Mets trade Justin Verlander for former Minnesota baseball star
The New York Mets have traded superstar pitcher Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros, sending shockwaves through Major League Baseball just hours before Tuesday's 5 p.m. CT deadline to make deals.
Interestingly, one of the two prospects the Astros sent to the Mets for Verlander is none other than Minnesota native Drew Gilbert, who was the 28th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft.
The Mets will receive OF Drew Gilbert from the Astros in the deal for Verlander, per source, plus at least one other propsect. It's not known how much money the Mets will send to Houston.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) August 1, 2023
Gilbert, a left-handed hitting and throwing outfielder, was a rockstar in Minnesota growing up, having led Stillwater High School to the state championship in 2018. Just a kid at the time, Gilbert threw 95 mph and struck out 15 batters in the state championship game at Target Field.
He went on to star at the University of Tennessee, where he hit .368 and was named the SEC Tournament MVP and an All-American by numerous publications.
Between High-A and Double-A baseball this season, Gilbert has slashed .274/.363/.458 (.822 OPS) with 12 homers, 19 doubles and 38 RBI.
According to MLB Pipeline, he was the Astros' No. 1 prospect.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.