It’s not often that 14th round picks offer a lot of potential. However, the Mets 14th round pick in 2012, Chris Flexen, possesses a lot of upside. The Mets drafted Flexen out of Memorial High School in Newark California, and signed him above slot for $374,400. The 19-year-old right-hander features a low to mid 90’s fastball, and he is in the midst of an excellent season for the Kingsport Mets.
In two starts last week, Flexen was 2-0 with a 1.92 ERA and 0.64 WHIP in 14 innings pitched. On July 21st against Princeton, Flexen fired seven shutout innings and he struck out eleven hitters. He allowed only three hits and walked one. While his second start of the week wasn’t fantastic like his first, he was still solid. Flexen allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings against the Bristol White Sox.
For the season, Flexen is 4-1 with a 2.31 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 35 innings pitched.
It’s encouraging to see that the Mets have young pitchers in the low minors with potential, in addition to having solid pitching prospects in the high minors. The overall pitching depth in the Mets system is definitely something to be optimistic about going forward. While Flexen is only in rookie ball, he is an intriguing prospect that has a bright future in the organization.
Thoughts from Matt M.
Congratulations to Chris on this honor! Talk about starting this season on a strong note; he and Robert Whalen have helped the K-Mets get on a huge roll after a slow start last month, and now they’re knocking on the door of first place. The consistency of Flexen is what has impressed me the most. Since he started the season by lasting just four innings in his first two appearances, he hasn’t been removed from a game until he’s at least finished six innings. He’s thrown seven innings in three straight starts, and has four straight quality starts.