks to a low-90s fastball and both a curve and a slider that could potentially be plus pitches. He also has “an above-average changeup, and has greatly improved his strike-throwing ability this year and now looks like a guy with at least three pitches who knows how to use all of them and command them well.”
ROUND 9 (No. 262 overall): RHP Levi David, Northwestern State University (Junior)
David threw just 25 1/3 innings over his first two collegiate seasons – 2018 at McLennan JC in Texas and 2020 at Northwestern State – before putting himself on the map in 2021. The righty had a 4.43 ERA in 61 innings pitched, but had a 72 percent swing-and-miss rate on his breaking ball, and ranked third in D1 with a 15.3 per nine innings whiff rate.
Per MLB Pipeline, David has a curve that is a “plus-plus hammer at its best, sitting at 83-85 mph and reaching 87 with tremendous depth, and he has doubled its usage to nearly 40 percent this spring.” He also has a heater that gets up to 99 MPH, but had had some control and delivery issues and lacks a true third pitch, so he’s likely ticketed to the bullpen at the pro level.
ROUND 10 (No. 292 overall): LHP Keyshawn Askew, Clemson (Redshirt Soph.)
Askew was a starter and a reliever as a freshman at Clemson before moving to the rotation full-time for 2021, and he went 1-2 with a 5.89 ERA and 69 strikeouts against 11 walks in 57 innings. His Clemson bio even notes that he “has an unorthodox throwing motion,” and coach Monte Lee told The Clemson Insider before the season that Askew “has always been an upper-80s guy with a good changeup and a breaking ball that has always been a pitch that he needed to develop more consistently, and we feel like he has, and his fastball is up to 92 MPH.”
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch