This is the second year where we are walking through the previous season’s Baseball America’s Top Prospect handbook, looking at the all the Mets to see how they are developing against Baseball America’s Projections.
We round out the last five prospects in the list with #26, Chris Viall, a right handed pitcher who was drafted out of Stanford in 2016. He currently has a BA Grade of 45 and a high risk rating. BA notes that Viall’s numbers weren’t tremendous in college but Viall is a 6’9″ pitcher with a high-90’s fastball and that always warrants a look. His first two years in the Mets system were marred by injuries and surgeries limiting his play to 26 innings in 2017 and 66 innings in 2018. Baseball America wrapped up their thoughts on him by saying he projects to the bullpen (relies on a fastball and struggles with control due to mechanics) but needs to get innings first so the slotted him to start games in St. Lucie.
Now let’s look at his stats and see what actually happened in 2019:
2017 Brooklyn: 9 G, 26.1 IP, 3.42 ERA, 1.177 WHIP
2018 Columbia: 15 G, 66.1 IP, 4.75 ERA, 1.538 WHIP
2019 Columbia: 19 G, 21.2 IP, 9.55 ERA, 1.938 WHIP
Viall did not end up at St. Lucie as BA projected and really struggled in Columbia where he was 1.2 years older than the competition he faced. At the same time, he’s tall and has had a series of arm and shoulder problems.
Update: Thank you to those who reached out that Chris Viall retired over the summer. Obviously a personal decision and we wish Chris the best in whatever he has been pursuing for the last several months.
He voluntarily retired from baseball this winter.
Chris retired from baseball over the summer.