President of baseball operations David Stearns discussed two of the Mets’ young talents while speaking to reporters prior to Monday’s series opener at Citi Field…
Mets ‘still believe’ in Parada
Kevin Parada has gotten off to a bit of a dreadful start during his pro career.
The young backstop was a force for George Tech and he was viewed as one of the top hitting prospects in the 2022 Draft before landing with New York at the 11th overall pick -- but he hasn’t quite been able to carry over that production with the organization.
Parada’s been brutal at the plate the past three seasons, and he was even worse last year -- hitting just .214 while popping 30 extra base-hits and striking out 153 times for Double-A Binghamton.
He’s also been brutal defensively, throwing out just 20 percent of attempted base stealers.
The 23-year-old worked this offseason to get into better shape and make some changes to his swing and he saw some better results in a small sample size at big-league camp, reaching base three times across eight at-bats.
Parada will begin the year back with Binghamton -- and while he isn’t viewed as big-league depth just yet -- Stearns insists that they have faith in his potential moving forward.
“Kevin’s had some ups and downs since he’s been drafted, but we still believe in the player — he worked really hard over the offseason and came into camp in really good shape. We still like the player and we’re looking forward to seeing how his year goes.”
The plan for Matt Allan’s return
Allan has had incredibly tough luck since joining the organization.
The right-hander was viewed one of the Mets’ top pitching prospects after falling into their laps in the third round of the 2019 Draft -- but he’s battled numerous arm issues and hasn’t taken the mound in game action since then.
Allan worked this offseason and is finally back and ready to roll.
He made his first appearance in nearly six years on Sunday afternoon with the Single-A St. Lucie Mets and fared extremely well -- allowing just two hits while walking one and striking out five across 2.2 innings of work.
The results are certainly encouraging, but more importantly, the Mets are happy to see the 23-year-old back out there on the mound.
“Given everything Matt’s gone through, every time he takes the ball we’re happy,” Stearns said. “He deserves to be happy and he deserves to enjoy it. He threw the other night, let’s get to the next one and then after that let’s get to the next one and we’ll go from there.
“What I will say is what he is doing right now is really impressive. He is demonstrating why he was so sought after in the draft, and why he has kept pushing so hard for the last five years to get back to this point.”
Given his age, Allan could be moved through the system relatively quickly based on how his performances go, but the biggest focus will be on keeping him healthy.
