How many NY Mets draft picks have made the majors in the last 10 years?

Ten seasons of draft picks, you’d think the New York Mets would have a good number who’ve made it to the major leagues by now. How good have they been at actually building the future around players selected by the front office?

2015-2018: The Sandy Alderson era

The 2015 MLB Draft didn’t include a first-round pick for the Mets so the easy assumption would be that it wasn’t a very successful one. Desmond Lindsay, Max Wotell, and David Thompson were taken in rounds 2-4, before we finally arrive at the first player to have actually made it to the majors, Thomas Szapucki.

It’s a rather poor selection of draft picks for the Mets this year. Joining Szapucki with MLB experience are Patrick Mazeika, Kevin Kaczmarski, PJ Conlon, Shane McLanahan, and Geoff Hartlieb. McCLanahan and Hartlieb went unsigned. As of the start of the 2025 season, he’s the only one of these players with a positive MLB WAR. Szapucki is at an even 0.

Debuted with the Mets – Thomas Szapucki, Patrick Mazeika, Kevin Kaczmarski, P.J. Conlon (4)
Unsigned future MLB players – Shane McClanahan, Geoff Hartlieb (2)

Things worked out much better in 2016. First-round picks Justin Dunn and Anthony Kay were used in trades. Then there was Pete Alonso and later on Colin Holderman. Way down in the draft and unsigned was George Kirby. Again, another future star who was unsigned—a common occurrence for players out of high school hoping to get to college and increase their future stock in the draft.

Debuted with the Mets – Pete Alonso, Colin Holderman (2)
Debuted with another team – Justin Dunn, Anthony Kay (2)
Unsigned future MLB players – George Kirby (1)

In 2017, the first two picks that made it and are still here, David Peterson and Mark Vientos. They’re joined by 37th round pick Josh Walker. From 2018, five players drafted have reached the majors with the only two actually selected by the Mets being Tylor Megill and Bryce Montes de Oca. Jake Eder went unsigned but has played a single game in the majors. 

Debuted with the Mets – David Peterson, Mark Vientos, Josh Walker (3)
Unsigned future MLB players – Jake Eder (1)

Lastly, we have the 2018 draft. Five players drafted have reached the majors with the only two actually selected by the Mets being Tylor Megill and Bryce Montes de Oca. The others are actually much more significant, Jarred Kelenic and Simeon Woods Richardson going in rounds one and two respectively. Further down in the 17th round is Allan Winans who thus far has only played for the Atlanta Braves at the MLB level.

Debuted with the Mets – Tylor Megill, Bryce Montes de Oca (2)
Debuted with another team – Jarred Kelenic, Simeon Woods Richardson, Allan Winans (3)

2019 and 2020: The Brodie Van Wagenen era

Brodie Van Wagenen was known for a lot of things for his two-year tenure with the New York Mets. Most of it was negative. He had a “win-now” mentality with a lack of consideration for the future. It’s almost as if he knew he wasn’t going to last lost in the job.

BVW had only two opportunities to help draft the future. The 2019 and shortened 2020 draft (which lasted 5 rounds, the Mets had 6 picks) gave him a more limited opportunity to actually build the future through the draft than some others. It’s still fair to criticize him for many of those picks. After all, only two of the 46 players drafted by BVW ever made it to the MLB roster with the Mets.

Oddly, it’s the first and last picks taken by Van Wagenen who made their way through the Mets farm system and to the big league roster. Brett Baty was taken in the first round in 2019 with Eric Orze coming to us in the fifth round in 2020. Baty is still trying to find his place as a regular in the big leagues. Orze, who debuted in 2024 with a number of appearances you could count on one hand, is now with the Tampa Bay Rays following an offseason trade.

Baty is the lone player taken by the Mets in the 2019 draft to make it to the majors for any team at all. It was a draft built around third-round pick Matt Allan. The Mets saved up their bonus slot money to offer the high schooler $2.5 million to convince him to skip college and go directly to playing professional baseball. As a result, the next 37 draft picks were mostly out of college and had lower than average bonuses.

It wasn’t a complete waste of a draft, though. Second-rounder Josh Wolf was used in a trade to help acquire Francisco Lindor. Seventh-round pick Luke Ritter continues to mash in the minors with hopes of making it to the majors eventually. A few other names might be familiar, but none ever became a top prospect nor have they gotten to the major leagues more than 5 years later.

The situation is slightly different in the 2020 draft yet not much more impressive. First-round pick Pete Crow-Armstrong has a major league career, just not with the Mets. He was used at the 2021 trade deadline in an equally as debatable trade as the Cano-Diaz deal when he was sent to the Chicago Cubs for Javier Baez and Trevor Williams. We’ve already reviewed Orze. But in the second round, the J.T. Ginn selection adds just a fourth player from the 46 picks to make the majors. He did so in 2024 as a member of the Oakland Athletics a few years after he was packaged for Chris Bassitt.

Going just 4 for 46, Van Wagenen’s draft picks are currently batting .087 as far as reaching the majors goes for the players taken in the draft.

2019 draftees who debuted with the Mets – Brett Baty (1)
2020 draftees who debuted with the Mets – Eric Orze (1)
2020 draftees who debuted for another team – Pete Crow-Armstrong, J.T. Ginn (2)

2021-Present Day

Zack Scott’s 2021 Draft includes two players who’ve played in the majors, Kumar Rocker and Christian Scott. Out of 20 draft picks, it’s pretty good. He should add a few more this year. Carson Seymour, Mike Vasil, Keyshawn Askew, and Nate Lavender are all candidates to make their MLB debut. Coincidentally, the last three all with the same Rays where Orze is currently employed. 

As for Billy Eppler in 2022 and 2023, not enough time has yet to pass although those drafts look promising. No one from either of those drafts has made the major leagues. Multiple players from 2022 look like they’re on the way either in New York or another city at some point in 2025.

2021 draftees who debuted with the Mets – Christian Scott (1)
2021 unsigned players who debuted for another team – Kumar Rocker (1)

So, how productive have the Mets been since 2015 at selecting future big leaguers? Let’s whip out the calculator and add up the numbers.

Since 2015, the Mets have drafted 13 players who would eventually make their MLB debut for them. In that same span, 4 players have been drafted but went unsigned and gone on to reach the MLB. There are another 7 who debuted for another team bringing the total to 24.

It does seem as if this total will drastically jump up sooner than later.