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Draft Preview: Meyer, Gophers Eye up Potentially Historic 2020 MLB Draft
6/8/2020 9:39:00 AM | Baseball
As one of his signature, 70-grade sliders left his right hand, Max Meyer had no way of knowing it would be the last-ever pitch he delivered in Maroon and Gold. Gopher backstop Chase Stanke caught the eighth inning offering for a called third strike just fractions of a second later, allowing Meyer and the Gophers to hang on to a slim 4-3 lead by stranding the tying Utah Ute runner on second base.
Minnesota went on to win that March 6 contest over Utah by a final score of 6-4. Within the next week, that night would be known as Meyer's final performance on the mound for the Gophers, as the season was abruptly cancelled on March 12 when the Big Ten and NCAA announced they were ceasing competitions and championships because of COVID-19 public health concerns. That night, Meyer tossed eight innings to earn the victory, allowing just three unearned runs on four hits while striking out a career-high 15 batters.
What made that night all the more special was that in the process, Meyer became the first Gopher pitcher to strike out 15 batters in a single game since Glen Perkins in 2004. Indeed, the Gopher ace was coming off of a complete-game shutout, 14-strikeout performance against North Carolina one week prior, so the record night did not exactly come as any surprise. Nevertheless, the similarities between Meyer's 2020 season to Perkins' 2004 was brought to the limelight that evening, even though the two former Gopher stars are connected by more than just their impeccable ability to miss bats.
2004 was also the last time Minnesota had a true first round MLB Draft selection. Mike Kvasnicka went 33rd overall to the Houston Astros in 2010, but he was selected in the supplemental round of the draft that follows the regular, 30-pick first round. 16 years ago, Glen Perkins was chosen by the Minnesota Twins with the 22nd overall pick in the 2004 MLB Draft. To this day, Perkins remains the highest-ever Gopher pitcher drafted, although one could make a case Dave Winfield (fourth overall in 1973), technically falls in that category despite never pitching in the Major Leagues at any point in his 22-year career.
In total, Minnesota Baseball has produced eight first round draft picks in the history of the MLB Draft – the most of any program in the Big Ten Conference. On June 10, 2020, the first day of this year's draft, that total will rise to a conference-leading nine first round selections, with more history to follow.
If chosen within the first 21 picks, Meyer will become the highest pitcher ever drafted out of the University of Minnesota. If selected within the top-10 picks, Meyer will be the highest Gopher player drafted since Dan Wilson in 1990, or perhaps even Paul Molitor in 1977.
"It's crazy to come out of a program like the University of Minnesota, a big, Power Five school, and maybe be the first pitcher drafted that high," said Meyer. "I can't even put into words what that means to me."
Regardless of where exactly his name is called, he will join an impressive list of Gopher first round picks – a history that spans 51 years of June amateur drafts.
1969: Noel Jenke, 13th overall (Boston Red Sox)
1973: Dave Winfield, 4th overall (San Diego Padres)
1977: Paul Molitor, 3rd overall (Milwaukee Brewers)
1990: Dan Wilson, 7th overall (Cincinnati Reds)
1991: Brent Gates, 26th overall (Oakland Athletics)
1992: Jeff Schmidt, 29th overall (California Angels) *supplemental first round*
2004: Glen Perkins, 22nd overall (Minnesota Twins)
2010: Mike Kvasnicka, 33rd overall (Houston Astros) *supplemental first round*
2020: Max Meyer, ?
Despite the gaudy draft status, Meyer was not always as sought after as he is now. Coming into college, he was ranked the No. 128 right-handed pitcher in the country according to Perfect Game. The Gophers represented the Woodbury, Minn. native's only legitimate Division I offer to play college baseball.
"That was my dream come true, playing DI baseball," said Meyer. "I was pretty fired up about that because I was going to Gopher hockey games and Gopher baseball games growing up. It was just sweet to get that from the hometown team."
Even so, Meyer was drafted by the Twins in the 34th round of the 2017 MLB Draft, meaning even then he had the promise and tools to become a formidable professional pitcher. At that time, Meyer's fastball was topping out at 88 miles-per-hour on radar guns and although his slider was a weapon, it was not yet the electric pitch it is today – a pitch that MLB.com recently tabbed as the best of its type in the entire 2020 draft class.
