Mets sign top draft pick, catcher Kevin Parada
Kevin Parada wears his new team's hat after being selected by the Mets with the 11th pick of the 2022 MLB Draft on July 17 in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/Abbie Parr
MIAMI — Add another item to the list of ways the Mets are different this year compared with last year: They signed their top draft pick.
Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada, the No. 11 overall choice in the MLB Draft this month, signed with the Mets on Saturday, the team announced. He received a bonus of $5.02 million, according to a person familiar with the terms.
The Mets were able to pick Parada because they had an extra first-round selection as compensation for not signing Kumar Rocker — picked 10th in 2021 — after a disagreement over his physical. Rocker wound up going third to the Rangers this year, and the Mets ended up with Parada.
Parada, 20, had a huge sophomore season at Georgia Tech, slashing .361/.453/.709 with 26 homers, 30 walks and 32 strikeouts in 60 games.
“Power-hitting catchers are very hard to find,” Tommy Tanous, the Mets’ vice president of amateur and international scouting, said the night Parada was drafted. “Power-hitting catchers with a great history of success in college like Kevin had are even harder to find. We were surprised he was there. I think he was the entire year either at one, two, three or four, so when he got to us, it was a pretty easy selection.”
Shortstop Jett Williams, a Texas high schooler taken 14th, signed in the days after the draft, so the Mets have both of their first-rounders officially in the fold.
Diaz so close
With one strike to go in the Mets’ win over the Marlins on Friday, Edwin Diaz laughed. He had come so close — maybe an inch away — to completing an immaculate inning, the rare feat in which a pitcher records three strikeouts on nine pitches.
But Joey Wendle managed to barely foul off a 92-mph slider that was well below the strike zone.
Oh, well. Diaz got him on the 10th pitch instead.
“That slider was really good,” Diaz said Saturday. “I started laughing when he fouled it off.”
Manager Buck Showalter cracked: “He’s a failure. He’s on the trading block.”
Diaz said he had an immaculate inning in spring training during his Mariners days, but doing it in a game that counts would be fun, even if it isn’t an explicit goal.
“I’m not coming into the game thinking, ‘Oh, I want to strike out the three guys with nine pitches’ because that’s really tough to do,” Diaz said. “I prefer to think, I want to get the outs and win the game. That’s easier for me.”
Another first
Maybe Trevor Williams needs a new title: utility pitcher. In posting a 3.38 ERA across 19 games, he has done a little bit of everything: starting (eight times) and relieving (11 times), even picking up the first save (July 14 against the Cubs) and first hold (Friday against the Marlins) of his career.
His streak of scoreless innings is up to 13 (four appearances).
“Trevor has had a pretty solid, versatile year for us,” Showalter said. “It’s kind of like, ‘You know where I am when you need me, tell me what you want me to do.’ He’s been a godsend for us in a lot of ways. He’s been probably one of our most versatile pitchers, maybe the most versatile pitcher we’ve had. It’s kind of like what [Luis] Guillorme has done for us in the position-player department.”
New role for Szapucki
Lefthander Thomas Szapucki pitched out of the bullpen for the first time this year on Friday, striking out two in a perfect inning. Showalter said the underlying metrics were strong, too, and the Mets are intrigued by the 26-year-old in that role.
“It’s part of the equation,” Showalter said. “Look at all our options before we go looking in somebody else’s backyard.”
If the Mets don’t acquire a lefthanded reliever before the trade deadline Tuesday, they’ll try to figure it out internally.
Options include Joely Rodriguez, who has a 5.93 ERA, plus Sam Clay, Phillip Diehl, Szapucki and even David Peterson.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
