The Mets had the 19th pick in the 2020 MLB Draft and they took one of the best players available: Pete Crow-Armstong.
The 20th-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, Crow-Armstong was committed to Vanderbilt University and was attending Harvard-Westlake Highschool in California. He has played for Team USA on several occasions and has a contagious personality.
The slot value for this pick sits at $3.36 million.
Crow-Armstrong hit .515 in 10 games before the season ended, and hit .426 with three home runs and five triples in 2019.
Harvard-Westlake has produced Jack Flaherty, Max Fried, and Lucas Giloito.
Crow-Armstrong is the best defender in the draft after Cubs shortstop Ed Howard. He has blazing speed and great reaction time. He has been compared to Brett Gardner, Grady Sizemore, and Darin Erstad, but reminds some of Dexter Fowler.
On top of his ability to swing the bat, he also has remarkable speed, running the 60-yard dash in 6.51 seconds, and a strong arm, throwing 93 miles-per-hour from the outfield. That already impressive arm strength and his exit velocity (99 mph) could both improve even further as he grows and gets stronger, as the 6-foot-1 outfielder only weighs 175 pounds.
The Mets are known for taking high-school players and developing them. A few recently that come to mind are Dom Smith, Brandon Nimmo, Jarred Kelenic, and Brett Baty most recently.
Armstrong will join a Mets farm that is thin on quality outfield depth and the majors are much of the same. Some scouts believe that he can make the majors by early 2022 which is fairly fast for a high-school pick but goes to show his advanced ability to play.
