Mets sign draft picks Desmond Lindsay and Max Wotell

The Mets have signed their second- and third-round picks from the amateur draft, Desmond Lindsay and Max Wotell. Lindsay, who the Mets took with the 53rd overall pick in last weeks draft, agreed to a contract with the full slot value of $1,142,700.

The Mets took Lindsay with their first pick of the draft, as they were without a first-round pick this year. In his profile of Lindsay, Alex Nelson wrote:

If Lindsay doesn’t change a thing about his swing and makes moderate strides and manages to play a solid center field, the Mets have found themselves a player with roughly the same skillset as Jay Payton: a contact hitter with limited power and patience but the ability to man center for extended periods of time. That is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. Payton was a useful player for nearly a decade, if never a star. And if he does adjust his swing and develops power, and if he does keep his speed and stick in center, then the Mets are looking at an All-Star talent in center, however long those things may require. And a player like that would be a very nice thing to discover in the draft’s second round.

Wotell, a lefty pitcher out of high school in North Carolina, who the Mets selected with the 88th pick in the draft, signed with the Mets for $775,000. Alex wrote of him:

As for a projection, right now I see more of a reliever, due to my concerns about his breaking ball and the way his arm works. But the build, the arm strength, and the possibility of a four-pitch mix means the Mets should and will give him every chance to start, and if they can clean up the arm action, calm down the delivery, if necessary, and improve his offspeed pitches, he could be a number three starter, maybe even better depending on how he develops. He’s a bit of a wild card.