A Brief Look at the Draft History for the New York Mets. Sigh.

In light of Mike Pelfrey's recent emergence into a legitimate ace quality pitcher, coupled with the choice of Matt Harvey at #7 overall in the draft, it seemed like a great time to take a look at the Mets' draft history.  It's important to keep in mind that, more than any other sport, the baseball draft is a crapshoot.  That said, the Mets draft history still stands out, both for it's ineptitude and for the brilliant flameouts of the two best picks they've made.

Since the first Rule 4 Draft in 1965, the Mets have had the #1 overall pick 5 times, tied with the San Diego Padres for the most by any team.  One of those picks is, of course, Darryl Strawberry, arguably the most successful Met position player of all time; though Wright could soon surpass him if he cuts back on strikeouts.  The Straw hit 252 HR in 8 Mets seasons, and was voted NL Rookie of the Year in his first season (1983), and making the NL All Star team in his next 7 seasons, before leaving the Mets in 1991 for his hometown of Los Angeles, where plummeting crack prices were too much for Darryl to resist.  The other four #1 overall picks?  Not so great.

Catcher Steve Chilcott was the Mets pick at #1 in the 1966 draft, famously selected over Arizona State OF Reggie Jackson, who accused the Mets of racism in overlooking him.  Whether he was right or wrong is irrelevant now (the Mets claimed they were drafting on positional need, and worried about Jackson's character), but Chilcott would bat .248 in 7 minor league seasons, and never get called up to the majors before retiring from injury in 1974.  As of today, Chilcott and Brien Taylor are the only two #1 overall picks to never play in the major leagues, although Matt Bush, who the Padres took at #1 in 2004, is currently in single A for the Rays after being out of baseball in 2008 and 2009.  He's currently being converted into a relief pitcher, after being drafted as a SS.   Regardless of what becomes of Bush's career, Chilcott is in truly exclusive company.

The Mets didn't have to wait long to make their next #1 pick, as only two years later, in 1968 they would select SS Tim Foli out of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, CA.  Foli would be in the majors by 1970, but would only play 102 games for the Mets before being traded to the Expos as part of the Rusty Staub trade.  Foli would stick around in the major leagues for 16 years as one of the worst offensive players of his generation, with a career OPS+ of 64(!!!!), never once in a season compiling an OPS+ of greater than 83.  It would be 12 years before the Mets would pick first again, and that, as mentioned before, would be Strawberry in the 1980 draft.

After Strawberry came Shawn Abner with the 1st pick in the 1984 draft.  Abner, a high school OF from Pennsylvania would never play a single game for the Mets, traded before the 1987 season with Kevin Mitchell and other anonymous minor leaguers as part of the deal that brought Kevin McReynolds from the Padres.  Abner only played 392 games in his major league career, hitting .227 in 902 at bats with a career OPS of .591.  Awesome.

With the first pick in the 1994 draft, the Mets finally went the pitching route and selected Paul Wilson from Florida State University.  Wilson made his big league debut with the Mets on April 4, 1996, and made 26 starts that year, going 5-12 with a 5.38 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP.    He was back in the minors to start the 1997 season, and he would never throw another pitch for the major league club.  Wilson was finally traded by the Mets on July 28, 2000, sent to the Tampa Bay Rays with Jason Tyner for Bubba Trammell and Rick White.  Wilson would later find himself with the Reds, going 11-6 in 2004.  However, he injured his shoulder early in 2005, and he would never pitch in the major leagues again.  For his career, he made 153 starts, going 40-58 with a 4.86 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP.

Fourteen other picks in Met history (not including Harvey this year) have come in the top 10.   Three of those were Jon Matlack (#4-1967), Dwight Gooden (#5-1982), and Mike Pelfrey (#9-2005).   Matlack would win the NL Rookie of the Year in 1972 with a 15-10 record and a 2.32 ERA (he'd also give up Roberto Clemente's 3000th and final hit that year).  He was a key success in the Mets 1973 NL Championship season, going 5-1 down the stretch to help the Mets lock up the division, although he would suffer tough losses in games 1 and 7 of the World Series as the Mets hearts' were broken by Reggie Jackson and the A's.  Gooden needs no fill in here, as there is perhaps no greater example in baseball history of a player flaming out and letting drugs and alcohol push what could have been one of the all time great careers by the wayside.  We've talked enough about Pelfrey this year, so let's look at the rest.

