Ronny when he was still skinny
Lots of attention has gone to the Big Dawg, Francisco Alvarez, from these pages. After all, the Alvarez Surge continued last night with his 11th HR. Some say he is the top prospect in all of baseball.
Not nearly so much focus on Ronny Mauricio, though.
So, let's fix that.
The now 21 years and 2 months young Mauricio is having a very solid year in Binghamton, with a few burps.
How about 23 extra base hits in 45 games through Sunday? That's a great rate. Terrific.
And a HR on average every 5 games? Also very impressive.
Very early in his career, writers hoped the reed-thin Mauricio would fill out and grow into his power.
He is no longer skinny (actually, Baseball Reference lists him at 6'3", 222, which is 55 pounds heavier than his gangly initial weight), and he has clearly grown into his power.
He is driving in runs, too, with a fine 32 in those 45 games, and has even stolen 7 of 10 so far.
And his 48 Ks? These days, that is not bad at all.
And the switch hitter is hitting fairly evenly from both sides, although he bats righty relatively little, as lefties apparently are scarce in AA.
Burps?
His average (.253) needs to get higher.
He has walked just 6 times in nearly 200 plate appearances, not nearly enough, frankly.
It is why his season OBP is a very substandard .282. To be major league ready, that should be close to 100 points higher.
His defense has not been stellar. Not bad in 2022, but not stellar, with 8 errors in 41 games at SS. Spanning A ball and fall ball in 2021 and his 2022 season so far, he has made 39 errors in 149 games at short. Lindor, by comparison, will rack up just 10-12 errors in a similar span. Room to improve.
His future with Lindor in Queens is likely as an outfielder, 2B, or as a very infrequent back up to Iron Man Lindor. Yet all he has played in the minors is SS.
To me, he has the feel of a guy who will be ready for the big leagues in mid-2023, perhaps as a full time player by OD 2024. To do that, he needs to get more versatile and error-reduced in the field, and a far keener eye at the plate, at least doubling his walk rate (Nimmo walks about 5 times as much).
If they do not start to shift his fielding position, he seems like trade bait. SS Gimenez and SS Rosario were after all recently traded for Lindor.
With what might turn out to be big-time Ronny Mo power, I'd hate to see a trade, and I hope he adapts and stays.
After all, I love big-time power. Switch-hitter power. Don't you?
I know Pete Alonso and Francisco Alvarez do.
Continue the progression. Fix the flaws.
METS:
Thankfully the Padres missed that extra point and the Mets got that safety. 13-2 loss. McNeil 2 hits, though, including a nifty drag bunt. Bassitt pounded, Nogosek pounded, J Rod pounded.
Meanwhile, the one who got away, Nabil Crismatt, threw 2 scoreless and has a 1.67 ERA. In fact, in 69 pro outings, he is 6-1 with an ERA slightly above 3. Shoulda kept the Cris.
9 comments:
Minors bats took the night off last night. 3 of the 4 teams played doubleheaders. 15 total runs scored in those 7 games. Khalil Lee promoted to Mets. Fixed his stride and has been hot of late. Strikeouts still high, though.
Last two nights, Holderman, Joely Rodriguez, and Nogosek got clobbered. Is this a portent of things to come, or just a bad last outing?
Dom Smith 6 for 21 (.286) and a HR since demotion.
Morning
Miss this kind of info on The Morning Report
As for Ronny, I like him a lot but I just don't see a place for him as a Mets starter.
We know the 2023 and 2024 OF needs more work. Don't know why, but Nimmo says he wants to stay a Met but then shuts down agent talk until the end of the season. That's a bullshit statement when you know he and his agent want the baseball world to show him the money.
I assume one of Escobar, Guillorme, Vientos, or Baty is our future 3Bman.
That would leave Ronny to compete with Luis and Jeff for second.
I just don't see it.
At least Tilien is hitting! Ugly last 2 games and although we had to expect a let down at some point this was a free fall. It kind of felt like the air had been sucked out of the stadium Tues. night for us when ironman Pete didn't stay in the game kind of like after Scioscia's HR in the 88 playoffs so Buck has his work cut out for him and at least we have a much needed day off to hopefully regroup.
Gary, I guess we will soon see how real Tilien is. So far, I have to say I am VERY impressed.
Alex Ramirez is the same age as Tilien. Well, Tilien is 4 months older. Out of nowhere, Junior is hitting as well as Ramirez with more power. He has flown straight to the center of my radar screen.
Mack, on days I have articles, if I can do a quasi-recap similar to what I added to my article, I will add it to your recap instead.
I don’t know why Mauricio is not playing every possible position besides SS../
He is not exactly gold glove there and if we plan on using him he need to be developed in other positions and not at the ML level… I can’t see his trade valued reduced by being a Avg SS in the minors if we eventually just trade him…
Eddie
Eddie, it is a puzzler. Maybe they want him to gradually improve his SS fielding and hitting, and not introduce any other variables
Post a Comment