Kingsport Mets 2019 Opening Day Roster

Photo credit @Kingsport_Mets

The Kingsport Mets begin their season on the road tonight, and they will hope to return to the playoffs after last year’s run. Their hopes are pinned on a new coaching staff led by new manager Rich Donnelly and as usual a vastly different roster than the one from last season.

One of the more intriguing parts of this roster is the catcher position. It is a deep position with DSL standout Andres Regnault and with Twins folk hero Willians Astudillo‘s brother Wilfred. Adding to the depth is this year’s 20th round draft pick Matt O’Neill, who was a .405/.527/.620 hitter at the University of Pennsylvania last year.

O’Neill is not the only collegiate player from this year’s draft to be on Kingsport’s Opening Day roster. Other collegiate players from this year’s draft include OF Scott Ota (10th Round), OF Kennie Taylor (14), OF Tanner Murphy (18), RHP Mitchell Senger (26), and OF Cole Kleszcz (33). Of note, Senger, he attended Steton University just like current Mets ace Jacob deGrom, and Kleszcz was the leader in collegiate athletics in homers.

Typically speaking, you do not see this many collegiate players, especially seniors, on an Appalachian League roster. This is partially the result of the Mets drafting more college upperclassmen in the draft than usual in order to clear as much bonus money as they could to sign their top three picks.

The top rated prospect on this roster is RHP Junior Santos. Santos was MMN‘s 19th best Mets prospect entering the 2019 season. He was ranked as the 11th best prospect by MLB Pipeline, 15th by Baseball Prospectus, and 25th by Baseball America. Baseball America noted Santos can ramp his fastball up to 97 MPH, and he has a promising slider and change-up. Certainly, whenever Santos takes the mound people should take notice.

Beyond the aforementioned players, there are a number of interesting prospects who should receive an opportunity to distinguish themselves. Should they be able to do so, not only will Kingsport have an opportunity to return to the playoffs, but more importantly, the players could be in line for promotions and possibly set themselves up to begin the 2020 season with a full season affiliate.

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Written by John Sheridan