MACK - Monday Observations - Chain Position Analysis - 3B - Other Mets Stuff

 

Good morning 

Here comes the last infield position… my old home away from home… third.

I played third base starting around eight and ending well into my thirties. Never in school (had to work) and seldom with a baseball (fast pitch softball was my game). Nicknamed “Clete” for my defensive skills. Switch hitter (taught myself to hit from the left side playing stickball in front of a brick backdrop). Batted leadoff. Spray .300-.350 hitter (average at this level). NEVER hit a home run. Played Central Park League with ex-Yankees Arturo Lopez at short and Duke Carmel on first.

I know this position.

Currently, the Mets have two highly touted, often injured, and mostly bat erratic youngers playing here… Mark Vientos and Brett Baty. The problem is neither have enough skills at second to currently qualify there. What the Mets do here in 2026 is your guess. I believe this is Vientos’ job to lose in the future. Baty is now in Syracuse, but we know this means nothing. His future is probably not on a Mets team.

Is there someone lurking, you ask…

Well... remember a guy named Ronny Mauricio?

"Maury" is getting close to ready. Figure time needed in extended time and then ramping up in rehab. ETA is, my guess, around the all-star break. Had first rehab game yesterday... 1-3 + SB.

Vientos and/or Baty gotta get their shit working if they don't want their glove and bat taken away from this guy. 

Jesus Baez – 20/yrs old – playing A+ - signed by NYM in 2022 with a $275K signing bonus.

Had a very promising 2024, playing for both St. Lucie and Brooklyn (combined 252-AB, 11-HR, .262/.338/.444/.782.

Not so great so far this year, first for St. Lucie (.217), and now for Brooklyn. Has currently lost the starting job to the next guy listed here.

If I was the Mets, I would send this 20-year old back to St. Lucie and play every day there. There’s no one behind him until you look to a 2026 signing, so, slow it down a little, play every day, and work on your fundamentals.

Jacob Reimer – 21/yrs. old - playing A+ - drafted by NYM in 4^th round in 2022, out of Yucaipa HS (CA). Signing bonus: $775K (almost $250K over slot). Also plays left and first.

4-season - .268/.397/.400/.796

Had an excellent 2024 for St. Lucie (.333), until a hamstring pull put him on the IL. Eventually was promoted to Brooklyn but was reinjured there (.196). Basically a wash of a season.

Not this year.

Reimer is on a tear for his third assignment in Brooklyn (still playing at 1.2 years below league average). 

I’ve underestimated this guy. We may have something here, though he will not take the Mets job away eventually if he doesn’t work on his defensive skills. You know me… you can’t play third if you can’t catch third.

Me?

Let’s give him 2025. Let him rake in Brooklyn and then send him to Binghamton when the snow melts.

Josue Chacoa – part of 2026 IFA signing class –

Old scout friend, Joe Doyle, projects him:

         Bat carries profile. Chance for plus power. Above average arm   strength. Average runner. 50+ glove. Comfortably a top 10 projected player in his class

In summary – there’s not a lot going on currently in the chain at this position. Go to your place of worship and light something that either Vientos or Baty works out here.

Rating -         C

Do the Mets suddenly have bullpen concerns?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6316162/2025/04/27/mets-nationals-result-score/

By the end of the game, the Mets were still awaiting MRI results to see how long A.J. Minter (lat) would be on the injured list. There are other concerns, too.

Mendoza didn’t want to use closer Edwin Díaz on Sunday. Díaz threw 22 pitches Saturday. He was off the two previous days. But he experienced hip cramping Wednesday. So in Sunday’s ninth inning, the Mets turned to Ryne Stanek. It didn’t work.

In Stanek’s last two appearances, he has blown two save opportunities. Stanek left an 0-2 fastball to Alex Call up in the zone and paid for it. Call started the inning with a double. Often, Stanek got ahead. And he flashed strong velocity. But he failed to finish hitters, leaving put-away pitches in the strike zone.

José Buttó experienced a similar problem. In relief of Megill, Buttó gave up a three-run home run to No. 9 batter Riley Adams, who crushed a 3-1 fastball down the middle. Before the home run, Buttó left a sinker down the middle to José Tena, who hit the first of two singles preceding Adams’ at-bat. Last week, Buttó allowed two inherited runners to score. His ERA stands at 4.20, and he has struggled to find his consistency from last season.

 

Injury Updates –

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6316741/2025/04/28/mets-depth-tylor-megill-griffin-canning/

A.J. Minter hit the injured list on Sunday after leaving his Saturday outing prematurely. Minter had pitched pretty well in his first month with the Mets after hip surgery, and as of Sunday night, the Mets weren’t sure how long to expect Minter out.

