Paul Articulates – Who is that Bearded Magician?

I really enjoy listening to the Mets’ radio broadcasts by Howie Rose and Wayne Randazzo.  They are a blast from radio’s past with their very descriptive and entertaining narration of the game.  On Saturday’s broadcast Randazzo called Luis Guillorme “The Bearded Magician” as our favorite #13 went “full superman” to snare a line drive in the hole between first and second. 

Guillorme has been with the Mets for five years now, having played in his 230^th game on Sunday.  Except for the shortened 2020 season, he has hit in the mid-.200’s and has shown positional versatility.  He was certainly a good roster piece, but more of a utility player than a must-have starter.   That’s the role he has played this year as well, but suddenly he seems to have gained a great deal of confidence both in the field and at the plate.  I don’t know if it is the influence of some of this year’s new players, or the Buck Showalter “everyone contributes” mantra, but Luis is playing like an all-star out there!  He looks more like a stout lumberjack than a baseball player as he strides out of the dugout, but once on the field he is the smoothest fielding infielder since Rey Ordonez.  When he and Francisco Lindor man the middle infield, the double plays are a thing of beauty.

Earlier in June, Buck Showalter was quoted in an interview saying, “There should be a category in the all-star game for a utility player.  You can’t win without one…they should get recognized.”  He was talking about Guillorme and for good reason.  Luis has not only played the typical utility role by spelling starters and filling in for injuries, but he has hit better than most of the guys that he replaced.  When you talk about all-star selections, most typical utility guys aren’t hitting over .300 or displaying the kind of slick fielding that Guillorme provides.  I would not advocate for Buck’s utility category, but I think that OUR utility guy is worthy. 

So now let’s talk about value.  Luis Guillorme is making $875k this year, which is about $100k above league minimum.  There are 48 players in MLB making $5M or more per season right now; 13 second basemen;  17 third basemen; and another 18 shortstops.  Of that group of 48 players, five are hitting better than Guillorme’s .307 batting average: Tim Anderson (CWS), Xander Boegarts (BOS), Rafael Devers (BOS), Manny Machado (SD), and Trea Turner (LAD).   Did we say something about all-stars?  By the way, the only Mets infielder hitting better than .307 is Jeff McNeil at .327 with his $3M salary.  He should be an all-star too.  

Maybe you’re a defensive guy – let’s see how Luis stacks up amongst the MLB leaders in fielding percentage.  As a second baseman, Guillorme has a .993 fielding percentage which would rank him second to Kolten Wong (.995) with enough qualifying innings.  As a third basemen, Luis is fielding 1.000 so he would clearly be #1.  As a shortstop, his .923 is low, but it only reflects one error over 13 chances so it is not statistically significant. 

This has been a tremendous fifth season so far for our Bearded Magician.  He is becoming one of my favorite players to watch.  Let’s hope this Magician doesn’t pull a disappearing act in the second half!