With the 142nd overall pick in the fifth round of the 2021 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft, the New York Mets select Christian Scott. A 6’4”, 22-year-old RHP from Florida.
Scott, much like Hamel went un-drafted in the shortened five round draft in 2020 despite posting a 1.20 ERA over seven appearances. While he might not have accumulated enough innings to catch the eyes of scouts, he certainly did in 2021.
“This spring, Scott continued to be a reliable arm for the Gators out of the bullpen, leading the team in appearances (26) while posting a 3.00 ERA. Coaches said Scott took a step forward with his fastball command during the fall and he posted the lowest walk rate of his career this spring (1.5 BB/9) while sitting in the 93-95 mph range and running the pitch into the upper 90s at its peak. Scott is mostly a fastball/slider pitcher and his breaking ball comes in hard in the mid 80s.”- Baseball America
The big righty impressed scouts with his visual learning ability, taking pages out of major leaguers books and emulating their pitch grips. He may not be the flashiest pick for the Mets, but certainly shows promise with his hunger to learn from the best in the game.
“I was looking at pitchers I love to emulate like Scherzer and (Gerrit) Cole and (Jacob) deGrom — how do they do it and what do they do?” said Scott, the No. 232-ranked draft prospect. “I was just scrolling online when I saw a Pitching Ninja post about Scherzer’s slider grip and I thought I would try to stick to that. I was able to pick it up pretty quickly, it was hard, and I wanted to stick with it. It felt really comfortable.”- Baseball America
Most scouts project Scott as a reliever due the significant effort in his delivery and aggressive head movement when he finishes his pitches. Fans could expect the Mets going the same route and keeping Scott as a reliever and trying to build him as dominating bullpen piece.
Mets take right-handed reliever Christian Scott with their fifth round pick.
The 22-year-old had a 3.00 ERA for Florida this year.
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) July 12, 2021
Scott primarily features a fastball with a slider that has significant movement down in the zone. He does have a changeup in his arsenal but rarely used it with the Gators. The Mets could potentially have him work on that changeup in order for him to have another option.
This is the fourth right handed pitcher the Mets have elected during this 2021 draft. While the others were featured as starters, Scott is featured as a reliever.
