July 16, 2024

On July 14th was the first day of the MLB Draft with rounds 1 and 2 being held, the Mets held both the 19th overall pick and the 44th overall pick. New York selected Carson Benge with the 19th pick and Jonathan Santucci with the 46th overall pick.

The first player drafted Carson Benge is a right-handed pitcher/outfielder 2-way player from Oklahoma State University. At Yukon High School in his senior year, he was named OCABCA North Player of the Year, and COAC Offensive Player of the Year, and he helped his team to the Class 6A State Tournament. In 2022 Benge started his college career with a Tommy John surgery forcing him to redshirt his freshman year. But in a healthy 2023 season, he started 10 games on the mound with a 6.69 ERA, 1.771 WHIP, 9.0 K/9, and 6.2 walks/9 on 35 innings pitched, in the batter's box he played in 59 games, batting a whopping .345, 7 home runs, 43 RBI’s, 1.006 OPS and .538 slugging percentage. In his sophomore year, his numbers rose especially on the mound where he was mostly used in the bullpen, in 18 games he pitched a 3.16 ERA, 10.7 K/9, 1.000 WHIP, and 44 strikeouts on 37 innings pitched, that year he batted .335, 18 homer runs, 64 RBIs, and a .665 slugging percentage. Now at age 21, he was selected with the 19th pick on Sunday.

Duke pitcher Jonathan Santucci was the second and last pick of the day for the Mets. During Santucci’s career at Duke, he faced many injuries including surgery in his left elbow for bone chips and a rib injury. At age 19 in his freshman year, he had a 4.17 ERA, 1.268 WHIP, 12.7 K/9, and 58 strikeouts on 41 innings pitched. In 2023 his sophomore year, Santucci only started 7 games due to an injury but in those 7 games, he had a 2-2 record, 4.30 ERA, 1.466 WHIP, and 15.3 K/9. In his final year in college, he pitched the most innings he did in his college career with 58, but for his stats, he had a 3.41 ERA, 1.310 WHIP, and 14.0 K/9. That year in 2024, Santucci was All-ACC First Team Starting Pitcher. Santucci is mostly known for his sliders, a decent changeup, and a fastball that can hit into the mid-90s. The selection for the Mets can be very hit or miss but the ceiling is high.

Now with Day 1 of the MLB Draft complete, Day 2 will be July 15th with rounds 3-10.