Here's a deep dive on Kevin Parada, the Mets' No. 11 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft...
Deep dive on Mets draft pick Kevin Parada
Here's a look at what New York is getting with the catcher
Background
Parada, who will turn 21 in August, grew up in Pasadena, Calif., where he graduated high school in 2020 as the No. 6 ranked high school player in his state -- a hotbed for baseball talent. In the 2020 MLB Draft he could have been a second-round pick but declared to MLB clubs that he was unwilling to sign in the shortened draft and to not select him so he can fulfill his strong commitment to Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech is rich in history at the catcher position, most notably Jason Varitek and Matt Wieters who were impactful players for the Red Sox and Orioles, respectively. Joey Bart was also drafted out of Georgia Tech with the second overall pick in 2018, and is still working on getting his footing in the big leagues.
Parada had a great freshman season, when he slashed .318/.379/.550 with nine home runs in 62 games and also spent time on the U.S. collegiate national team. He made a brief appearance in the Cape Cod League, where he got the chance to swing wood bats and hit .250 with a .344 on-base percentage in nine games.
As a draft-eligible sophomore, Parada was a Golden Spikes finalist, which is awarded to the best college player in the nation by hitting .361/.453/.709 and set a Georgia Tech record with 26 home runs and a near even 30/32 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 60 games.
Scouting Report
Parada’s calling card is going to be his bat. He has an unorthodox pre-swing setup, but that doesn’t impact his above average bat-to-ball skills even against velocity. He took a big step in pitch recognition this year, learning to lay off pitches and wait for his pitch to hit. That is tough to do when you are one of the best players in college baseball whom a lot of teams simply won’t want to pitch to.
He broke out power-wise this year with 26 home runs, but largely his approach is about hitting hard line drives gap to gap. He has worked to add some loft to his swing, and scouts believe he should be a future 20-25 home run bat.
Defensively he needs some work, as he is right now an average receiver and his arm is fringe, having only thrown out 12 percent of runners this year. He is known as an extremely hard worker and a leader who is going to maximize what he can be both offensively and defensively.
Future
I had Parada as a Top 5 player in this class and the second best college player, behind only Brooks Lee, who went to the Twins with the No. 8 pick. I also had him going to the Rangers with the third pick of the draft in my final mock (shrugs). He has a chance to develop into an overall average defensive catcher, who will be carried by his bat or he has enough bat to profile at either first base or designated hitter.
He has the makings of a truly impactful middle-of-the-order bat that hits for both average and power, and could potentially rank among the Top 100 prospects in baseball almost immediately.
There will be many questions about what this means for the future of the catcher position with the Mets also having Francisco Álvarez in the fold, but the intention of the selection was purely the Mets taking the best available player. The best strategy in an MLB Draft is to take the best available player and the position will work itself out down the road.