Thursday morning was significant for the Mets organization even without a Kyle Tucker decision.
For a second straight year, the Mets landed one of the top international prospects as the signing period opened — this time stealing him from the Yankees.
The Mets officially brought in Dominican shortstop Wandy Asigen, whom MLB Pipeline rated as the second-best prospect in the class, for a reported $3.9 million.
The Mets entered the day with a pool of $5,440,000, which they augmented by sending 20-year-old lefty prospect Franklin Gomez to the Guardians for a larger allotment to land prospects.
Asigen is a 16-year-old lefty swinger whose big bat is his calling card — and was expected to be a Yankee until last month.
The Yankees fired longtime international scouting director Donny Rowland, after which Asigen backed out of his agreement.
The Mets pounced and wound up with one of the best prospects in the class again.
Last year the Mets landed infielder Elian Peña, whom MLB Pipeline rated as the third-best prospect in his class, for $5 million.
In his first professional assignment in Rookie Ball, Peña went 0-for-26 in his first nine games then took off, finishing with a .949 OPS with nine home runs and 21 steals in 55 games.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
