Mets Select Carson Wiggins With 27th Overall Pick
The team is wagering on Wiggins’s elite combine velocity despite limited college innings and prior elbow surgery as a July 27 signing deadline nears.
Overview
- The New York Mets used their first-round choice to draft Arkansas right-hander Carson Wiggins on Sunday, taking him 27th overall in the 2026 MLB Draft.
- Mets scouting leaders call Wiggins a pitcher with frontline upside and plan to develop him as a starter based on a fastball that has touched about 102 mph and a high-grade slider.
- Wiggins has a very small college sample after 14 innings and underwent elbow surgery in May 2025, so medical status and durability remain central concerns for the club.
- He showed health and an expanded pitch mix at the MLB Scouting Combine in late June, but scouts also flagged long‑standing control issues and a high walk rate that make him a developmental project.
- Wiggins faces a July 27 signing deadline with a recommended bonus near $3.47 million and the Mets operating with about $6.7 million in draft pool money, which will shape how the team balances his contract and the rest of its draft.