# List of New York Mets first-round draft picks

The New York Mets are a Major League Baseball franchise based in New York City. They play in the National League East division. Since the institution of Major League Baseball's Rule 4 Draft, the Mets have selected 63 players in its first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is Major League Baseball's primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, and the team that had the worst record receives the first pick. In addition, teams that lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks. The First-Year Player Draft is unrelated to the 1961 expansion draft in which the Mets initially filled their roster.
Of the 63 players picked in the first round by the Mets, 25 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 18 of these were right-handed, while seven were left-handed. 18 of the players picked in the initial round were outfielders, while eight shortstops, six catchers, and three third basemen were selected. The team also selected two players at first base and one at second base. 14 of the players came from high schools or universities in the state of California, while Florida and Texas follow, with nine and five players, respectively.
Four Mets' first-round picks have won championships with the franchise. No first-round picks were on the 1969 championship team. Outfielders Lee Mazzilli (1973) and Darryl Strawberry (1980), shortstop Wally Backman (1977), and pitcher Dwight Gooden (1982) played in the 1986 World Series for the Mets' second championship team. Three first-round draft picks have gone on to win the Rookie of the Year Award with the Mets: Jon Matlack in 1972, Strawberry in 1983, and Gooden in 1984. Gooden went on to win the Cy Young Award in 1985, his second season, after placing second in the voting his rookie year. Gooden is also the only first-round draft pick of the Mets to make the All-Star team in his rookie season.
The Mets have made 11 selections in the supplemental round of the draft. They have also made the first overall selection five times (1966, 1968, 1980, 1984, and 1994), tied for the most such picks with the San Diego Padres. The first of these picks, Steve Chilcott (1966), is one of only two first overall picks (along with Brien Taylor) to never play in the major leagues. The Mets have had 18 compensatory picks since the institution of the First-Year Player Draft in 1965. These additional picks are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the prior off-season, or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. One player, George Ambrow (1970), did not sign with the Mets after he was drafted but they received no compensation pick.

## Key

| Year | Each year links to an article about that year's Major League Baseball Draft. |
| Position | Indicates the secondary/collegiate position at which the player was drafted, rather than the professional position the player may have gone on to play |
| Pick | Indicates the number of the pick within the first round |
| * | Player did not sign with the Mets |
| | Indicates a supplemental pick |
| '86 | Player played in 1986 World Series for Mets' championship team |