Stearns said Jose Siri’s absence should be about 8-10 weeks from the time of injury, which places a return sometime in June. That’s more optimistic than I had been based on other players who fractured their tibias and typically required 4-5 months to return.

Ronny Mauricio started his minor-league rehab assignment with Single-A St. Lucie on Sunday, going 1-for-3 as a DH.

Stearns said Dedniel Núñez’s post-spring ramp-up is complete and that Núñez can be recalled to the major leagues whenever there’s a need.

What rival evaluators are saying about Pete Alonso’s roaring hot start

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6309725/2025/04/26/mets-pete-alonso-contract-success/

Before the season, Alonso said he refined his swing mechanics. He believed it would enhance his decision-making and quality of contact. So far, he has proved himself right.

What if the changes enable him to sustain some of the improved under-the-hood metrics, such as chase rate and how often he gets the “sweet spot” of the barrel on the ball? What if it’s not merely a hot start? Would that change Alonso’s overall outlook?

The question carries serious implications. Alonso re-signed with the Mets just before spring training on a two-year deal with a player option after this season. The Athletic asked a handful of scouts and executives: If Alonso keeps it up, would his improvements in key areas change how he should be viewed in the context of a long-term investment?

 

Former Cardinals, Reds executive Walt Jocketty dies at 74

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6313295/2025/04/26/walt-jocketty-cardinals-reds-gm-dies/

 Jocketty directed the Oakland Athletics’ farm system in the 1980s, helping the team win three pennants and the 1989 World Series title. As the Cardinals’ general manager from 1994 to 2007, he built two more World Series teams and added another title in 2006. Then, as Cincinnati’s top baseball executive from 2008 to 2016, he led the Reds to the playoffs three times.

“He was thoughtful and process-oriented, didn’t do anything precipitously and had tremendous common and baseball sense,” said Sandy Alderson, the general manager for the A’s in the 1980s and ’90s, when Jocketty was his top lieutenant.

“He had great relationships with his scouts and advisers, tremendous respect for them, and an ability to synthesize information. But what I liked about Walt is there wasn’t much of an ego you could identify. He was a people person, and I think that’s why he had success.”

Reasons for all 30 MLB teams to be optimistic, pessimistic based on early season returns

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6304393/2025/04/25/mlb-teams-hope-best-worst-early-season/  

New York Mets

Reason for pessimism: The bottom half of the Mets’ lineup is showing signs of underachievement as third baseman Mark Vientos is off to a slow start and 36-year-old Starling Marte is showing signs of further decline. However, they just activated catcher Francisco Alvarez (hamate bone surgery) and Jeff McNeil (oblique strain) from the injured list.

  

Keith Law - Scouting Mets prospects

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6295481/2025/04/23/mets-orioles-scouting-carson-benge-griff-oferrall/

Mets prospect Boston Baro, a 2023 eighth-round pick out of Capistrano Valley HS (Misson Viejo, Calif.), smoked a double into the right-field corner and a single to center, showing plus bat speed and good pitch recognition against right-handers all night. The infielder starts his swing with a very wide stance and has no stride, a setup that doesn’t work for most hitters because it reduces the power they can get from their lower halves. He played outstanding defense at third base, with a 55 arm (out of the 20-80 scouting scale), strong reactions off the bat, and really quick hands on hard-hit balls to him. Someone has got to get him a little more rhythm at the plate and some kind of stride or even a real toe-tap, preferably one that frees up his hips for more rotation. There’s power in there, and that bat speed is going to make him a quality hitter very soon.

Jim Koenigsberger             @Jimfrombaseball

"My dad taught me to switch-hit. He told me I had to be a switch-hitter if I was going to play. He and my grandfather, who was left-handed, pitched to me everyday after school in the back yard. I batted lefty against my dad and righty against my granddad."

Mickey Mantle

Almost 60 years after his final game, Mickey Mantle remains the only switch-hitter to reach 50 homers in a season. Mickey Mantle did it twice!

“Gil Hodges always thought two innings ahead. I can’t recall a game Gil Hodges was outsmarted.”

Wayne Garrett

Mets’s  Mgr. Gil Hodges shows umpire Lou DiMuro a smudge of shoe polish that  started a comeback that won Mets the1969 World Series.

Mgr. Hodges showed the smudge on the ball to prove that Cleon Jones had been hit by a sixth inning  pitch. Cleon got his base and then Donn Clendenon hit a homer.

“He’s listed as day to day, but then again, aren’t we all?”

Vin Scully