As early as 14 years of age, Meyer was interacting with current Minnesota assistant coach Patrick Casey and pitching coach Ty McDevitt as a member of their Minnesota Prospects team. Back then, before either coach was even a full-time member of the Gopher staff, they identified Meyer as the type of player with that unique 'it' factor; someone with the potential to exponentially grow and excel during his college years.
"Pat and I saw the level of athleticism that was there, which was incredible," said McDevitt. "He could do everything that he wanted to do on the field, both as a two-way guy or as a pitcher. On top of that, he had an incredible desire for the game. There was no moment that was too big for him."
Qualities such as these are what ultimately drove the Minnesota coaching staff to bring Meyer to campus. From that point, the rest is history, more-or-less. Meyer took off as a member of the Gophers, performing admirably on the diamond as a two-way player from beginning to end.
"Once he got into the program, he started to focus more on baseball and the development trajectory was pretty exponential at that point," said McDevitt. "And he wanted to be here. He was an in-state guy that will tell you, from the time that he was very little, he wanted to play for the University of Minnesota."
Meyer experienced very little adversity as a freshman, being named a Third Team All-American after throwing 43 2/3 innings with a 2.06 ERA and tying the program's all-time single-season saves record with 16. During that 2018 season, Meyer sat around 91-92 mph with his fastball, a slight improvement from the high-80s he flashed as a high school recruit.
As a result of his stellar freshman campaign, Meyer headed into 2019 as a Preseason All-American. That did not get in his way of performing at an elite level, as the sophomore hurler tossed 76 2/3 innings of 2.11 ERA ball while striking out a team-high 87 batters. Most importantly, that was the season Meyer proved to everyone he could handle a starting pitching role after working as a reliever for the entirety of his freshman year. Early on that season, Meyer transitioned into the weekend rotation, a shift he would embrace and never relinquish.
Even with the demands of eating more innings, Meyer's pitches continued to develop and show quantifiable improvement. As a sophomore, Meyer was hitting 93-95 mph on the radar gun with what many believed to already be the best slider in the college circuit.
"Freshman year, nobody even hit 91, so we were just fighting to stay at 90. Then the next year, everyone's touching maybe 95 and you got to get there," said Meyer. "It's sweet having teammates to help push me every single day to try to get better and throw harder. That was actually the biggest thing I feel like for the velocity gain."
Following both of those standout seasons, Meyer elected to compete with the USA Collegiate National Team instead of play in a traditional summer baseball league. After playing with Team USA in 2018, Meyer again received the offer to play in 2019. As someone already throwing in the mid-90s with a wipeout slider, Meyer sat down with the coaching staff to discuss what to work on during his second stint with Team USA.
"Ty and [head coach John Anderson] and I sat down and [Anderson] said, 'we want you going out there not just to play for them,' because I already played with them freshman year, 'but we want you to develop more and get something out of it. You have to work on figuring out your change-up and work on fastball location,'" said Meyer. "This winter, I feel like that was my best pitch. Ty helped me with it and I feel like every single time I threw it, it was a swing and miss."
After making strides with his changeup in the offseason, Meyer was primed to take his game to a new level altogether as a junior, now possessing a deeper, three-pitch mix. Still, few could have predicted what actually occurred in his four starts in 2020, beginning with the season opener against Oregon on Feb. 14.
"I remember we were playing against Oregon and he told me, 'oh man, my adrenaline is through the roof.' And I said, 'well, I bet there's no chance you hit 100 [mph] today," said McDevitt. "And so of course that was his goal and of course he hit it. That's just the way he works and that's the relationship that he and I had."
Little did people know, but Meyer had actually elevated his commitment to the weight room the previous offseason in addition to honing in on that change-up. So although he came out with a significantly improved change-up in 2020, his fastball velocity also made another, substantial incremental jump.
Meyer did hit 100 mph against Oregon that day, and he would go on to touch 101 mph later on in the season. In his four starts before the cancellation of the season, Meyer consistently sat 95-97 mph with his fastball while maintaining velocity in the upper nineties into the seventh, eighth and ninth innings of starts.
