New York Mets: Top 5 Players Drafted That Went Unsigned
4. Ron Cey, WAR 53.8
In 1966 the amateur draft as we know it was only two years old. The Mets did not have a good draft that year. The Mets drafted 52 players in ’66 and were only able to sign 28 of them. Only one of those 28 went on to play in the majors.
In the 19th round of that draft, they selected Ron Cey, out of high school in the state of Washington. Cey chose not to sign and instead attended college at Western Washington University.
Two years later Cey put his name back in the draft and was taken in the third round by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Cey would have a very productive career with the Dodgers, making six All-Star teams, and playing in four World Series. He was the MVP of the 1981 Series where the Dodgers finally won the ring, as they were losers in the other three Cey played in.
Ron Cey would play seventeen years in the majors for three teams and hit 316 home runs. In the eleven years Cey was in Los Angeles there were eight third basemen who took turns at the hot corner in New York with Wayne Garrett having the longest stay. I’m thinking the Mets would have rather had Ron Cey there.