Mets open Day 2 by taking Louisville 3B Tiberi

Club branches out to rest of country after picking local pitchers on Day 1

June 10th, 2016

NEW YORK -- Not all the Mets' picks could be local.
After taking Long Island pitchers Justin Dunn and Anthony Kay with their top two picks in the Draft on Thursday, the Mets on Friday branched out to the rest of the country in an effort to restock their farm system.
Track every Mets pick from Day 2 of the 2016 MLB Draft, which consisted of Rounds 3-10.
Mets 8th-round pick Torres dominates D-II ball
The Draft concludes on Saturday, with exclusive coverage of Rounds 11-40 beginning on MLB.com at noon ET.
:: Complete 2016 Draft coverage ::
Round 3 (100th overall), Blake Tiberi, 3B, Louisville
Frequently linked to Wake Forest third baseman Will Craig leading up to the Draft, the Mets passed on Craig in the first round but took another college third baseman, Tiberi, in the third. Ranked eighth in the Cape Cod League in hitting last summer, Tiberi parlayed that performance into a significant leap forward at Louisville this season. He hit .331 for a Cardinals team that had three players selected in the first round, slugging nine home runs with 18 walks and 20 strikeouts.
Tiberi went 2-for-4 in each of the Cardinals' first two NCAA Regional games, doubling home a run against Ohio State and hitting a two-run homer against Western Michigan.
"Tiberi was probably the most consistent hitter on the team," Mets scouting director Tommy Tanous said. "The fact that he was a left-handed hitter with some power really was attractive to us."

Round 4 (130th overall), Michael Paez, SS, Coastal Carolina
Only one Coastal Carolina player has ever accumulated more than 1.0 career Wins Above Replacement: Kirt Manwaring, the Giants' second-rounder way back in 1986. While a few others -- Tommy La Stella, most notably -- have made waves in the Majors, Paez will look to become the best Chanticleer ever. (Yes, this college named its sports teams after a rooster from Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales.")
Paez's skill set includes both power -- he hit 15 home runs in 63 games this season -- and speed. He was D1Baseball.com's Preseason Big South Player of the Year, vindicating that selection with a .291 batting average and a .554 slugging percentage.
"I think we did a really good job on Michael Paez," Tanous said. "Because he's a smaller guy -- 5-8, 5-9 -- I think he was undervalued by the industry a little bit. This is a guy who hit 15 home runs, 17 doubles. There's some power with this kid."
Round 5 (160th overall), Colby Woodmansee, SS, Arizona State
It's the typical story for Woodmansee, a two-year shortstop starter with questions regarding his ability to stick at the position. If Woodmansee stays there, the eight home runs and .355 on-base percentage he posted as a junior suggest tools that can make him valuable at the next level. If defensive limitations force Woodmansee to move, the Mets -- who are shortstop-heavy already at the upper levels of their Minors -- will need to find somewhere else that his bat can play.

Round 6 (190th overall), Christopher Viall, RHP, Stanford
At 6-foot-9, 230 pounds, Viall oozes projection. The only problem is he hasn't made good on it yet, posting a 5.01 ERA in 15 games for the Cardinal, mostly as a reliever. For now, it's the big body and mid-90s fastball that had the Mets intrigued enough to take a flyer in Round 6.
Round 7 (220th overall) Austin McGeorge, RHP, Long Beach State
A reliever like Viall, McGeorge was flat-out dominant over 53 innings this season for Long Beach State. He struck out 76 batters against 14 walks, holding opponents to a .197 batting average. A Southern Californian through and through, McGeorge was born in Newport Beach, Calif., and played his high school ball in Anaheim, before moving on to nearby Long Beach.
Round 8 (250th overall), Placido Torres, LHP, Tusculum College
Tiny Tusculum, home to about 1,500 students in rural Tennessee, boasts that Torres put together "the finest season ever recorded by a Tusculum hurler." That's no joke. The left-hander was 11-0 with seven complete games and four shutouts in 14 starts, posting a 0.70 ERA. He is the first player in program history to earn DII Pitcher of the Year honors, sweeping the awards from all three governing bodies. The Mets were impressed enough to make him the 10th drafted player in Tusculum history.
Round 9 (280th overall) Colin Holderman, RHP, Heartland Community College (Normal, Ill.)
Though Holderman hit .489 with 13 homers in 57 games as a first baseman, his statistics were just as eye-popping on the mound: an 8-1 record and a 1.57 ERA in 12 starts, with 92 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings. The two-way player is committed to move on to Mississippi State next season if the Mets don't sign him.
Round 10 (310th overall) Gene Cone, OF, University of South Carolina
The 75th anniversary of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hit streak seems as apt a time as any for a team to draft Cone, who strung together a Division I-best 31-game streak this spring. Cone wound up batting .370 over 53 games, reaching base at a .579 clip. That was enough to earn him first-team All-SEC honors.