The New York Mets just quietly lost a key piece of their front office brain trust - and while it won’t make headlines like a blockbuster trade or a big-name free agent signing, this one could sting down the road.
Desmond McGowan, who’s been part of the Mets’ organization since 2021, is heading to the division-rival Washington Nationals to lead their amateur scouting department. His title with the Mets - draft-focused manager of data science - might not sound flashy, but the work he did behind the scenes was anything but minor.
McGowan’s fingerprints are all over some of the Mets’ more impressive draft finds in recent years. While the team’s first-round picks like Kevin Parada (2022) and Colin Houck (2023) haven’t quite lived up to early expectations, it’s been the later rounds where the Mets have quietly done some of their best work.
Christian Scott, Jonah Tong, Nolan McLean, and A.J. Ewing - all selected outside the first round - are trending in the right direction, and in some cases, looking like legitimate steals.
It’s tough to quantify exactly how much of that success should be credited to McGowan, but it’s safe to say he played a role in shaping the Mets’ draft strategy and execution. His departure to a higher role in D.C. suggests the Nationals saw something they liked - and wanted to give him more room to operate.
This isn’t the kind of move that brings immediate consequences. It’s not like Jeremy Hefner or Antoan Richardson jumping ship to the Braves, where their impact on the field and in the clubhouse will be felt right away.
McGowan’s influence is more long-term, more subtle. You won’t notice it until a few years from now, when a Nationals draft pick blossoms into a star - maybe even one who haunts the Mets in October.
McGowan originally joined the Mets after a stint with the Yankees, long before the Mets started regularly poaching talent from the Bronx. His hiring in 2021 was part of a broader shift under owner Steve Cohen, who’s made it a point to bring the Mets into the modern era with a heavier emphasis on analytics and data-driven decision-making. That transformation has been one of the quieter but more impactful changes in Flushing over the past few years.
To be clear, the Mets aren’t suddenly rudderless without McGowan. Their analytics department is deep, and the front office still has plenty of talent. But when you lose someone who’s helped you find value in the later rounds of the draft - the kind of picks that can make or break a farm system - it’s worth paying attention.
This might not feel like a Daniel Murphy-level loss - when the Mets let a postseason hero walk only to watch him become an MVP runner-up with the Nationals - but it could be just as frustrating in the long run. If McGowan helps Washington build a pipeline of homegrown talent while the Mets struggle to replace that edge in their scouting process, this weekend’s quiet departure could loom large.
For now, it’s just a name changing teams. But in baseball, the smallest moves often have the biggest ripple effects.