Players have until Friday, July 12th to sign. Picks in the first 10 rounds in the draft are assigned pool values. The total pool value of the Mets’ 11 picks from the 2013 Draft’s first 10 rounds is $6,990,000. If the Mets sign all of these first 11 picks, that total represents the penalty-free money they would be able to spend. Any amount over that total would be taxed at a 75% rate. Any amount more than 5% over that total would result in the loss of future draft picks (this is a threshold that has not yet been breached by any club). Additionally, for all signings outside the first 10 rounds for more than $100,000, the overage counts against the pool total. Any unsigned picks from the first 10 rounds do not contribute their pick value to the Mets 2013 pool.
| Rnd | Player | Signing Bonus | Pool Allotment | Difference | Official? |
| 1 | Dominic Smith | $2,600,000 | $2,840,300 | $240,300 – Under | Yes |
| 2 | Andrew Church | $850,000 | $1,138,800 | $288,800 – Under | Yes |
| 3 | Ivan Wilson | $624,900 | $724,900 | $100,000 – Under | Yes |
| 3 | Casey Meisner | $500,000 | $640,900 | $140,900 – Under | Yes |
| 4 | L.J. Mazzilli | $300,000 | $441,800 | $141,800 – Under | Yes |
| 5 | Jared King | $450,000 | $330,800 | $119,200 – Over | Yes |
| 6 | Champ Stuart | $300,000 | $247,700 | $52,300 – Over | Yes |
| 7 | Matthew Oberste | $325,000 | $185,700 | $139,300 – Over | Yes |
| 8 | Ricky Knapp | $130,000 | $156,500 | $26,500 – Under | Yes |
| 9 | Patrick Biondi | $10,000 | $146,200 | $136,200 – Under | Yes |
| 10 | Luis Guillorme | $200,000 | $136,400 | $63,600 – Over | Yes |
| 11 | Tyler Bashlor | $550,000 | up to $100,000 | $450,000 – Over | Yes |
| 12 | Jeff McNeil | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 13 | Kevin McGowan | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 15 | Colton Plaia | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 16 | Zach Mathieu | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 17 | Johnny Magliozzi | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 18 | Brent McMinn | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 20 | Dan Herrmann | $200,000 | up to $100,000 | $100,000 – Over | Yes |
| 23 | Gaither Bumgardner | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 25 | Ricky Jacquez | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 28 | Robert Coles | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 33 | Ryan Chapman | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 34 | Cameron Griffin | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 35 | Ty Williams | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| 36 | Brandon Brosher | $167,500 | up to $100,000 | $67,500 – Over | Yes |
| 38 | Paul Paez | Unknown | up to $100,000 | Unknown | Yes |
| Pool Total | $6,907,400 | $6,990,000 | $82,600 – Under |
Thanks to everyone who tweets, e-mails, etc to help me put this list together & keep it updated. Hat tips, especially, to @PSLToFlushing, @nymets945, @tobyhyde, @MitchNYM, @WexlerRules, @DanDotLewis, @RealKenDick, and obviously @jimcallisBA and all the folks at @BaseballAmerica.
Players in bold have officially signed.
| Rnd | Pick | Player | Pos | School (Class, if college) | BA Top 500 |
| 1 | 11 | Dominic Smith | 1B | Junipero Serra HS, CA | 14 |
| 2 | 48 | Andrew Church | RHP | Basic HS, NV | 89 |
| 3 | 76 | Ivan Wilson | OF | Ruston HS, LA | 140 |
| 3 | 84 | Casey Meisner | RHP | Cypress Woods HS, TX | 246 |
| 4 | 116 | LJ Mazzilli | 2B | UConn (Sr) | 250 |
| 5 | 146 | Jared King | OF | Kansas State (Jr) | 68 |
| 6 | 176 | Champ Stuart | OF | Brevard College (Jr) | 199 |
| 7 | 206 | Matt Oberste | 1B | Oklahoma (Jr) | 120 |
| 8 | 236 | Ricky Knapp | RHP | Florida Gulf Coast (Jr) | 187 |
| 9 | 266 | Patrick Biondi | OF | Michigan (Sr) | 247 |
| 10 | 296 | Luis Guillorme | SS | Coral Springs Charter HS, FL | 222 |
| 11 | 326 | Ty Bashlor | RHP | South Georgia JC, GA | 323 |
| 12 | 356 | Jeff McNeil | SS | Cal State – Long Beach (Jr) | 396 |
| 13 | 386 | Kevin McGowan | RHP | Franklin Pierce (Jr) | Not Ranked |
| 14 | 416 | JD Leckenby | RHP | Washington State (Jr) | Not Ranked |
| 15 | 446 | Colton Plaia | C | Loyola Marymount (Sr) | 334 |
| 16 | 476 | Zach Mathieu | 1B | Franklin Pierce (Jr) | Not Ranked |
| 17 | 506 | John Magliozzi | RHP | Florida (So) | 439 |
| 18 | 536 | Brent McMinn | RHP | Nevada (Jr) | 443 |