Meyer's final two starts in Maroon & Gold were arguably his best ever. After defeating Oregon on opening night and striking out 10 TCU batters in his second start, Meyer exploded for arguably the most impressive two-start stretch in Gopher Baseball history. On Feb. 28, he struck out 14 in a complete-game victory over North Carolina, scattering five hits and allowing just one run. He followed that up with his historic, 15-strikeout game against Utah, bringing his final two-start stat line to 17 innings pitched with one earned run (0.53 ERA) and 29 strikeouts. Meyer was the winning pitcher on both occasions.
In those combined four starts, Meyer worked 27 2/3 frames with a 3-1 record, 1.95 ERA and 46 strikeouts (15.0 K/9) against just eight walks. Hitters batted just .155 against him, an improvement upon his already sparkling .182 career mark.
Although his Minnesota career is now in the books, Meyer will always hold a piece of Gopher Baseball history – a program that boasts 132 seasons of play. His 2.07 career ERA ranks fourth all-time at Minnesota. He is the only member of the that top-10 list to have pitched in the last 42 years, with the most recent player on the all-time ERA leaderboard being Jerry Ujdur, who competed for the Gophers from 1976-78. Additionally, Meyer owns the third-most saves in the history of the program with 18.
"It's crazy to hear those numbers," said Meyer. "I feel like for every young player in the game that's trying to get better, you just have to trust your abilities. If you're getting an offer to play at a Division I school, they see something in you and you have a lot of talent. You just have to stay true to who you are and you can be however good you want to be."
Altogether, Meyer's 2.07 ERA and 18 saves are packaged with a legendary career that also saw him amass 148 innings and 187 strikeouts while excelling as a two-way player. If the 2020 season had not been cut short, Meyer may have penciled his name onto even more pages in the all-time record books.
Now, with the 2020 MLB Draft just days away, it is indeed time for the next chapter for Meyer. For someone who used a hefty velocity increase and display of durability to drive his draft stock from a top-30 overall preseason draft prospect to a potential top-10 selection, Meyer is not getting too far ahead of himself. To him, it is not so much where he is drafted, but who drafts him.
"I just want to go to a team that wants me and if it's fifth overall, if it's 25th overall, who cares," said Meyer. "I just want to go to a team that's going to want me and that's going to help me get better."
If history is any indicator, getting better seems almost a given.
"Every year for the past 10 years now, his fastball has made an incremental jump in the offseason," said McDevitt. "I haven't seen an endpoint yet, which is a little bit scary. But every season he's found a way to make an incremental jump, which is incredibly rare, especially for somebody who is as polished of a pitcher as he is."
As Meyer looks ahead to the next stage of his career, he's already making those improvements. In the time between the end of the 2020 season and now, he has added another 10-15 pounds through his offseason weightlifting regiment and now weighs right around 200 pounds.
For a young man that once dreamed of donning the Maroon & Gold, even bigger realities seem to be on the horizon. Within the next two days, Meyer will have his life changed by whichever team decides to draft him, thus cementing his name forever aside the likes of Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and, of course, Perkins. But even now, Meyer looks back most fondly on his Gopher career for the friends that joined him along the way.
"I feel like whenever you think back about things, you can never really remember who hit whatever unless it's a walk-off home run, or what the line was when you pitched," said Meyer. "It's the relationships and the moments you build on the bus, in the locker room and on the field together. That's going to be something I'll never forget."
In the mind of McDevitt, the sky is the limit for Meyer as a professional. At the end of the day, Meyer may have two of the best pitches in the entire draft class, but the intangibles are what sets him apart.
"He's just unshakeable in pressure situations and he really just enjoys being out there. He enjoys high leverage moments," said McDevitt. "Based off of his ability level, there's no limit to what he can do, and I know he feels the same way.
"He embodies everything that baseball is. The fun of the game, going out on the field with a big smile on your face and loving to compete, doing it with your teammates – he's got every bit of that."
On Wednesday, June 10, Meyer will be joined by a small group of family and friends to take in the once-in-a-lifetime moment, which will air at 6 p.m. CT on both ESPN and MLB Network. At that point, the rest of Meyer's baseball story is up to himself, and all he wants to do is continue to enjoy the game he loves as much as possible.
