Viola, Reeves to represent Mets at Draft
Club has 10th selection this year; top 74 picks to be streamed on MLB.com
NEW YORK -- As he continues to recover from open-heart surgery, Frank Viola will represent the Mets at next month's First-Year Player Draft in Secaucus, N.J.
Viola will join area scout Jim Reeves at the Draft in relaying picks from the Mets' war room to the podium. Those two are part of a star-studded group of Draft representatives from around the league, including Hall of Famers Andre Dawson, Ferguson Jenkins, Tommy Lasorda and Tony Perez.
The 2014 Draft will take place on June 5-7, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB.com and MLB Network on Thursday, June 5, at 6 p.m. ET. Live Draft coverage from MLB Network's Studio 42 begins at 7 p.m., with the top 74 picks being streamed on MLB.com and broadcast on MLB Network. MLB.com's exclusive coverage of the second and third days will begin with a live Draft show at 12:30 p.m. ET on June 6.
The Mets pick 10th in this year's Draft. Last year, they selected high school first baseman Dominic Smith with the 11th overall selection.
MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 100 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of Draft-eligible players. Every selection will be tweeted live from @MLBDraftTracker, and you can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.
Viola was slated to serve as the Mets' Triple-A Las Vegas pitching coach this summer before heart surgery intervened in March. He pitched for the franchise from 1989-91, as part of a 15-year career with the Twins, Mets, Red Sox, Reds and Blue Jays. Viola won a Cy Young Award in Minnesota in 1988 and had a 20-win season for the Mets in 1990.