Your Friday morning dose of New York Mets and Major League Baseball news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
The Mets selected Oregon State outfielder Michael Conforto with the 10th overall selection in the MLB Draft last night. The lefty was the second college bat off the board and will hopefully be launching balls into the Pepsi Porch a few years from now.
As for the present day team, they changed things up and lost to the Cubs by more than one run on Thursday. The Mets overcame a 4-0 deficit but ultimately fell to Chicago 7-4. Now it's off to San Francisco for the orange and blue.
Recap Parade:Amazin' Avenue short, long, MLB.com, ESPN NY, New York Times, Post, Daily News, Star-Ledger
David Wright didn't sound too thrilled about being double-switched out of the game in the eighth inning.
Prior to Thursday night's start, ESPN's Mark Simon examined the great command that Jacob deGrom has been showing early in his major league career.
Noah Syndergaardinjured his non-pitching shoulder last night while covering home plate following a wild pitch. X-rays are pending.
After suffering two concussions in three years while using a hockey-style catcher's mask, Travis d'Arnaud is switching to more traditional equipment. Is that the best choice for his safety?
Since being named Mets hitting coach a week and a half ago, Lamar Johnson has been hard at work adjusting to his new role and learning as much about the team's hitters as possible.
Around the NL East
The Nationals defeated the Phillies 4-2 to finish off a sweep of their I-95 rivals. Also, Doug Fister did a split at first base!
After making a run at the batting title in 2013, Atlanta's Chris Johnson has been nearly useless in 2014.
With the second overall pick in the draft, the Marlins chose Texan flamethrower Tyler Kolek.
The Phillies opted for polished LSU hurler Aaron Nola with the seventh overall selection.
Around the Majors
The Astros made left-handed pitcher Brady Aiken the top pick in the 2014 MLB Draft. Aiken played his high school ball in San Diego and is the first prep arm to be drafted No. 1 overall since Brien Taylor was picked by the Yankees in 1991.
With the Rays continuing to struggle, it looks like it is finally time for them to part ways with David Price.
It's not right that just one franchise should be able to "claim" Don Zimmer as its own. He belongs to baseball now.
Mark Buehrle is probably not going to be this dominant for the entire season, but nevertheless, Dirk Hayhurst says that the lefty's durable style should become a prototype in today's injury-plagued pitching environment.
FanGraphs takes a look inside the draft room.
Yesterday at AA
Chris McShane took a look at the drafting tendencies of the Sandy Alderson administration, and Jeffrey Paternostro checked in on the progress of the Mets' recent top draft picks.
Jeffrey also offered up some scouting reports of prospects he has seen in person this season.
Alex Nelson thinks that Conforto could hit 25 home runs in the big leagues, but batting average and defense are concerns.
On this date in 1999, the Mets beat up the Yankees and began a 55-game tear of awesomeness.