"I've always had that dream of playing professional baseball," said Meyer. "I just want to make the most of everything and try to play for as long as I can."
Minnesota went on to win that March 6 contest over Utah by a final score of 6-4. Within the next week, that night would be known as Meyer's final performance on the mound for the Gophers, as the season was abruptly cancelled on March 12 when the Big Ten and NCAA announced they were ceasing competitions and championships because of COVID-19 public health concerns. That night, Meyer tossed eight innings to earn the victory, allowing just three unearned runs on four hits while striking out a career-high 15 batters.
What made that night all the more special was that in the process, Meyer became the first Gopher pitcher to strike out 15 batters in a single game since Glen Perkins in 2004. Indeed, the Gopher ace was coming off of a complete-game shutout, 14-strikeout performance against North Carolina one week prior, so the record night did not exactly come as any surprise. Nevertheless, the similarities between Meyer's 2020 season to Perkins' 2004 was brought to the limelight that evening, even though the two former Gopher stars are connected by more than just their impeccable ability to miss bats.
2004 was also the last time Minnesota had a true first round MLB Draft selection. Mike Kvasnicka went 33rd overall to the Houston Astros in 2010, but he was selected in the supplemental round of the draft that follows the regular, 30-pick first round. 16 years ago, Glen Perkins was chosen by the Minnesota Twins with the 22nd overall pick in the 2004 MLB Draft. To this day, Perkins remains the highest-ever Gopher pitcher drafted, although one could make a case Dave Winfield (fourth overall in 1973), technically falls in that category despite never pitching in the Major Leagues at any point in his 22-year career.
In total, Minnesota Baseball has produced eight first round draft picks in the history of the MLB Draft – the most of any program in the Big Ten Conference. On June 10, 2020, the first day of this year's draft, that total will rise to a conference-leading nine first round selections, with more history to follow.
If chosen within the first 21 picks, Meyer will become the highest pitcher ever drafted out of the University of Minnesota. If selected within the top-10 picks, Meyer will be the highest Gopher player drafted since Dan Wilson in 1990, or perhaps even Paul Molitor in 1977.
"It's crazy to come out of a program like the University of Minnesota, a big, Power Five school, and maybe be the first pitcher drafted that high," said Meyer. "I can't even put into words what that means to me."
Regardless of where exactly his name is called, he will join an impressive list of Gopher first round picks – a history that spans 51 years of June amateur drafts.
1969: Noel Jenke, 13th overall (Boston Red Sox)
1973: Dave Winfield, 4th overall (San Diego Padres)
1977: Paul Molitor, 3rd overall (Milwaukee Brewers)
1990: Dan Wilson, 7th overall (Cincinnati Reds)
1991: Brent Gates, 26th overall (Oakland Athletics)
1992: Jeff Schmidt, 29th overall (California Angels) *supplemental first round*
2004: Glen Perkins, 22nd overall (Minnesota Twins)
2010: Mike Kvasnicka, 33rd overall (Houston Astros) *supplemental first round*
2020: Max Meyer, ?
Despite the gaudy draft status, Meyer was not always as sought after as he is now. Coming into college, he was ranked the No. 128 right-handed pitcher in the country according to Perfect Game. The Gophers represented the Woodbury, Minn. native's only legitimate Division I offer to play college baseball.
"That was my dream come true, playing DI baseball," said Meyer. "I was pretty fired up about that because I was going to Gopher hockey games and Gopher baseball games growing up. It was just sweet to get that from the hometown team."
Even so, Meyer was drafted by the Twins in the 34th round of the 2017 MLB Draft, meaning even then he had the promise and tools to become a formidable professional pitcher. At that time, Meyer's fastball was topping out at 88 miles-per-hour on radar guns and although his slider was a weapon, it was not yet the electric pitch it is today – a pitch that MLB.com recently tabbed as the best of its type in the entire 2020 draft class.
