Reese Kaplan -- The Little Guy Who's Easy to Root For

Everyone has had a favorite player who was not necessarily the best at what he did, but for some reason generated a rooting interest for playing time and productivity.  Sometimes it’s a hitter, sometimes it’s a pitcher, sometimes it’s a base stealer and sometimes it’s a brilliant fielder.  There were times many of us rooted hard for guys like Mallex Smith given his one-time league leading 46 SBs which followed his 40 SB total the year before.  

Others wanted to see the defensive antics of a Juan Lagares or Rey Ordonez even if they couldn’t hit a lick.  Some wanted to see what a Jordany Valdespin or Wilmer Flores could do with the bat even though they were never considered regulars.  Then there were folks who threw unusual pitches who could occasionally make opposing hitters look silly up there (though not consistently).  

Nowadays the fellow most often in question for playing time is reserve infielder Luis Guillorme.  He came up in the system with an excellent reputation for defense which actually overshadowed what he achieved with the bat.  

His rookie year was adequate with a season ending batting average of .258.  While it’s nothing to write home about, it was respectable for a guy who was major league ready with the glove.  

In his second year at age 19 he upped the average to a more noteworthy .283.  When you can field with aplomb and start to show hitting ability, you should get some attention from the minor league development folks.  

At age 20 he showed it was not an outlier season the year before when his batting average climbed up to .318.  He was not showing any power but did show some baserunning ability for the first time, logging 18 SBs.  

At this point the scouts and coaches were likely fully on Guillorme’s bandwagon, but he slipped back to .263 at age 21.  He managed to hit his first home run, but the stolen base numbers dipped again into single digits.  Some were thinking he could not face the higher level of pitching and may not amount to much in the major leagues.

However, at age 22 he rebounded to hit .283 at the AA level and folks once again thought he might be more than a utility guy.  In AAA in 2018 he earned the benefit of the great Pacific Coast League hitting cushion and the average soared to .304 with for him an eye popping 3 HRs on the season.  He was rewarded with his first trip to the majors then, but didn’t do much at the plate, ending his brief rookie campaign hitting just .209.  

In 2019 he spent most of the season in AAA once again, this time hitting .309 and slugging 7 HRs.  This time around, however, it was not a function of having home games in Las Vegas as those numbers were earned in Syracuse where there was no inflated hitting metrics like there were with the 51s.  

He came back to the Mets later that year and while not eye-popping, he raised the batting average to .246.  That achievement suggested he was certainly viable as a reserve player.

2020 was very different for Guillorme, however.  He hit .333.  That is not a typo.  Granted, he did that in the 60-game season while appearing in only 29 games, but it appeared as if the offense was starting to catch up with the pitching in the major leagues.  Many wrote it off as a short-season sample, but look how things are going in Spring Training thus far in 2021.  He’s hitting .316, so perhaps that achievement last year was not that out of the ordinary after all.  

Right now some are advocating that Guillorme find a place in the lineup regularly to provide his singles hitting and stellar defense.  To do so would most likely require a firm seat on the bench for slugger J.D. Davis.  Others say that he’s a viable late inning defensive replacement and viable pinch hitter.  

Regardless of how you view Guillorme, the fact is that right now he is one of those unusual players for whom you are rooting even if he is not necessarily the best at what he does.