Baseball America calls NY Mets prospect the biggest overpay of the MLB Draft

When the New York Mets took Carson Wiggins with their first round pick earlier this month, the immediate reaction from many was why?

Injuries plus a lack of college experience had Wiggins ranked well below the 27th overall amateur prospect. The Mets ended up paying Wiggins the full slot amount, handing over more than $3.4 million.

Baseball America didn’t think it was the wisest investment. After further review, Wiggins was the biggest overpay of the entire MLB Draft.

Baseball America thinks the Mets threw too much money at Carson Wiggins

Wiggins went into the MLB Draft ranked as the 88th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline. The second largest overpay according to Baseball America, Rocco Maniscalco, went 50th to the St. Louis Cardinals with a 49th place ranking according to the same list. And yet the difference in value per Baseball America wasn’t all that great. Nevertheless, the reach for Wiggins was greater.

Bonus money is one of those trickier parts of the MLB Draft. It’s not all about selecting the best players. You need to allocate a certain amount of funds throughout all of your picks. A team might overreach for a high school kid in the second or third round to ensure he signs while being more cautious with other picks. 

What’s especially fascinating with the Mets is their third-round pick, Aiden Robbins, was ranked as the 29th best prospect per MLB Pipeline. He ended up with a $997K signing bonus. A player once teetering on the first and second round didn’t get taken until 92nd overall where Wiggins originally projected.

With this way of thinking, it’s kind of moot as to how the Mets invested their money. They certainly showed a stronger preference for pitchers than position players. Only 6 of their 19 picks were position players. It was a pitcher-heavy draft headlined by Wiggins.

The David Stearns-led Mets have never been shy about thinking outside of the box or stubbornly doing things their own way. For Wiggins, the questioning can be the perfect bulletin board material to prove his doubters wrong. The same goes for Robbins who essentially dropped predictive places with Wiggins. Let both of these new Mets prospects wear those chips on their shoulders and be the motivating factor to become two of the more significant draft picks the team has made.

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