Paul Articulates – Be careful what you ask for

This year began with the Mets’ top prospects in AAA and a team stacked with veteran depth on the big league club.  After a decent start to the year, the Mets had a 14-7 record and seemed to be finding ways to win even though there were many issues with their pitching.  The team’s fortunes reversed coincident with some hitting slumps by their everyday players and soon the team was in dire straits.  

A combination of injury and underperformance finally led to the call-up of Francisco Alvarez (April 7) and Brett Baty (April 17).  Both struggled somewhat at the beginning, but their talent was not overestimated.  Baty had a key homer in a win against Washington on April 27th and both have since begun to produce both offensively and defensively and have been important contributors to the team.  

Unfortunately, the Mets were on a big skid and the bats still had not come to life by early May.  The team was not getting any kind of reasonable production from the DH slot, so the call went out for Mark Vientos who arrived on May 17th just in time to hit a big 7th inning home run to begin a come-back win for the home team.  Alvarez also homered in that game, a monster blast off the façade of the second deck to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.

It has been great to see these three prospects, who spent a lot of time playing together in the minors, contributing to the renewed success of the MLB club.  By contributing, I mean that they have been playing good baseball, proving that they are capable of competing at the MLB level.  None of them are dominating the opposition.  As of Sunday, here are their lines:

Baty: .258/.343/.430 for an OPS of .773

Alvarez .238/.304/.464 for an OPS of .768

Vientos: .182/.250/.455 for an OPS of .705

Alvarez is on the rise, with a .955 OPS in the month of May so far.  Baty has levelled off and Vientos’ statistics are not quite relevant yet until he accumulates more at-bats.    I am sure the three of them will have their ups and downs this season as part of the process of maturing their experience.

Mets fans, very aware of the success that Atlanta has had with the elevation of youngsters Michael Harris and Vaughan Grissom, are clamoring for the team to call up Ronny Mauricio.  Mauricio, who has been working his way up through the minor leagues with steady but unspectacular numbers finally came into his own during winter league play in the Dominican league.  There, he hit .287 and recorded a .803 OPS.  After a fine spring training performance, he went to AAA Syracuse to start 2023 and has since torn it up with a .353/.388/.603 slash line and a .991 OPS.

When you put up numbers like Mauricio is doing, it certainly gains attention from the MLB club and its fans.  He showed during spring training that he could compete with MLB talent, and he is currently mastering the AAA pitching right now.  But should the Mets call him up?

I am going to bring on a crescendo of boos with my answer: no.

The New York Mets are built with a core of veteran players who know the game, have lived through every scenario you can imagine and have the mental toughness to get through just about anything.  Last year’s team prided itself for their resilience, always finding a way to step up and win.  Veteran leadership plays a part in that.  Now if all your veterans are hitting .240 you are going nowhere but if you replace them all with rookies batting .250 you are still not going to win championships.  That is why clubs like Miami and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are constantly rebuilding and selling players at the trade deadline.  

The Mets have been through a horrible stretch of underperformance but it was a three week stretch not a three month stretch.  They have come out of it now with the help of the youngsters but not because of the youngsters.  My point here is that extreme solutions are very high risk.  Replacing four of eight position players with rookies would tilt the balance of experience and impact the probability of winning it all this year.  Replacing a couple with some fresh new talent makes a great deal of sense and actually motivates others to perform.

If Ronny Mauricio was not behind the trio of Baty, Alvarez, and Vientos he may have come up and had a great start.  But I believe that the Mets are wisely inserting players at a pace that allows each to work their way up under low pressure.  Buck Showalter is doing the right thing but the results are not going to show up tomorrow.  The youngsters are given a few days on and a day off.  They are hitting lower in the lineup.  They are watching the veterans and learning from them.  The Mets are very fortunate to have veterans with good character that are graciously teaching those that have replaced them.

So be patient Mets fans.  The trio of prospects will not play every inning yet but when they do it will be a treat to watch.  Mauricio will probably not wear a MLB uniform until August or September but he will have his days.  You will also have to wait for guys like Jose Butto, Dominic Hamel, Mike Vasil, Nate Lavender, and Kevin Parada.  Strategy is a long term game and the Mets team is being built for the long run.