Ronny Mauricio was one of the prospects that Mets fans were looking forward to seeing in 2024, but he unfortunately tore an ACL during winter ball in the Dominican Republic and missed the entire 2024 season. He continues to remain on the sidelines due to an additional procedure on his knee to remove scar tissue back in August.
Mauricio was the favorite to man third base when Brett Baty faltered in his bid, but with Mauricio out, Mark Vientos stepped in and made his claim to be a Met for a very long time with his powerful bat. With Vientos solidly in the lineup as a hitter, but not a certainty as a defensive third baseman, there are many possibilities in the Mets’ lineup.
If Vientos becomes the primary DH next season or possibly gets re-positioned at first base if another team lures Pete Alonso to move, then the hot corner becomes a hotly contested spot. Here are some options if Vientos moves to 1B or DH:
1. Ronny Mauricio comes in to play third
2. The Mets retain Jose Iglesias and he plays 3rd with LuisAngel Acuna at 2nd
3. The Mets trade a prospect for a 3rd baseman (not much on 2025 FA market)
4. Brett Baty gets another shot at third
Of these options I like the first two. Mauricio was impressive when he came up in 2023, recording a .248 batting average in his first 101 at-bats. He was hitting .292 with a .843 OPS in Syracuse prior to his call-up.
His speed would be a plus for a Mets team that has not taken advantage of other teams on the base paths as much as they should. Although option 2 also infuses some speed into the lineup, it eliminates Iglesias as a utility player so some flexibility is lost.
Only time will tell how well Mauricio recovers from his knee injury. He is expected to play in the Dominican Winter League again but has not been rostered yet because he is still in recovery from the August surgery.
We will keep a close eye on his progress on the way towards the spring.
13 comments:
I saw this quoted in a Yahoo Sports article, and I align with this view, until Mauricio proves he is better than this:
"Mauricio was once on the fast track to the majors and logged 101 ABs with the Mets in 2023 before suffering a torn ACL that caused him to miss all of this season....Mauricio is a shortstop who has learned how to work around the presence of Lindor by playing other positions. He should start 2025 in Triple-A but could soon return to New York as a utility player."
It seemed everyone was a doubter on Vientos in terms of fielding ability, and he largely dispelled that in 2024. At times, I feel I am the only one who reminds people of Ronny's poor error levels. He made 28 errors (majors, minors, int'l) in 2023 and 133 errors in his pro career.
Me? I would give him an outfielder's glove. Your new position, sir.
In about the same number of games played in the field, Vientos has made roughly 40 fewer errors than Mauricio in the field. And just 5 with the Mets in over 100 games. If Ronny wants to play meaningful innings in the majors, he has to have the same level of commitment to low errors as Mark, and the best place to do that would be the outfield.
Christopher Soto pointed out on X yesterday that he had TWO surgeries since he last played an inning
David Stearns pointed out in his press conference that Mauricio has not begun any baseball activities
My guess is he is a lock for either an opening season IR assignment of an active member of the Syracuse roster, not the NY Mets
Of the four options above, I hang on to some things longer than others - I like option 4. Something gnaws at me that Baty will still be a good major league player. I could be wrong. Last year, people were saying "put Baty on third and leave him there until the all-star break" to give him the shot. He was about a month and a half short of that (and probably about 150 at-bats), although I do get that Vientos pushed him hard back to Syracuse. Had they left Baty on third for another 6 weeks or so, Vientos would not have had the season he had. But .. i still believe in Baty being a decent major-leaguer
I do not want Iglasias to be penciled in as the full time third baseman.
And back to Mauricio, I tend to believe that he does not have much chance of making the 2025 Opening Day roster if he has not yet begun baseball activities.
R 69, I hope Baty is good in 2025. His extended swoons in 2023 and 2024, both in the majors and in AAA, make me concerned for him in that regard, especially his protracted swoon in Syracuse after a hot start down there. I'd not shed a tear if he was part of a package to acquire Gavin Crochet. If Crochet can stay healthy, he is SP 1 material.
Now to address the errors thing. I don't like to compare players errors, especially when they are not all the same position. As we have stated, Mauricio is fast, Vientos is not. How many of Mauricio's errors would have been clean base hits had Vientos been playing the same position at the time? Official scoring can be inconsistent. If players get to balls but don't complete the play, they accrue errors that others will not if they cannot get to the ball in the first place.
With that all being said, I do believe that Mauricio needs to clean up some fielding sloppiness, but I also believe that Mauricio will provide overall better defense than Mark Vientos in the long term. I know Mauricio has not played a lot of 3rd base in his professional career.
And looking closer, Ronny has just one error in 26 games, 116 chances to go with 50 put-outs, 65 assists, and 15 double plays, mostly at second base.
I agree with R69. Mauricio's range lets him get to balls that others would not, but those balls create inherently more difficult opportunities, so there will be more errors. His second surgery to remove some scar tissue from the same knee should improve his flexibility. The true test will be on the field. By spring training he will have to go earn a spot.
I expect Rony to play winter ball and let's see how that goes. If Mets had not signed JD both Vientos and Baty would have had a full season. Baty deserves one more chance.
I threw an “errors” article in at 9 PM tomorrow that is worth considering
9 PM?
9 AM. Thanks, Ray. In India it will be 9 PM.
Speaking of India, our own Jacob Wilkins (voice of the Rumble Ponies) will be doing the World Series play-by-play for MLB's international broadcasts.
Oct 25 update on Met website: "the prospect's future remains in flux.
"Mauricio's recovery "has definitely gone a lot slower than we expected," David Stearns said in late October, leaving doubt about what the infielder can provide in the future."
"A LOT SLOWER" WERE THE WORDS
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