Struggling Mets prospect has even less value than you may think

The New York Mets drafted Kevin Parada 11th overall in the 2022 draft. Parada was considered one of the best draft prospects at the time. Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America ranked Parada as the sixth-best draft prospect. The Georgia Tech product made a nice first impression with a .880 OPS throughout his first 13 games in ‘22. 

Parada then entered 2023 as a consensus top 50 prospect. But he turned in a solid but unspectacular .248/.324/.428 triple-slash, .341 wOBA, and 105 wRC+. Parada hit for some power with a .179 isolated slugging percentage and 14 homers in 457 plate appearances. But he only walked at a 7.9% rate with a poor 27.6% strikeout rate. 

But Parada is coming off a worryingly bad campaign. In 454 plate appearances at Double-A, the former first-rounder batted a meager .213/.304/.359 with a .307 wOBA and 93 wRC+. Parada may have upped his walk rate to 9.9%, but he struck out over a third of the time with a 33.6% K%. His power output also declined from last season, as his ISO fell to just .145. 

Kevin Parada won't net the Mets much in a trade.

Not only did Parada’s bat look poor, but so did his defense. Parada never projected as a Gold Glove-caliber backstop, but he allowed 15 passed balls in just 600 innings of work behind the dish. Pipeline and BA both grade his arm out at a 40 on the 20-80 scale. Parada also struggled with framing pitches.

But as Parada has been floundering in the minor leagues, Francisco Alvarez has proven himself to be this team’s long-term catcher. Over the last two seasons, Alvarez is batting .222/.294/.422 with a .310 wOBA, and 99 wRC+. Alvarez has delivered on his plus power potential with 36 dingers in 765 plate appearances and a .200 isolated slugging percentage. Alvarez has also been a great defender with +6 defensive runs saved, +23.1 framing runs, and the 16th-best poptime among qualified catchers.

The Mets could look to trade Parada, but his value is extremely low. He is a bat-first catcher. But if the bat isn’t playing well, then Parada is stuck in a bad situation. If the Mets try to trade Parada this off-season, they probably won’t get much beyond a low-level flier. The only possible way the Mets get anything of value out of Parada is if he is included in a larger trade where two or even three other Mets players are involved. At this point, it may be better for the Mets to see if he can even figure things out.