The Mets drafted a ton of talented arms in 2015 with the main focus being on high potential lefties. Wotell becomes our fourth lefty from the draft to make our Top 80 and eleventh player from the entire draft to be on the list. Yesterday at #19 we talked about the talented infielder Milton Ramos and Akeel Morris came in at number 20.

#18 LHP Max Wotell

Ht: 6’3″ Wt: 180 Age: 9/13/1996 (19)

2015 Level: Rookie Gulf Coast League Mets

Statistics: 9 G, 10.2 IP, 0-1 W-L, 2.53 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, .057 BAA, 16/9 K/BB, 1 HR

Whitey Herzog, the Hall of Fame manager with the Royals and Cardinals in the late 1970s and 1980s, once said that his teams only needed three types of pitching: left handed, right handed, and relief.

It’s unfortunate that Max Wotell wasn’t a member of Herzog’s great teams, because he falls into not one, but two of those categories.

After selecting Desmond Lindsay with their first selection of the 2015 draft, the Mets stayed within the prep pool, taking Wotell, a wiry southpaw from Marvin, North Carolina, with the 13th pick in the third round. As a senior, he went 14-0 with a 0.52 earned run average and 145 strikeouts over 81.1 innings pitched. Wotell was also recorded as firing fastballs at 92 miles per hour with the Mavericks of Martin Ridge High School.

Wotell wasn’t the only high school lefty taken by the Mets in the first few rounds of the draft. They also went and grabbed Thomas Szapucki in the fifth round, and Jake Simon in the 11th round. You can read about them on Mets Minors’ Top 5 left handed pitcher list here.

Wotell received a $775,000 signing bonus nine days after the draft, and headed to the Gulf Coast League to begin his professional career as a reliever. He was dominant from the get go, tossing perfect frames in his first three appearances with a combined six strikeouts. Of the 45 batters Wotell faced in 2015, only two managed to reach base on a hit. Of course there’s a catch. He struggled with his control at times walking nine and hitting one batter. Wotell had three outings where he issued two free passes, including his final game of the season where he allowed three runs (one earned) in an inning and a third.

The 19-year old has a bit of a funky motion, where he moves his feet back and forth on the rubber, before arching his back and raising his arms so his face is nearly covered, at which point he hitches and slings the ball. It’s certainly a deceptive motion, and one that generates a lot of force and power, but it may need some tweaking if he’s going to become the most effective pitcher he can be as a professional. Considering he was the team’s third round draft pick a year ago, the Mets likely have their staff constantly working with Wotell on mechanics.

Armed with his low-90s fastball, a bending breaking ball, and a changeup, Wotell could move quickly through the minors, and his debut in the Gulf Coast League was a good sign. I don’t think you could expect any more than a Kingsport (R) assignment to begin 2016, so we will learn soon enough how he preforms in front of crowds and in a more competitive setting. The K-Port bullpen is sure to be full of left handed 2015 draftees, with guys like Wotell, Szapucki, Simon, and Sixto Torres.

Prior Prospect Articles: 25-21, 30-26 35-31,  40-36,  45-41, 50-46, 60-51, 70-61, 80-71