• Les Rohr, P (#2 in 1965) - 6 major league games, out of baseball at 24.
• Randy Sterling, P (#4 in 1969) - 9.1 IP in the major leagues, out of baseball at 25.
• Butch Benton, C (#6 in 1975) - 25 AB's for the Mets over two years, traded to the Cubs for "future considerations", which were apparently never fulfilled.  Of note was that the Cubs would later trade him to the Expos for a player by the name of Jerry Manuel.  Bust.
• Hubie Brooks, OF/SS (#3 in 1978) - Hubie is one of the better players the Mets ever drafted, though his two All Star appearances would both come with the Montreal Expos.  Brooks was traded just as he was entering his peak as one of the four players the Mets dealt to the Expos for Gary Carter, who would of course be instrumental in the 1986 title.  Tough to call him a bust, but worth noting that his best years came elsewhere.
• Tim Leary, P (#2 in 1979) - appeared in 23 games for the Mets between 1980 and 1984 for the Mets, going 4-4.  Was part of a 4 player deal in 1985 which netted the Mets Frank Wills, who would never play for any part of the Mets organization.  In Leary's best year, he would go 17-11 with a 2.91 ERA for the 1988 Dodgers team that would shock the Mets in the NLCS and go on to win the World Series.  In Mets terms, an utter failure of a pick.
• Terry Blocker, CF (#4 in 1981) - 1 hit in 15 at bats for the Mets, traded in 1987 to the Braves for a player to be named later.  Hit .205 in 244 career at bats, out of the majors at 29.  Sick.
• Eddie Williams, 3B (#4 in 1983) - Never played a major league game for the Mets, traded in 1984 with two other players to the Indians fro Bruce Berenyi.  Williams bounced around to 6 teams over 10 major league seasons, but was never a starter for any prolonged stretch.
• Preston Wilson, SS (#9 in 1992) - Son of the beloved Mookie, Wilson only had 20 major league at bats with the Mets after toiling in their minor league system for 5 years.  Still, those 20 at bats were enough to convince the fire selling Florida Marlins to take him as the centerpiece of the May 1998 deal that brought Mike Piazza to the Mets.  While Wilson had a 30-30 season in 2000 with the Marlins, and led the NL in RBI in 2003 for Colorado, injuries and his massive strikeout numbers made him a journeyman by 2005, and he spent 2009 trying to crack back into pro ball by playing for the Long Island Ducks.
• Kirk Presley, P (#8 in 1993) - Probably better known for being Elvis' third cousin, Kirk Presley was drafted out of Tupelo High School in Mississippi, and would never pitch in the major leagues.  Arm injuries forced him to retire in 1998, out of baseball at 23.
• Geoff Goetz, P (#6 in 1997) - another Mets top 10 pick that would never play in the major leagues, Goetz's claim to fame is that he was a part of the Piazza deal alongside of Wilson.
• Philip Humber (#3 in 2004) - Humber was one of the "Big Three" coming out of Rice in 2004, alongside Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend.  He pitched in 5 games for the Mets over two years, and was famously tabbed to make his first big league start on September 26, 2007 with the Mets on the verge of losing their division lead to the Phillies.  Humber was promptly rocked by the Nationals for 5 ER in four innings, and well, we know where this story goes.   On the good side, he was a part of the trade that brought Johan Santana to the Mets, so there's that.  Humber was released by the Twins after last season, and is currently working in the Royals organization as a starter at AAA Omaha.

It would be only fair to say that in recent years, the Mets first round success has been off the charts:  David Wright was a sandwich pick in 2001, Scott Kazmir in 2002 at #16, Big Pelf at #9 in 2005, and most recently, Ike Davis at #18 in 2008.  However, those seem to be mere outliers in a continued pattern of draft ineptitude.  If Matt Harvey is to join the list above of Met draft flops, it will be just another reason why being a Met fan sucks.