As early as 14 years of age, Meyer was interacting with current Minnesota assistant coach Patrick Casey and pitching coach Ty McDevitt as a member of their Minnesota Prospects team. Back then, before either coach was even a full-time member of the Gopher staff, they identified Meyer as the type of player with that unique 'it' factor; someone with the potential to exponentially grow and excel during his college years.
"Pat and I saw the level of athleticism that was there, which was incredible," said McDevitt. "He could do everything that he wanted to do on the field, both as a two-way guy or as a pitcher. On top of that, he had an incredible desire for the game. There was no moment that was too big for him."
Qualities such as these are what ultimately drove the Minnesota coaching staff to bring Meyer to campus. From that point, the rest is history, more-or-less. Meyer took off as a member of the Gophers, performing admirably on the diamond as a two-way player from beginning to end.
"Once he got into the program, he started to focus more on baseball and the development trajectory was pretty exponential at that point," said McDevitt. "And he wanted to be here. He was an in-state guy that will tell you, from the time that he was very little, he wanted to play for the University of Minnesota."
Meyer experienced very little adversity as a freshman, being named a Third Team All-American after throwing 43 2/3 innings with a 2.06 ERA and tying the program's all-time single-season saves record with 16. During that 2018 season, Meyer sat around 91-92 mph with his fastball, a slight improvement from the high-80s he flashed as a high school recruit.
As a result of his stellar freshman campaign, Meyer headed into 2019 as a Preseason All-American. That did not get in his way of performing at an elite level, as the sophomore hurler tossed 76 2/3 innings of 2.11 ERA ball while striking out a team-high 87 batters. Most importantly, that was the season Meyer proved to everyone he could handle a starting pitching role after working as a reliever for the entirety of his freshman year. Early on that season, Meyer transitioned into the weekend rotation, a shift he would embrace and never relinquish.
Even with the demands of eating more innings, Meyer's pitches continued to develop and show quantifiable improvement. As a sophomore, Meyer was hitting 93-95 mph on the radar gun with what many believed to already be the best slider in the college circuit.
"Freshman year, nobody even hit 91, so we were just fighting to stay at 90. Then the next year, everyone's touching maybe 95 and you got to get there," said Meyer. "It's sweet having teammates to help push me every single day to try to get better and throw harder. That was actually the biggest thing I feel like for the velocity gain."
Following both of those standout seasons, Meyer elected to compete with the USA Collegiate National Team instead of play in a traditional summer baseball league. After playing with Team USA in 2018, Meyer again received the offer to play in 2019. As someone already throwing in the mid-90s with a wipeout slider, Meyer sat down with the coaching staff to discuss what to work on during his second stint with Team USA.
"Ty and [head coach John Anderson] and I sat down and [Anderson] said, 'we want you going out there not just to play for them,' because I already played with them freshman year, 'but we want you to develop more and get something out of it. You have to work on figuring out your change-up and work on fastball location,'" said Meyer. "This winter, I feel like that was my best pitch. Ty helped me with it and I feel like every single time I threw it, it was a swing and miss."
After making strides with his changeup in the offseason, Meyer was primed to take his game to a new level altogether as a junior, now possessing a deeper, three-pitch mix. Still, few could have predicted what actually occurred in his four starts in 2020, beginning with the season opener against Oregon on Feb. 14.
"I remember we were playing against Oregon and he told me, 'oh man, my adrenaline is through the roof.' And I said, 'well, I bet there's no chance you hit 100 [mph] today," said McDevitt. "And so of course that was his goal and of course he hit it. That's just the way he works and that's the relationship that he and I had."
Little did people know, but Meyer had actually elevated his commitment to the weight room the previous offseason in addition to honing in on that change-up. So although he came out with a significantly improved change-up in 2020, his fastball velocity also made another, substantial incremental jump.
Meyer did hit 100 mph against Oregon that day, and he would go on to touch 101 mph later on in the season. In his four starts before the cancellation of the season, Meyer consistently sat 95-97 mph with his fastball while maintaining velocity in the upper nineties into the seventh, eighth and ninth innings of starts.
