Yesterday, Keith Law, ESPN’s Prospect Guru entered his first stab at a mock draft for the 2016 Rule Four First Year Player Draft. He had a few shockers, such as the #1 overall, Phillies selecting University Of Florida Left Hander A.J. Puk, and the Reds selecting outfielder Kyle Lewis second overall, with top lefty Jason Groome going third to the Braves.

More notably to Mets fans, Keith Law projects the team to pick Wake Forest’s Will Craig at number 19. While currently, Craig isn’t the most mocked player to the Mets at #19 like University of Miami Catcher Zack Collins is (5 picks by my count), he has been the pick of the most notable mocks, such as two of Baseball America’s mocks, albeit the first one at number 31, MLB.com’s First Mock, and this one.

MMN’s Kevin Lauro profiled Craig in his coverage of BA’s Third Mock Draft. Curiously, in three of the four mock drafts, including the one being covered, Craig is described as a first baseman rather than a third baseman, as he has been playing in college. It seems the possibly quick-moving Craig may be confined to the right corner of the diamond long term, which would not be ideal if the Mets are committed to top prospect Dominic Smith. The preferred advantage would be to have Craig at third base to replace the quickly fading David Wright, with his bat being very effective at the hot corner, with the projected .280 20+ Homers annually and high on base percentage.

Additionally, Law noted here:

The Mets seem to be mostly focused on college bats, such as Craig, Collins if he gets here, Chris Okey and Matt Thaiss.

I profiled Collins in an earlier article, who would also be a great pick, as he is one of the most polished bats in the class, aside from Craig.

#31, Eric Lauer, Kent State, L/L 6’3″ 205

As well, for #31, he picked left-handed starter of Kent State Eric Lauer. Lauer currently has an .81 ERA in 13 games. and 89.1 innings thrown, which is already a career high. The lefty throws in the low 90’s, touching 94 with some nice cutting action, with an above-average slider with two planes and some late movement. He also has an average curve that goes 11 to 5, and a nice changeup that needs some work on the arm speed to make it more difficult to pick up.

The lefty has a pretty smooth delivery, with little movement, and is very much repeatable. He is able to control every part of the strike zone with all four pitches. However, while he can throw all pitches, he doesn’t have a true strikeout pitch, and thus doesn’t have more upside than a mid-rotation starter, unless he can get some consultation from the slider master Mr. Warthen.

Take what you will from this mock with Mr. Law, this is only his first try. Strap in folks, we have 21 days of speculation.

Tallied Mock Draft picks as of 5/19

C Zack Collins 5, 1B/3B Will Craig 4, OF Alex Kirilloff 4,  RHP Connor Jones , 3B/RHP Josh Lowe 3,  SS/3B Drew Mendoza 3, 3B Nolan Jones 3, 3B Nick Senzel 2, RHP Cal Quantrill 2,  3B Bobby Dalbec 2, 1B/OF Will Benson 2, RHP Kevin Gowdy 2, RHP Daulton Jeffries 2, RHP Alex Speas 1, LHP Jeff Belge 1, RHP Ian Anderson 1,  C Chris Okey 1, OF Kyle Mercer 1, RHP Kyle Funkhouser 1, OF Nick Banks 1, OF Avery Tuck 1,   RHP Alec Hansen 1, RHP Austin Bergner 1, OF Bryan Reynolds 1,  OF Buddy Reed 1, RHP Matt Manning 1, LHP Anthony Kay 1, OF Taylor Trammell 1, RHP Forest Whitley 1, C Matt Thaiss 1

Comp Pick:

LHP Jesus Luzardo 4, RHP Kevin Gowdy 3, LHP Eric Lauer 2, OF Buddy Reed 2, 3B Drew Mendoza 2, 3B/SS Carter Kieboom 2, RHP Robert Tyler 2, C Chris Okey 2,  RHP Zach Jackson 2, RHP Logan Shore 1, RHP Kyle Funkhouser 1,  3B/RHP David Lowe 1,  RHP Alex Speas 1, RHP Zach Bergner 1, 3B Will Craig 1, LHP Braxton Garrett 1, OF Heath Quinn 1, RHP Ian Anderson 1, OF Will Benson 1,  LHP Kyle Muller 1, RHP Zack Burdi 1, RHP Jordan Sheffield 1,  SS Gavin Lux 1, RHP Justin Dunn 1, C Sean Murphy 1

Round 2:

SS Luis Curbelo 4, C Ben Rortvedt 2, RHP Drake Fellows 2, SS Grant Bodison 1, RHP Wil Crowe 1, SS Errol Robinson 1