Scouting the Cleveland Indians/New York Mets trade
The New York Mets traded away one of their backup catchers for two prospects on Sunday. Let’s look at the players involved.
To cap off a busy weekend of moves, the New York Mets traded away backup catcher Kevin Plawecki to the Cleveland Indians for pitching prospect Walker Lockett and infield prospect Sam Haggerty.
Plawecki has been a player of intrigue for a number of years to New York Mets fans. Originally drafted in the first round of the 2012 draft out of Purdue, Plawecki has at times been a top prospect (ranked as high as #63 in top 100 prospect lists) and worked up the minor leagues quickly.
Plawecki had a solid draft season, but in his first full year, he made a big impression, hitting .305/.390/.448 across both A-ball levels with 38 doubles and 8 home runs. The next year, he continued hitting well, earning his way onto top 100 lists as he played across AA and AAA, hitting .309/.365/.460 with 24 doubles and 11 home runs.
The 2015 season would see Plawecki spend 73 games at the major league level, and he has bounced back and forth between AAA and the New York Mets each season since. When he returns to the minors, he hits well (.299/.347/.475 over 587 PA with 19 HR). His major league hitting has not been as good, however, as he’s slashed .218/.308/.330 with 14 home runs over 804 plate appearances over that same time frame in the major leagues.
Plawecki’s defense has also been sporadic through multiple injuries over the last four seasons. He came out with an incredible 17 DRS in his rookie year in 2015. This past season was as close to that level of playing time he’s had since that year, and he was at 0. Baseball Prospectus’ framing rankings don’t like Plawecki much, either, ranking him 93rd out of 117 qualified catchers in the major leagues this past season.
He will pair with Roberto Perez, who is well-regarded in all defensive metrics (6th in framing, 4 DRS last season in ~100 less innings than Plawecki). It would appear that Plawecki will end up the hitting end of a catching duo, with the Indians hoping they can work with his defense to bring it back to pre-injury levels.
Let’s take a look at the return the New York Mets got for Plawecki…
Walker Lockett
A big righty at 6’5″ with broad shoulders, Walker Lockett was originally drafted by the San Diego Padres out of high school in Florida in 2012 in the 4th round. Interestingly, the move to the New York Mets is his second trade already since the end of the 2018 regular season, as the Indians just acquired Lockett on November 20th, 2018.
Lockett struggled with injury early on before having a tumultuous year in 2015, being demoted two different times that season.
He had a breakout in 2016, climbing the ladder from low-A all the way up to AAA by season’s end. Overall, he tossed 164 innings with a 2.96 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and a 24/123 BB/K ratio. He’d filled out that broad frame to a solid 225ish pounds, and he used his frame well.
More injury issues derailed his 2017, but Lockett rebounded with a solid performance (taking league context into account) as he tossed 133 1/3 innings for AAA El Paso in 2019 in the PCL with a 4.73 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and a 33/118 BB/K ratio. He struggled in 4 appearances with the Padres at the big league level.
Lockett works with a heavy fastball that sits 92-94, touching 95-96. When he is on with his delivery, he generates tremendous sink and late movement low in the zone with the fastball. He uses his change and his curve nearly equally, and they’re both average pitches. Lockett did use a cutter more in the minors, but he featured it infrequently in the majors.
The injuries have left Lockett without a lot of polish in his delivery, so he can get off track at times, which is not uncommon for a taller guy. However, when he’s on, Lockett has the sort of stuff and easy delivery that would allow him to soak up innings as a #4 type of starter.