Meyer's final two starts in Maroon & Gold were arguably his best ever. After defeating Oregon on opening night and striking out 10 TCU batters in his second start, Meyer exploded for arguably the most impressive two-start stretch in Gopher Baseball history. On Feb. 28, he struck out 14 in a complete-game victory over North Carolina, scattering five hits and allowing just one run. He followed that up with his historic, 15-strikeout game against Utah, bringing his final two-start stat line to 17 innings pitched with one earned run (0.53 ERA) and 29 strikeouts. Meyer was the winning pitcher on both occasions.
In those combined four starts, Meyer worked 27 2/3 frames with a 3-1 record, 1.95 ERA and 46 strikeouts (15.0 K/9) against just eight walks. Hitters batted just .155 against him, an improvement upon his already sparkling .182 career mark.
Although his Minnesota career is now in the books, Meyer will always hold a piece of Gopher Baseball history – a program that boasts 132 seasons of play. His 2.07 career ERA ranks fourth all-time at Minnesota. He is the only member of the that top-10 list to have pitched in the last 42 years, with the most recent player on the all-time ERA leaderboard being Jerry Ujdur, who competed for the Gophers from 1976-78. Additionally, Meyer owns the third-most saves in the history of the program with 18.
"It's crazy to hear those numbers," said Meyer. "I feel like for every young player in the game that's trying to get better, you just have to trust your abilities. If you're getting an offer to play at a Division I school, they see something in you and you have a lot of talent. You just have to stay true to who you are and you can be however good you want to be."
Altogether, Meyer's 2.07 ERA and 18 saves are packaged with a legendary career that also saw him amass 148 innings and 187 strikeouts while excelling as a two-way player. If the 2020 season had not been cut short, Meyer may have penciled his name onto even more pages in the all-time record books.
Now, with the 2020 MLB Draft just days away, it is indeed time for the next chapter for Meyer. For someone who used a hefty velocity increase and display of durability to drive his draft stock from a top-30 overall preseason draft prospect to a potential top-10 selection, Meyer is not getting too far ahead of himself. To him, it is not so much where he is drafted, but who drafts him.
"I just want to go to a team that wants me and if it's fifth overall, if it's 25th overall, who cares," said Meyer. "I just want to go to a team that's going to want me and that's going to help me get better."
If history is any indicator, getting better seems almost a given.
"Every year for the past 10 years now, his fastball has made an incremental jump in the offseason," said McDevitt. "I haven't seen an endpoint yet, which is a little bit scary. But every season he's found a way to make an incremental jump, which is incredibly rare, especially for somebody who is as polished of a pitcher as he is."
As Meyer looks ahead to the next stage of his career, he's already making those improvements. In the time between the end of the 2020 season and now, he has added another 10-15 pounds through his offseason weightlifting regiment and now weighs right around 200 pounds.
For a young man that once dreamed of donning the Maroon & Gold, even bigger realities seem to be on the horizon. Within the next two days, Meyer will have his life changed by whichever team decides to draft him, thus cementing his name forever aside the likes of Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor and, of course, Perkins. But even now, Meyer looks back most fondly on his Gopher career for the friends that joined him along the way.
"I feel like whenever you think back about things, you can never really remember who hit whatever unless it's a walk-off home run, or what the line was when you pitched," said Meyer. "It's the relationships and the moments you build on the bus, in the locker room and on the field together. That's going to be something I'll never forget."
In the mind of McDevitt, the sky is the limit for Meyer as a professional. At the end of the day, Meyer may have two of the best pitches in the entire draft class, but the intangibles are what sets him apart.
"He's just unshakeable in pressure situations and he really just enjoys being out there. He enjoys high leverage moments," said McDevitt. "Based off of his ability level, there's no limit to what he can do, and I know he feels the same way.
"He embodies everything that baseball is. The fun of the game, going out on the field with a big smile on your face and loving to compete, doing it with your teammates – he's got every bit of that."
On Wednesday, June 10, Meyer will be joined by a small group of family and friends to take in the once-in-a-lifetime moment, which will air at 6 p.m. CT on both ESPN and MLB Network. At that point, the rest of Meyer's baseball story is up to himself, and all he wants to do is continue to enjoy the game he loves as much as possible.
"I've always had that dream of playing professional baseball," said Meyer. "I just want to make the most of everything and try to play for as long as I can."
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