The Mets’ plan under general manager Sandy Alderson early in the draft has been clear. Experience above all else.
For the third consecutive draft, the Mets went with a college player in the opening round, selecting Oregon southpaw David Peterson with the 20th overall selection Monday night to kick off the three-day MLB draft.
In last year’s draft, the Mets used their two first-round picks on college hurlers Justin Dunn and Anthony Kay. In 2014, Michael Conforto was the opening-round pick. The Mets didn’t have a first-round choice in 2015.
With their second-round pick (59th overall) Monday, the Mets chose high school third baseman Mark Vientos from Florida.
“Overall tonight, we feel very fortunate to acquire two players we had on our first-round board,” said Tommy Tanous, the Mets’ vice president of international and amateur scouting.
The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Peterson, the 17th-ranked player in the draft according to Baseball America, had a big junior year, going 11-4 with a 2.51 ERA, 140 strikeouts in 100 ¹/₃ innings pitched and just 15 walks. With a fastball in the low-to-mid 90s and a sharp slider, he allowed only two home runs and twice this season set a school record for most strikeouts in a game, first with 17 and then 20.
Peterson, a Denver native, was drafted out of high school, going in the 28th round of the 2014 draft to the Red Sox, but didn’t sign, opting to go to college instead. The Mets don’t envision having a problem signing him, according to Tanous.
“We don’t see that as an issue,” he said.