| 19 | 566 | Cody Crouse | RHP | Bloomingdale Sr HS, FL | Not Ranked |
| 20 | 596 | Dan Herrmann | RHP | Christian Brothers College HS, MO | Not Ranked |
| 21 | 626 | Morgan Earman | RHP | Desert Christian Academy, CA | 420 |
| 22 | 656 | Daniel Procopio | RHP | Central Technical School, Canada | Not Ranked |
| 23 | 686 | Gaither Bumgardner | RHP | South Carolina – Upstate (Sr) | Not Ranked |
| 24 | 716 | Matt Brill | RHP | Moline HS, IN | Not Ranked |
| 25 | 746 | Ricky Jacquez | RHP | Central Arizona JC | Not Ranked |
| 26 | 776 | Owen Spiwak | C | Cawthra Park SS, Canada | Not Ranked |
| 27 | 806 | Austin Coley | RHP | Belmont (So) | Not Ranked |
| 28 | 836 | Robby Coles | RHP | Florida State (Jr) | Not Ranked |
| 29 | 866 | Anthony Kay | LHP | Ward Melville HS, NY | Not Ranked |
| 30 | 896 | David McKay | SS | Viera HS, FL | Not Ranked |
| 31 | 926 | Ben Hecht | RHP | St. Anthony School, IL | Not Ranked |
| 32 | 956 | Juan Escara | C | Mater Academy Charter School, FL | Not Ranked |
| 33 | 986 | Ryan Chapman | RHP | Santa Ana JC | Not Ranked |
| 34 | 1016 | Cameron Griffin | RHP | Columbus State (Sr) | Not Ranked |
| 35 | 1046 | Ty Williams | RHP | Seminole State JC | Not Ranked |
| 36 | 1076 | Brandon Brosher | 1B | Springstead HS, FL | Not Ranked |
| 37 | 1106 | Juan Avena | 1B | Compton JC | Not Ranked |
| 38 | 1136 | Paul Paez | LHP | Rio Hondo JC | 391 |
| 39 | 1166 | Logan Quimuyog | 1B | Mosley HS, FL | Not Ranked |
| 40 | 1196 | JB Woodman | OF | Edgewater HS, FL | 135 |
Editor’s Note: This is just a small example of the wonderful work Chris does at his site, tpgMets. If you’ve never been there, you need to check it out immediately and add it to you bookmarks.
The thing that jumps out at me most is that the Mets went under slot on their first five picks so they could give a $450,000 over-slot deal to Ty Bashlor in the 11th round. Bashlor went right around where he was projected to go and the Mets paid extra for the privilege. Meanwhile Bashlor has a 6.14 ERA and a 7.36 BB/9 as a reliever in the APPY.
This is the second year under the pool allotment system and both times the Mets have gone cheap in the first few rounds in order to go wild on a lower pick. In theory, that would seem to be a good move in order to get a higher profile talent later in the draft. But when you’re getting equivalent BA value talent for the pick, and paying 5X the amount for the privilege, and the initial results are this poor – well, it’s easy to be critical.
My preference would be to go over slot early, like the Mariners did with Austin Wilson on the second round, the first pick after the Mets went cheap with Andrew Church
Clearly the Mets internal amateur scouting saw something in Bashlor they valued highly (significantly more highly than BA). With the new CBA, the early teen rounds have become very interesting, since they represent the first risk-free opportunity to take overslot talent. It’s risk-free in the sense that if they can’t come to terms, they don’t lose out on pool money, like they would in rounds 4-10. The Mets’ draft approach in the first two years of the new CBA has relatively been consistent. A few other teams have looked to go overslot early, preferring to consolidate their draft pool into 2 or 3 players. Maybe that approach will ultimately be demonstrated to be better. But this being only the second year with these rules, it’s a little tough to praise or criticize the Mets’ overall approach too much.
Last year, the Mets gave almost $375K to Chris Flexen in the 14th round (the analogue to the $550K they gave Bashlor this year, from an approach standpoint). Flexen struggled last year in his pro debut, but this year is 8-1 with a 2.09 ERA and in 69 innings has given up 53 hits and 12 walks while striking out 62. I’d give Bashlor at least one trip through fall instructs and spring training before taking his results (especially in just 14.2 innings of rookie ball) with anything less than a giant grain of salt.
I agree with most everything you write above. The only things I would add are that Flexen was ranked by BA as #306 coming out of HS and was taken at #440 while Bashlor came out of JuCo. Struggling in the APPY at 17 is a different story than struggling there at 20.
But we’ll see how this strategy works out five years or so down the road.