Keyshawn Askew, LHP

B/T: L/L  Ht: 6’4  Wt: 190 LBS

Age: January 5, 2000 (22 years old)

Acquired: 2021 Mets 10th round draft pick (Clemson)

2021 Stats (FCL): 9 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 14 K, 1.00 ERA, 0.78 WHIP

Every young baseball player that gets drafted can be looked at as a puzzle, but there are pieces missing. Then you look at which piece or pieces are missing, ask the likelihood they can be found from under the table, and if found, how good is the final product.

When the Mets drafted Keyshawn Askew, the funky, low-slot left-hander out of Clemson last summer, it was pretty obvious which big piece of his puzzle was missing.

Velocity.

While Askew does a lot of good on the mound, creating arm-side run on his fastball and late sweep and depth on his slurve, the two-pitch combo that he had coming out of the draft would likely not play well in the big leagues as it was.

Askew’s fastball sat in the high 80’s at Clemson, touching 90 mph. The slider/slurve is thrown in the low to mid 70’s. Despite being abetted by deception in his delivery and his ability to throw sufficient amounts of strikes, this kind of velocity rarely makes an impact at the highest level.

That’s where the real scouting came in.

While physical projection is often mostly actualized by age 21, there was reason to believe Askew would still be able to add significant strength to his frame. Because this anticipated gain hadn’t happened yet for Askew, it would likely be an area of focus as he furthered his foray into professional baseball. The missing piece to his puzzle.

As it turns out, Askew has seemingly begun to put this piece into place. Askew reportedly sat 92-94 mph, even touching 96 mph as he dominated in his brief assignment to rookie ball in the Florida Coast League after signing. You can see from the clip below how his delivery and advanced feel for his slider might flummox hitters. Now armed with big league velocity, Askew is a name to follow in the Mets system in 2022.

Caught Clemson freshman LHP Keyshawn Askew today with @ProspectJesus and @affranco10. Interesting arm. FB t89 but armside run (velo down later). Ripped off some really good slurvy low 70s breakers. High waisted, athletic, projectable. pic.twitter.com/R8xav6PVPS

— Connor Kurcon (@ckurcon) March 24, 2019