00:00This is Straight Outta Flushing, brought to you by your local Ford stores.
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00:09So we talked about the numbers with the pitching, right?
00:1112 pitchers selected here in this draft, and we've got to start with the first pick that they had in
00:15this draft,
00:16and that was taking Carson Wiggins.
00:18Now, Joe, this looks like a very interesting prospect.
00:23102 on the gun is what this guy can hit.
00:25Didn't have that many competitive innings above high school,
00:29so the Mets really seem like they're betting on the fact that, look, we like his stuff, we like his
00:34upside.
00:35He did have an injury, did deal with surgery, Tommy John surgery,
00:40but do you look at this move as a home run swing, to keep a baseball term here for the
00:45Mets, Joe?
00:47Or did they just simply say, hey, we really like this guy's projection
00:53and where we think he can go with the 27th pick?
00:55What did you make of the move of drafting Carson Wiggins?
00:59Maybe both of those things, and I wrote about Carson Wiggins that you could read at SNY.TV,
01:05and I actually called it a home run swing of a pick, so I have to be consistent.
01:09I think it's a home run swing of a pick, and as you mentioned, from a pure stuff standpoint,
01:14Carson Wiggins has as good stuff as anybody in his entire draft class.
01:17It's an elite fastball that'll average 99 miles an hour, as you mentioned, touch 102.
01:22He had a wipeout slider in the mid to upper 80s that got a 74% swing and miss rate
01:30on in college.
01:31Curveball, he shows the ability to really spin it.
01:33It's a little inconsistent, but he's got the natural feel to spin it,
01:37and a changeup is a pitch that he hardly threw and kind of lags behind.
01:41As you mentioned, just 14 innings at Arkansas underwent Tommy John surgery with the internal brace,
01:49but he is fully healthy right now.
01:52He threw at the MLB draft combine last month, and he wasn't going full bore really in that bullpen session,
01:59but he was up to 97 miles an hour, and he said in his post-draft availability that he is
02:04ready to pitch right now,
02:06rehab's over.
02:06He would get on a mound tomorrow if the Mets wanted him to, so I think they're drafting a healthy
02:11player.
02:12There's obviously some risk given the injury.
02:15Control and command are certainly things that need to take a step forward if he is to fulfill what is
02:20his ultimate potential,
02:22as Chris Gross, who already astutely pointed out earlier, the VP of Amateur and International Scouting.
02:28He said he could be a frontline starter, and I agree,
02:31but there is that high risk that he could end up a reliever if the control and command can't get
02:37to the level that you need it to be to sustain as a starter.
02:42So that in itself makes it a home run swing because you take a big swing,
02:47you might hit a fly ball to left field, or you might hit 450 feet to dead center.
02:53Wardy, do you like the team taking a swing here?
02:55I know some people are different when it comes to drafts in all sports.
02:58Some people may say, ah, I'd rather you go with safe pick with your first pick.
03:02Do you like that the Mets made, to take Joe's term again, a home run swing here with their first
03:08pick in the 2026 MLB draft?
03:10I think what the Mets were able to do following that first pick is what makes me like this pick
03:15so much more, transparently.
03:16Because when we look at the slot bonus for him, he was right around, I believe, you know, close to
03:20three and a half million,
03:21and the Mets got him around two.
03:22So the Mets were able to get him, you know, at an appropriate value, as well as bringing in someone
03:26who, as Joe alluded to, has the pure stuff.
03:29You know, you're not looking at the innings with someone like this.
03:31You know, I understand, even going back to my younger self, you know, not being as versed with the draft
03:35and, you know,
03:35the buildup and kind of what you're looking for in young, talented players.
03:39It's not nearly as much necessarily about the amount of actual playing time they had,
03:44especially in the case of a pitcher, as it is the stuff.
03:46Like, all you need to know is that if you have your entire pitching department, like, advocating for this guy
03:50in the draft,
03:51then clearly there's a reason for it, as is the case with every other team in Major League Baseball, right?
03:55So knowing that he touches north of 102 and was sitting right around, you know, getting to 97,
04:00most recently coming off of injury.
04:01I also like the fact that the Mets actually are bringing in someone that just came off of a season
04:06-long injury
04:06because, you know, it's better for that to happen then than potentially for it to happen now.
04:10Now that it can't, not that it can't happen moving forward,
04:12we've seen guys, of course, get, you know, Tommy John twice or three times over, like, a DeGrom, for example,
04:17but it just feels like there might be a slight less likelihood of that happening,
04:20and if he can kind of take this by storm right away from the Mets,
04:23and we see him on the mound sooner than later, then that's going to be a great thing for them.
04:27So to be determined exactly what the Mets are getting him, but absolute gas, I'm never complaining.
04:32I'm always complaining about a lot of things with the Mets, including not having proper flamethrowers.
04:37So I hope that this is a step in the right direction, both from the right side,
04:40and then as we get into a little bit later, maybe some guys they brought in there throwing from the
04:43left side.
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