Mets Should Have Eye on Tennessee Infielder In College World Series

A recent mock draft has the New York Mets selecting a star infielder for the No. 1 seeded Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee's Cal Stark (10) laughs after he nearly hit teammate Christian Moore with a foul ball during game two of the NCAA baseball tournament Knoxville Super Regional between Tennessee and Evansville held at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday, June 8, 2024. / Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA

The Tennessee Volunteers are the No. 1 seed in the College World Series and are seeking their first national title. In fact, the Vols haven’t been to the championship game since 1951.

The Volunteers will rely on second baseman Christian Moore to try and get it done. If Baseball America is right, the New York Mets will make him a potential second baseman of the future next month.

The publication’s most recent mock draft has the Mets taking Moore at No. 19 overall, adding middle infield depth to a minor league system that already has Jett Williams, Luisangel Acuña, Ronny Mauricio, Colin Houck and Marco Vargas among its Top 10 prospects. All play the infield.

Selecting Moore would bring the Brooklyn native much closer to home. He played his prep baseball at Suffield Academy in Suffield, Conn., and was New York’s No. 5 rated player out of New York when he left the prep ranks.

As a draft-eligible junior, he is already a NCBWA First-Team All-American for the Vols.

What may appeal to the Mets is his power.

In the Knoxville Regional against Indiana he slammed a two-run home run, which was the 56th of his career and leads Tennessee all-time.

Baseball America pointed out that Moore has posted a 1.000 OPS in each of his three college seasons and has trimmed his strikeout rate by 10% since he started college. His strength, at the moment, is that he has a proven bat.

Last year’s first-round pick was shortstop Colin Houck from Parkview High School in Georgia, No. 32 overall. Houck is playing for the Class-A St. Lucie Mets.

One of New York’s 2022 first-round picks, Jett Williams, was another prep pick out of Rockwall-Heath High School in Heath, Texas. Williams has quickly ascended through the minor-league system but he is going to miss the next couple of months due to surgery on his right wrist.

The last time the Mets took a college player in the first round was also in 2022, when they took Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada with their other selection. Parada, who was one of the best catching prospects to come out of college in recent years, is at Double-A Binghamton.