Former Tennessee baseball star Drew Gilbert traded for Justin Verlander

The New York Mets are sending Justin Verlander in a trade to the Houston Astros. In return, the Mets are reportedly receiving former Tennessee star Drew Gilbert and a player who has not yet been named. It’s also unclear how much money the Mets are going to be sending along with Verlander in the deal.

Drew Gilbert was a star during his time at Tennessee and is considered one of baseball’s top minor league prospects. Most recently, he has been playing for Houston’s Double-A affiliate, Corpus Christi. An outfielder, he was also ranked as the top prospect in Houston’s farm system. He is the 68th-ranked prospect in all of MLB.

In three seasons at Tennessee, Gilbert was played a pivotal role on the Volunteers’ phenomenal 2022 team. In that 2022 season, his final year at Tennessee, he hit .362 with a .455 on-base percentage. He also had 11 home runs and 70 RBIs in 58 games.

At 22 years old, Drew Gilbert is expected to be MLB ready by the 2025 season. It’s a trade to win now for the Astros while the Mets shift their focus to the future. That’s an incredible disappointment for a team that went on a spending spree this past offseason to try and win now. It’s also a trade that comes shortly after New York sent Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers, also racing for the AL West crown.

“Gilbert is extremely aggressive in all phases of the game, yet his superb hand-eye coordination enables him to repeatedly barrel balls and produce high exit velocities. His left-handed stroke can get long because he hunts home runs, and while he rarely strikes out, he does make more ground-ball contact than desired. He’s not physical but does have enough bat speed and strength to provide 15-20 homers per season without selling out for power,” MLB.com wrote.

“Gilbert has solid-to-plus speed and uses it to steal and take extra bases. His quickness and instincts allow him to cover ground in center field, where he shows the plus arm strength that produced fastballs clocked up to 93 mph during infrequent college pitching appearances. A fiery competitor with a lot of emotion, he’s destined to become a fan favorite but needs to play more under control at times.”

Now, Drew Gilbert will have to live up to being traded for a future Hall of Fame pitcher. That’s no small task, but it seems like Gilbert is capable of doing it.