Mets sign top draft picks Colin Houck and Brandon Sproat

The Mets announced that they have signed Colin Houck and Brandon Sproat, their first two picks in the draft this year. Those two players headline the organization’s 2023 draft class, and here’s a bit of what Steve Sypa wrote about each of them in his excellent draft profile series this week.

Houck

Houck is a big kid, standing 6’2”, 190-pounds with room to grow and fill in. At the plate, the right-hander stands slightly open, holding his hands high and wrapping his bat head behind his head. He utilizes slight leg kick and stays balanced through his load and stride, swinging with an easy, loose swing that is quick through the zone. He hits the ball hard to all fields, producing exit velocities exceeding 90 MPH in summer tournaments between his junior and senior seasons, putting him in the top 95% percentile among his peers.

Sproat

At 6’3”, 210-pound, Sproat has a solid pitching frame that should be able to log innings, with an athletic frame and solid lower half. The right-hander throws from a three-quarters arm slot with a long, whippy arm action through the back. His delivery is fairly simple with few moving parts, and he repeats that well, but he often struggles consistently repeating his release point, a problem that has plagued him throughout his time at Florida to varying degrees and is one reason that he was not able to take his place among the elite tier of draft eligible college pitchers in 2022 and 2023.

Houck’s deal was for $2.75 million, just a touch over the slot value that was assigned to the pick the Mets used to draft him.

You can read plenty more about the team’s draft in our draft section and follow along with the signings on our draft pick tracker.