The forgotten Yankees first-round pick who became a controversial NY Mets player

In the pantheon of notable New York Yankees first round draft picks, no one is better than Derek Jeter. Aaron Judge is catching up and Thurman Munson had the Hall of Fame pedigree cut short. We can even credit them with taking Gerrit Cole in 2008 even though he didn’t end up signing. After those four in terms of career bWAR, the next man up is one whose only games representing the Big Apple came as a member of the New York Mets.

With the tenth overall pick in 1990, the Yankees selected Carl Everett. A top prospect who struggled in the minor leagues for the Yankees, they cut him loose after three seasons by leaving him unprotected in the 1992 Expansion Draft. The Miami Marlins took him. The road of both New York teams giving up on the player early began although certain elements of his character make it less controversial.

The Mets and Yankees gave up on Carl Everett the player too early, but escaped what could’ve been trouble elsewhere

On November 29, 1994, the Marlins traded Everett to the Mets for Quilvio Veras. He’d get over 300 plate appearances in 1995, a little over 200 in 1996, and almost 500 in 1997. Everett wasn’t doing anything to dazzle. Year three with the Mets was already his age 26 season. Batting .250/.326/.402, they didn’t see him having a future in New York. He was traded on December 22, 1997, for reliever John Hudek.

It didn’t take long for the Mets and even the Yankees to see the error they made. Everett went to the Houston Astros and hit .296 while hitting 15 home runs and driving in 76. He reached a new height the following year, hitting 25 home runs and driving in 108 all while posting a .325 batting average. He finished 17th in the MVP voting.

Everett would later make two All-Star appearances and slide from team-to-team. His 322 games with the Mets ended up as the most with any organization which is a bit astonishing considering how well-known and accomplished he was in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

It’s not his play on the field that made him memorable. Everett’s off-field life included everything from questioning the existence of dinosaurs to multiple arrests for a variety of domestic issues. In 1997, while still with the Mets, he was accused of child neglect. It may have, in part, explained the Mets’ decision to move on from him. It was Brian McRae, after all, who’d replace him in center field the following year.

As a player, there’s little debate that Everett brought a lot of upside. The parts that didn’t show up in the box score tell us why he never became known as a New York baseball fixture.

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