Kumar Rocker Makes Decision On His Baseball Future

Kumar Rocker throws a pitch.
Kumar Rocker throws a pitch.

The New York Mets and former Vanderbilt ace Kumar Rocker failed to reach a contract agreement ahead of Major League Baseball’s deadline to sign 2021 draft picks on Sunday. As a result, the highly touted prospect will be without an organization to play for next season.

Although there’s a fair amount of disappointment from both the Mets and Rocker, the talented right-hander has reportedly decided on plans for the upcoming year.

According to Jon Heyman, Rocker will spend the next 12 months “strengthening and conditioning” to prepare for the 2022 draft. He also might consider other options, such as playing in a league overseas. However, he does not plan on returning to Vanderbilt for another season.

Placing the emphasis on strength and conditioning seems to be a wise path for Rocker to take after his deal with the Mets reportedly fell through following a problem with his medical exam. The specific issue was not revealed, but perhaps another year spent focusing on his physical health could benefit the steady right-hander.

This last season at Vanderbilt, Rocker showed that when he’s healthy, he can be one of the most talented players available. He proved to be one of the best pitchers in college baseball, striking out 179 batters and posting a 2.73 ERA in 122 innings.

However, when Rocker began to slip in this year’s draft, many began to speculate if other teams had a piece of intel that led to his fall. The Mets eventually stopped the skid and took him with the No. 10 overall pick.

New York and Rocker nearly came to terms to a deal earlier last week and even reached a verbal agreement, but couldn’t work things out after the pitcher’s physical exam.

“This is clearly not the outcome we had hoped for and wish Kumar nothing but success moving forward,” acting GM Zack Scott said.

While Rocker pursues other opportunities and works on getting healthy over the next 12 months, the Mets will look back on what could’ve been. New York will receive the No. 11 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft as compensation, but this year’s draft will sting for some time.

The post Kumar Rocker Makes Decision On His Baseball Future appeared first on The Spun.

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