Jonathan Mayo has been a reporter for MLB.com since 1999, and he’s listed as a draft and prospect expert.
Jonathan Mayo has been a reporter for MLB.com since 1999, and he’s listed as a draft and prospect expert.
He’s also featured on the MLB Network, working the June first-year player draft. It helps being on TV, so when he dials up MLB front office people they recognize him and return his calls.
Mayo is well-connected, and it’s his business to know the potential first-round risers in the draft or the highly regarded minor leaguer shooting up in some team’s system.
But when asked the best part of his job, Mayo doesn’t talk about compiling MLB.com’s June draft Top 50 list or an organization’s Top 30 prospect ranking.
“It’s trying to predict the future, knowing you’re wrong a lot of times,” Mayo said in a phone interview. “I like telling stories of players or introducing players fans may not know.”
Mayo lives in Pittsburgh, and one of his favorite stories was a feature on a high school second baseman named Neil Walker written in the lead-up to the 2004 draft.
He was later picked in the first round.
“He got drafted by his local team (Pirates), fast forward several years and became an All-Star, and now he’s a Met. That was weird to see,” Mayo said. “In the 2009 draft, I was the sideline reporter (on MLB Network) and introduced Mike Trout when he was drafted. That was pretty cool.
“No one had any idea how quickly he would make it. I talked to Kolten Wong in his junior year at Hawaii before the draft. To know these guys before and introduce them to a wider baseball audience is fun.”
Mayo has two children, including a son named Ziv, and uses Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen to remind his young ballplayer about the benefits of hard work.
“In Pittsburgh, Andrew McCutchen is a good example as there is. I have a 13-year-old son and tell him that Andrew has as much natural raw tools as just about anybody,” Mayo said. “What separates him is how hard he works at improving his tools. That’s why he’s an MVP, a Silver Slugger, and an All-Star every year.
“Then you have the guys who are not as naturally talented, but they outwork everybody else. They outplay their tools. Those guys have that extra mental toughness to grind it out.”
Wong, at 5 feet 9, falls into that latter category. The St. Louis second baseman isn’t the biggest or strongest guy on the field, but the baseball couldn’t tell the difference when he belted 11 homers in 557 at-bats last year.
He finished with a .262 batting average with 61 RBIs, a .321 on-base stat, and a .707 OPS.
Then during spring training, Wong signed a $25.5 million, five-year contract.
“Kolten’s got a good head on his shoulders,” Mayo said. “If his career keeps going in the direction he’s headed, he could be a 15- to 18-homer guy. I think the deal made a lot of sense to both sides at the time.”
There’s no second baseman on St. Louis’ Top 30 team prospect ranking. There are three shortstops on the list. However, none have played at Double-A or shown that they can hit.
“There’s nobody knocking on the door anytime soon,” Mayo said. “There’s no one waiting in the wings to take hold of Kolten’s job.”
Minor thoughts
Mayo is well aware of the Cardinals second baseman’s brother Kean Wong, who’s in the Tampa Bay Rays system.
“In a nutshell, he can hit. In the Wong family, they know how to swing the bat,” Mayo said. “He doesn’t have the pop that Kolten has. But I think he’ll hit for average and be a nice second baseman. If he can get on base and hit for average, those are the keys. He works hard on defense, and he’ll be fine.”
Next to the penny-pinching Oakland A’s, Tampa Bay is one of the best landing spots for draft picks because the low-income Rays rarely sign free agents to long-term deals.
“There’s a lot of turnover, and the Rays give chances to young players, no question, when they’re ready,” Mayo said. “It certainly doesn’t hurt Kean being with the Rays. They’re a promote from within the organization.”
Mayo knows about the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2014 draft picks Kodi Medeiros and Jordan Yamamoto and their connection. Both went the distance in the HHSAA state quarterfinals in 2014. Yamamoto, a 12th-round pick, was the Saint Louis ace and won a 2-0 game against Waiakea and Medeiros, a first-round pick.
“I remember Yamamoto coming out of that draft. That start probably helped him,” Mayo said. “It’s been a slow progress for him. He’s little more of a project.
“I like Kodi’s stuff. Some people question how that delivery (low three-quarter) will work long-term as a starter. His walk rate is a little high, but as a teenager (19 years old), that’s nothing out of the ordinary. We’ll see how it plays out as he moves up levels.”
Hawaii prospects
At the time, Mayo and the mlbpipeline.com staff were still working on the draft prospects from Hawaii.
However, Mayo didn’t think there was anyone who would get drafted in June as high as Campbell High right-hander Ian Kahaloa, who was picked in the fifth round by the Cincinnati Reds last year.
Mayo had no clue about UH-Hilo senior right-hander Jordan Kurokawa, who’s 2-5 with a 3.00 ERA in 45 innings. He’s allowed 48 hits, 19 walks and whiffed 43.
Kurokawa has never been drafted. He’s also 23 years old, the typical age of most top prospects at Triple-A. (Kolten Wong is 25 and already in his fourth big league season.)
Diamond notes
• NL Central choice: Mayo didn’t pick the St. Louis Cardinals to win the NL Central. They’re the three-time defending champs.
“If I were a homer, I’d pick Pittsburgh,” he said. “But on my podcast, I picked the Chicago Cubs. I’ll stick with that. They’re the best team on paper.”
Mayo made his pick before Cubs left fielder Kyle Schwarber suffered a season-ending left knee injury.
• Best, worst systems: The Los Angeles Dodgers haven’t won a World Series since 1988, but that hasn’t stopped them from spending money.
The Dodgers have an MLB-high $253 million payroll for 2016. It helped that the team has a regional TV deal with Time Warner for $7 billion over 25 years, which started in 2014.
“The Dodgers are No. 1. They certainly have a ton of elite-level talent and a lot of depth,” Mayo said. “Personally, I like Atlanta’s system. I like their trades. I’d say both are 1 and 1A in terms of the amount of talent in their systems.”
Mayo said mlbpipeline.com generally doesn’t rank the worst minor league systems to the bottom, but the usual suspects are there.
“The Angels are there. If they’re not 30th, then they’re close to the bottom,” he said. “The Marlins and Tigers are sort of in that general range.”
• Can’t miss who missed: Mayo had to take a minute or two to find a minor leaguer destined for stardom who fell way short.
“Lars Anderson. He was a sweet-swinging first baseman in the Red Sox system,” Mayo said. “He looked like a can’t miss. He had the look of a run producer. But he had injuries and 48 at-bats in the big leagues and a whopping .455 OPS.”
• Best gem: New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom, a ninth-round pick in the 2010 draft.
“I didn’t have him on any list. I’m not sure we had him on the Mets’ Top 20 list. Now we do a Top 30,” Mayo said. “He just came competing out of nowhere. He’s made an impact so far at the big league level.”
• His job: “It’s organized chaos. I’m joking, but it’s very busy,” Mayo said. “It’s largely a lot of fun. It never seems like hard work if you love what you’re doing.”