Former New York Mets first rounder falls out of latest prospect rankings

The 11th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, catcher Kevin Parada, looks to be a wasted pick by the New York Mets after he fell out of MLB Pipeline's updated Top 30 prospect rankings this spring.

Parada, 23, was lauded at the time of selection as one of the best hitters in the class but with some defensive questions. Even if his glove never caught up to his advanced bat, the thoughts were that his offense would push him to the majors all by itself. Entering his third season after the selection, the questions are louder than ever and have spread to the other side of the ball.

Despite the young catcher purchasing a Florida home so he can work through the winters with team personnel, the young backstop continues to struggle on defense.

The running game was a particular weakness early in his professional career, with Parada seeing the 10th-most stolen base attempts against him in 2023 despite playing only 59 games behind the plate that season. In 73 games at catcher for Double-A Binghamton last year, Parada caught only 23% of attempted base stealers. That number represented a significant improvement from 2023's 18%, but came with a corresponding increase in passed balls from seven to 15.

Kevin Parada getting some reps early 🔥 pic.twitter.com/fvXAqTpWnI
— Mets Player Development (@MetsPlayerDev) February 12, 2025

His framing also remains a work in progress, despite the extra focus on defensive improvements. The catcher went to the Arizona Fall League in 2023 to make up for missed time after an ankle injury, spending a lot of his game reps behind the plate and focusing on receiving. Parada's offseason weight loss, where he dropped fifteen pounds, could potentially help him improve behind the plate with blocking and agility.

Unfortunately, the extra time spent on getting his defense to be even playable has hampered the once-carrying tool of his bat. Parada's career minor league slash line across three seasons is .233/.322/.395 with 28 home runs in 233 games, including a .214 average and .663 OPS for Binghamton last season. The catcher has always had an unconventional swing, one that was seen as a possible hinderance to instruction were he to struggle, and those struggles are finally here.

One thing that still make 0 sense to me is how Kevin Parada became so bad. This man was literally insane in college. In my opinion, they need to give up on him as a catcher and make him focus on the bat.
— Future Mets GM (@Tyler_jaylong) January 14, 2025

In 2024, Parada struggled to make contact at all, with a 35.7% whiff rate in the strike zone. Among all hitters with 400 or more plate appearances in the minors, that was the second-worst rate in all of baseball. He especially struggled with both velocity and spin away, although his issues seem to be limited to missing those pitches in the zone rather than chasing an excessive amount.

The struggles have led to a precipitous fall down the prospect rankings for Parada. Once seen as a top prospect in the system, Baseball America has him as only the 27th prospect in the system, admitting that if not for his "amateur pedigree and draft status, Parada would not rank among the Mets' top prospects." MLB Pipeline went one step further, taking Parada off of their newly-released organizational Top 30 rankings entirely.

To his credit, Parada is handling the snubs in stride, telling the New York Post that it wasn't a bad thing for him to struggle last season.

“No one wants to struggle at all, that’s always frustrating,” Parada told The Post. “I think it was good for my development as a player to struggle a little bit right there, being able to learn a little bit more about myself. I’m lucky enough to get another opportunity, doing my best to take full advantage of it.”

Only time and at-bats will tell if Parada can use the time out of the spotlight to right what ails him.

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