## Picks

| Year | Name | Position | School (Location) | Pick |
| 1965 | Les Rohr | Left-handed pitcher | West High School (Billings, Montana) | 2 |
| 1966 | Steve Chilcott | Catcher | Antelope Valley High School (Lancaster, California) | 1 |
| 1967 | Jon Matlack | Left-handed pitcher | Henderson High School (West Chester, Pennsylvania) | 4 |
| 1968 | Tim Foli | Shortstop | Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, California) | 1 |
| 1969 | Randy Sterling | Right-handed pitcher | Key West High School (Key West, Florida) | 4 |
| 1970 | George Ambrow* | Shortstop | Long Beach Polytechnic High School (Long Beach, California) | 23 |
| 1971 | Rich Puig | Second baseman | Hillsborough High School (Tampa, Florida) | 14 |
| 1972 | Richard Bengston | Catcher | Richwoods High School (Peoria, Illinois) | 13 |
| 1973 | Lee Mazzilli '86 | Outfielder | Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn, New York) | 14 |
| 1974 | Cliff Speck | Right-handed pitcher | Beaverton High School (Beaverton, Oregon) | 17 |
| 1975 | Butch Benton | Catcher | Godby High School (Tallahassee, Florida) | 6 |
| 1976 | Tom Thurberg | Outfielder | South Weymouth High School (Weymouth, Massachusetts) | 13 |
| 1977 | Wally Backman '86 | Shortstop | Aloha High School (Aloha, Oregon) | 16 |
| 1978 | Hubie Brooks | Outfielder | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 3 |
| 1979 | Tim Leary | Right-handed pitcher | UCLA (Los Angeles, California) | 2 |
| 1980 | Darryl Strawberry '86 | Outfielder | Crenshaw High School (Los Angeles, California) | 1 |
| 1980 | Billy Beane | Outfielder | Mount Carmel High School (San Diego, California) | 23 |
| 1980 | John Gibbons | Catcher | MacArthur High School (San Antonio, Texas) | 24 |
| 1981 | Terry Blocker | Outfielder | Tennessee State University (Nashville, Tennessee) | 4 |
| 1982 | Dwight Gooden '86 | Right-handed pitcher | Hillsborough High School (Tampa, Florida) | 5 |
| 1983 | Eddie Williams | Third baseman | Hoover High School (San Diego, California) | 4 |
| 1983 | Stan Jefferson | Outfielder | Bethune-Cookman College (Daytona Beach, Florida) | 20 |
| 1983 | Calvin Schiraldi | Right-handed pitcher | University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas) | 27$^§$ |
| 1984 | Shawn Abner | Outfielder | Mechanicsburg Area High School (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) | 1 |
| 1985 | Gregg Jefferies | Shortstop | Serra High School (San Mateo, California) | 20 |
| 1986 | Lee May Jr. | Outfielder | Purcell Marian High School (Cincinnati) | 21 |
| 1987 | Chris Donnels | Third baseman | Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, California) | 24 |
| 1988 | Dave Proctor | Right-handed pitcher | Allen County CC (Iola, Kansas) | 21 |
| 1989 | Alan Zinter | Catcher | University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona) | 24 |
| 1990 | Jeromy Burnitz | Outfielder | Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, Oklahoma) | 17 |
| 1991 | Al Shirley | Outfielder | George Washington High School (Danville, Virginia) | 18 |
| 1991 | Bobby Jones | Right-handed pitcher | California State University, Fresno (Fresno, California) | 36$^§$ |
| 1992 | Preston Wilson | Shortstop | Bamberg Ehrhardt High School (Bamberg, South Carolina) | 9 |
| 1992 | Chris Roberts | Left-handed pitcher | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 18 |
| 1992 | Jon Ward | Right-handed pitcher | Huntington Beach High School (Huntington Beach, California) | 30$^§$ |
| 1993 | Kirk Presley | Right-handed pitcher | Tupelo High School (Tupelo, Mississippi) | 8 |
| 1994 | Paul Wilson | Right-handed pitcher | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 1 |
| 1994 | Terrence Long | First baseman | Stanhope Elmore High School (Millbrook, Alabama) | 20 |
| 1994 | Jay Payton | Outfielder | Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) | 29$^§$ |
| 1995 | Ryan Jaroncyk | Shortstop | Orange Glen High School (Escondido, California) | 18 |
| 1996 | Robert Stratton | Outfielder | San Marcos High School (San Marcos, California) | 13 |
| 1997 | Geoff Goetz | Left-handed pitcher | Jesuit High School (Tampa, Florida) | 6 |
| 1998 | Jason Tyner | Outfielder | Texas A&M (College Station, Texas) | 21 |
| 1999 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 2000 | Billy Traber | Left-handed pitcher | Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles, California) | 16 |
| 2000 | Bobby Keppel | Right-handed pitcher | De Smet Jesuit High School (Creve Coeur, Missouri) | 36$^§$ |
| 2001 | Aaron Heilman | Right-handed pitcher | University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, Indiana) | 18 |
| 2001 | David Wright | Third baseman | Hickory High School (Chesapeake, Virginia) | 38$^§$ |
| 2002 | Scott Kazmir | Left-handed pitcher | Cypress Falls High School (Houston, Texas) | 15 |
| 2003 | Lastings Milledge | Outfielder | Lakewood Ranch High School (Bradenton, Florida) | 12 |
| 2004 | Philip Humber | Right-handed pitcher | Rice University (Houston, Texas) | 3 |
| 2005 | Mike Pelfrey | Right-handed pitcher | Wichita State University (Wichita, Kansas) | 9 |
| 2006 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 2007 | Eddie Kunz | Right-handed pitcher | Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon) | 42$^§$ |
| 2007 | Nathan Vineyard | Left-handed pitcher | Woodland High School (Cartersville, Georgia) | 47$^§$ |
| 2008 | Ike Davis | First baseman | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 18 |
| 2008 | Reese Havens | Shortstop | University of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina) | 22 |
| 2008 | Bradley Holt | Right-handed pitcher | University of North Carolina at Wilmington (Wilmington, North Carolina) | 33$^§$ |
| 2009 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 2010 | Matt Harvey | Right-handed pitcher | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) | 7 |
| 2011 | Brandon Nimmo | Outfielder | Cheyenne East High School (Cheyenne, Wyoming) | 13 |
| 2011 | Michael Fulmer | Right-handed pitcher | Deer Creek High School (Edmond, Oklahoma) | 44$^§$ |
| 2012 | Gavin Cecchini | Shortstop | Barbe High School (Lake Charles, Louisiana) | 12 |
| 2012 | Kevin Plawecki | Catcher | Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana) | 35$^§$ |
| 2013 | Dominic Smith | First baseman | Serra High School (Gardena, California) | 11 |
| 2014 | Michael Conforto | Outfielder | Oregon State University (Corvallis, Oregon) | 10 |
| 2015 | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick | no first-round pick |
| 2016 | Justin Dunn | Right-handed pitcher | Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts) | 19 |
| 2016 | Anthony Kay | Left-handed pitcher | University of Connecticut (Storrs, Connecticut) | 31$^§$ |
| 2017 | David Peterson | Left-handed pitcher | University of Oregon (Eugene, Oregon) | 20 |
| 2018 | Jarred Kelenic | Outfielder | Waukesha West High School (Waukesha, Wisconsin) | 6 |
| 2019 | Brett Baty | Third baseman | Lake Travis High School (Austin, Texas) | 12 |
| 2020 | Pete Crow-Armstrong | Outfielder | Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles, California) | 19 |
| 2021 | Kumar Rocker* | Right-handed pitcher | Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) | 10 |
| 2022 | Kevin Parada | Catcher | Georgia Tech (Atlanta, Georgia) | 11 |
| 2022 | Jett Williams (baseball) | Shortstop | Rockwall-Heath High School (Heath, Texas) | 14 |
| 2023 | Colin Houck | Shortstop | Parkview High School (GA) | 32 |
| 2024 | Carson Benge | Outfielder | Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, Oklahoma) | 19 |