The New York Mets selected Colin Houck during their 36th overall selection in the 2023 MLB Draft.
New York dropped from 22nd overall to 32nd due to the organization surpassing the Competitive Balance Tax by more than $40M. The dropping of Houck though makes up for it as the Mets pick up the highly regarded Shortstop.
Houck is a two-way athlete, playing both baseball and football. Nevertheless MLB Pipeline had him listed as the 12th best player ahead of the draft.
The 18-year-old is committed to play for Mississippi State, but New York’s $8.4M available of draft pool should be enough to change his mind.
Playing football, Houck was listed as a three-star athlete and got offers from Power 5 schools, he would turn them down and give full focus on baseball. During his senior year the 6-foot-2 righty slashed .487/.589/.857 with eight home runs and 16 steals, winning Gatorade Player of the Year honors.
Given the factor of Francisco Lindor being signed through 2031 and Ronny Mauricio being listed as New York’s No.2 prospect, it definitely makes a head scratcher as to why a shortstop was picked up in the first round by the organization. The Mets did demonstrate the same thing last year by drafting Kevin Parada with their type pick despite being committed to Francisco Alvarez’s future.
Instead, teams draft the best player available and have been worrying about the consequences later. When it came their turn to select, the Mets believed Houck was the best player available by a mile, with enough size, arm and reaction time to move to third base, if needed.