Why don’t the NY Mets have a first-round draft pick in 2025?

The MLB Draft doesn’t carry the same prestige as the other four major sports. Even the NHL’s Draft has become bigger because of how impactful the choice can immediately be. We know anyone the New York Mets may select this week won’t be available to play in the big leagues for some time. Extreme cases of a player going immediately to the major leagues are minimal. The Mets have never done it nor would they have the same opportunity in 2025 with where they’re picking.

If you’re planning to follow the 2025 MLB Draft, it’ll be a while before you see the Mets take a player. In a week where we’ll hear a lot about how they traded 2020 first-round pick Pete Crow-Armstrong during the All-Star Break, they won’t even be picking until mostly everyone else (and more) gets their turn.

Why the Mets don’t have a first-round draft pick this year

Blame Steve Cohen. No, seriously. It’s all his fault for picking up a massive tab on the 2024 roster. The Mets exceeded the CBT threshold by more than $60 million, therefore forfeited their draft position by 10 spots. It bumped them from 28th down to 38th in this year’s draft.

Two other teams join them, the New York Yankees going from 29th to 39th and the Los Angeles Dodgers falling from 30th to 40th. The irony here is those teams already had the lowest draft spots in the first round. The Yankees and Dodgers met in the World Series with the Mets being the NL runner-ups.

The Mets received the same punishment the year prior when their pick dropped from 9th to 19th. They were able to select Carson Benge with that spot which doesn’t seem so bad in retrospect. It’s only a shame because the 10th overall selection went to the Washington Nationals. They took a guy named Seaver King. He’s perfect for us with the exception of being born in Georgia.

Losing a first round pick that wouldn’t have even been high in the first place doesn’t seem like such a great loss. Give me an NLCS appearance every year and an early second-round draft pick instead. For as valued as the Mets prospects continue to be, the preference remains for the major league team to win, as it should.