Kumar Rocker is not pitching for the Mets, but throwing for a professional team is still in play.
Rocker, who was surprisingly and controversially not signed by the Mets despite being the No. 10 pick in July’s draft, is working out both in California and Tennessee, near where he played college baseball in Nashville, his former coach told reporters recently.
According to Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin, Rocker — whom the Mets left unsigned because of medical concerns over his physical — is throwing off the mound and could pitch in an independent league this year.
“Based on my conversations with him, [Rocker] could be playing a little bit of baseball this year but it would be in an independent league, but I’m still not sure about that,” Corbin told reporters Wednesday, according to the Tennessean. “Those are the things that he’s doing with his advisement. But he’s doing well, he looks great, he looks as great as he’s ever looked in my opinion over the last four years, he’s working out very well and he’s very much on course to be very healthy and be pitching at some point. … Unfortunate situation, but he’s made the best of it.”
Rocker’s agent, Scott Boras, has said the righty will re-enter the draft this summer. Pitching in an independent league would be a way for Rocker to both stay in shape and prove to MLB teams that his prized arm is healthy. He could have returned to Vanderbilt for his senior season but opted against it.
“Kumar Rocker is looking great,” Boras said in November. “[He’s] throwing great and we think somebody is going to be very lucky and someone may be very unlucky as to how things turn out for Kumar Rocker.”
According to The Post’s Mike Puma, the Mets never made Rocker an offer amid health concerns Boras repeatedly has said are not based in fact. The Mets had built their entire draft around a large bonus for Rocker, so while they will receive the No. 11 pick in this year’s draft as compensation, they still have regrets about how things played out with the college superstar.