Leading up to the MLB Draft Sunday night, one of the most intriguing prospects in the draft was Vanderbilt RHP Kumar Rocker. For the last 2-years scouts have been raving about Rocker and most of the hyped led to a handful of scouts dubbing the right hander as the #1 overall pick headed into the season. Rocker had a phenomenal 2021 season which say the big man go: 14-4, 2.73 ERA, 179 Ks, 0.93 WHIP, with a 4.59 K/W ratio. He is also the first pitcher since 1988 to lead the nation in both wins and strikeouts.
Over the last couple of years the Mets have been rather lucky when it comes to pitching in the draft. Matt Allan was drafted in the 3rd round back in 2019 after General Managers were worried if he’d choose to go to college. J.T. Ginn had the same issue in 2020, and fell to the Mets in the 2nd round. The Mets ended up signing both of them, and now have, after Rocker, three elite potential starting pitchers headlining their farm system.
Rocker and the Mets agreed to terms Monday afternoon on a $6M signing bonus, which was $1.26M over slot value. Rocker’s agent, and the most prolific agent in sports history Scott Boras, had this to say on the news: "It was about a war to get him [Rocker] down to 10 because we felt the Mets were a good pick for him and a good environment."
Image via MLB.com
The Mets and Boras haven’t seen eye to eye in the past, and that’s largely due to their former incompetent owners in Fred and Jeff Wilpon, and Saul Katz. Ever since Steve Cohen officially bought the team back in October of 2020, I’ve been saying that his top priority should be to form a strong relationship with Boras. Coming to terms with Rocker, less than 24-hours after drafting him, is quite the start in doing that.
When it comes to Rocker and why the Mets were able to draft him tenth overall, it comes down to two things. The rise of his college teammate Jack Leiter, and Rocker seemingly not having a go-to second pitch after his un-hittable slider. Coming into the college season Rocker was the consensus #1 overall pick, but teammate Jack Leiter, who went #2 to the Texas Rangers in the draft, burst onto the scene and took some of the thunder away from Rocker. He was seemingly overlooked after Leiter’s elite season this year.
Scouts were weary, in my opinion way too much, on Rocker’s fastball touching 92-97 MPH, and not being as a dominate of a pitch when compared to his slider. When I look at Rocker, I see a 6 foot 5 inch massive presence on the mound who has the ability to be dominate in the big leagues for years to come. Time will tell how Rocker will pan out in the big leagues, but if you’re a Mets fan, you need to be excited by this steal.