(Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Since the Mets offered RHP Zack Wheeler a qualifying offer over the winter, the team received a Compensation Round B pick when the Philadelphia Phillies signed him.
With that #69 pick, the Mets selected outfielder Isaiah Greene from Corona High School in Corona, California.
Greene is among the fastest players in this year’s draft class completing the 60 yard dash speed faster than 98.7% of the 2020 draft class at the Perfect Game National Showcase. He has an athletic build with plenty of room to get stronger as he fills out his 6’1″ 180 frame.
After posting strong numbers in his sophomore season, Greene’s performance dipped in his junior season seeing his batting average drop 62 points vs prior year. He would bounce back well and began garnering a ton of attention over the summer thanks to a superb performance at the Area Code Games. During the showcase, he produced a triple slash line of .429 AVG/.438 OBP/.714 SLG. He then went on to perform extremely well as a member of the scout team that trained with Team USA’s 18U team (the same team Patrick Crow-Armstrong was on) where some scouts felt he was the best player on the field…..including those on the National team.
According to Baseball America:
“Greene’s best asset is a smooth, left-handed stroke that turns around high-end velocity. He drives the ball hard with ease, drawing comparisons to Garret Anderson and Michael Brantley, and projects as a consensus plus hitter with a chance to hit .300 in his best years. Greene’s power is still developing, but he has plenty of room to get bigger and stronger and makes enough hard contact to project above-average power. Greene is a plus runner with a chance to stay in center field, but his fringe-average arm and poor route-running have some scouts projecting him to left field.”
Greene is committed to the University of Missouri, and as a high schooler, has the ability to pass up on the opportunity to go pro and maintain his college commitment. It will be interesting to see if the Mets can sign him close to the slot value of the pick which is $929,800.
