MLB insider believes former top NY Mets prospect could get taken in Rule 5 Draft

Once upon a time, Kevin Parada was one of the bright lights of the New York Mets farm system. The catcher out of Georgia Tech was drafted 11th overall by the Mets in 2022 and given a massive $5,019,735 signing bonus thanks to his potential to blend an elite offensive profile with a chance to stick behind the plate.

It wasn't just the Mets who were excited about Parada's future. Baseball America had him ranked as the sixth-best prospect in the 2022 draft, and MLB Pipeline had him ranked at No. 36 on their 2023 top-100 list.

However, as Parada began to advance, the flaws in his game began to show. The big leg kick and complicated setup in his swing turned his head-turning exit velocities into high-powered whiffs. The 14 games he played in 2023 at Double-A Binghamton were the beginning of the end, with Parada slashing .185/.250/.389 while striking out an eye-popping 38.3% of the time.

Fast forward to today, and the Mets have left the 24-year-old unprotected with the Rule 5 Draft nearly upon us. Not only is Parada hanging out there in the wind, but MLB.com's Anthony DiComo thinks there's a pretty decent shot he gets taken.

Kevin Parada's soft rebound in 2025 might have ended his Mets tenure with the Rule 5 draft upon us

Following the late-season flameout in Double-A in 2023, Parada returned to Binghamton to get a full year at the level. His performance can be described as an ever-so-slight improvement, finishing with a .214/.304/.359 line and 13 homers, while cutting down his strikeout rate from 38.3% to a still wholly unacceptable 33.7% clip.

This year saw him get yet another chance to crack Double-A, and things finally began to click. Parada hit 10 homers while slashing .254/.326/.429 over 92 games. The strikeout rate fell yet again to a still less-than-ideal but manageable 27.8%.

The next challenge for Parada was Triple-A, where he'd need to prove he could hang in order to be considered for any sort of role on the big league roster, even if it was simply as an emergency option.

The Mets sent him to Syracuse to find out just that; however, in a 16-game stint, he proved the exact opposite, hitting a deplorable .196/.281/.286 with the lone bright spot being the 20.3% strikeout rate.

Still, it was a small sample, and his top-tier pedigree combined with finally figuring out how to hit at Double-A will likely convince some team to take a flier on him. That could be the end of Parada with the Mets, for now, but given his struggles adapting to new levels, it's hard to believe that he'll survive a full 162 games on a big league roster.