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.
Drew Smith is probably the first well known name on this prospect list for many Mets fans out there. He made his debut in 2018 and before 2019 looked to be fighting for a spot in the Mets bullpen (more on that later). BA gave him a grade of 40 and medium risk, a ranking/grade shared more often for the Mets Top 30 prospects than the previous year.
In his pre-2019 write up, BA reminds us that Drew Smith was 1 of 7 prospects acquired in the 2017 mid-year sell-off and he was 1 of 4 to make it to the majors in 2018. He was also the most effective. (This is why that grade/risk comment was stated earlier – all that drama and talent shipped off the team, but since the Mets didn’t eat any money, the Mets did not get any high ranking prospects back).
Anyway, Drew was effecting in 2018 and gave us high hopes for 2019. BA wrote that Smith has the “raw weaponry to dominate” but needs to make another step otherwise he is destined to middle relief.
2018 Mets: 27 G, 28.0 IP, 3.54 ERA, 1.429 WHIP, 5.8 K/9
Smith’s 2018 gave us hope that he could be reliable in the bullpen, maybe not in high leverage situations, and maybe there is something more for him there (thus that “raw weaponry” line from BA). But none of us got to see if Smith could make that next step last season. Two to three months after publication, Drew Smith had Tommy John surgery and missed the entirety of the 2019 season. It’s now a mystery of where he will be post-surgery.
We are still hoping for lightning in a bottle. He impressed us in 2018 and at a deeper level, we want the 2017 trades to be more than the Wilpons shaving money off the payroll.
