Eddie Kunz was the Mets first selection of the 2007 MLB draft, when they selected him 42nd overall in the supplemental first round. Last year, after spending not even a year in the minors, Kunz even made the major league team for a four appearances. He allowed four runs in those four appearances for a 13.50 ERA and didn’t even make it out to pitch in September.
Prior to the 2008 season, Baseball America rated Kunz as the Mets 5th best prospect, while Bobby Parnell was 10th. Prior to this season, BA rated Kunz 10th as he and Parnell swapped spots. In the same time that Kunz dropped those five spots, three of the players ahead of him in those rankings were traded. At the beginning of this year, Toby Hyde of Mets Minor League Blog rated Kunz as the twelfth best prospect in the Mets organization.
Since being called on so early in his career, Kunz has been lost in the shuffle. Issues that plagued him since being drafted, such as his control, have continued to hamper his performance. Meanwhile, other Mets prospects, Brad Holt and Jenrry Mejia to name a couple, have shot up the organizational depth charts while Kunz has been rather pedestrian.
This year, for triple-A Buffalo, Kunz has nearly as many walks as he does strikeouts with 27 compared to 28. This is all in 29 appearances, in which he has thrown 45.1 innings. He hasn’t even had the job as closer for the Bisons, where the job has been mostly handled by Elmer Dessens. On the positive side, Kunz has an impressive .215 batting average against, suggesting that if he could locate the strike zone, he’d be very effective.
Perhaps, this is why relievers shouldn’t be drafted so early in the draft – why waste such a high pick on a guy who might just end up a middle reliever? At the same time, finding the strike zone is a funny thing and perhaps Kunz could be effective if given another shot with the big club. Just ask Bobby Parnell, who had an ERA of 13.50 in June this year, while he didn’t give up a run all of July.
In any case, the Mets should make sure to not forget about him, because he clearly has some potential. That said, for now, maybe they should be throwing him into the fire by letting him close in triple-A, rather than having crusty old veterans like Dessens do the job. The Mets should just know not to give up on him too early, because when you have a pitcher with a good arm, failing to give them a real chance can be unfortunate – just look at what they did with Heath Bell.
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