That may be true, but I remember at the time that there was some drama over which direction the Mets were going to go. While Strawberry was the favorite and obviously the most exciting to write about, the Mets were juggling several names, including Billy Beane, who the team later selected with the 23rd overall pick.
Either:
a) I'm misremembering;
b) Whatever drama there was, it was fake newspaper filler, and I was young and naïve enough to buy it;
c) Howie (who is generally as sharp as anybody remembering these tales) overstated things.
It would really speak to how much more divergence of scouting opinion existed at the time if it was true that Beane was on the Mets' short list for pick #1, and he was still around for pick #23.
Darryl Strawberry, Terry Blocker, Billy Beane (rear) with Some Guy on the Internet (front)