After a year plus off the baseball diamond and a couple of surgeries, Ronny Mauricio has gone from “the next prospect up” to an unknown commodity that has been written off to the minors by most Mets followers with an opinion.
Not so fast. Word out of camp is that he is feeling really strong and the knee is good. Mauricio is a very talented player with some very good pop in his bat. He could make some waves in spring training and give the leadership some real dilemmas before the team heads north.
The “could” is not a “will” only because it takes time to restore the delicate timing that a professional baseball player needs to hit a 90+mph baseball moving in three dimensions at once. He has done it before, so the only question is how long it takes before he starts to find his stroke. In the field it will probably come quicker. Lots of reps on the back fields returns proficiency over the course of a few weeks.
Personally, i am anxious to see how he meets this challenge. I also look forward to seeing the competition ramp up for a few infield spots that are open to the guys that earn them.
3 comments:
Not to in any way compare them talent-wise, but guys like Ted Williams missed seasons and came back without a dip in performance. Maybe Ronny will bounce back fast. Ronny has spring training DH opportunities soon to get the bat going. I'd tell him to run easy if he hits the ball and then immediately pinch run for him, until he is 100% running. No hard running.
Mauricio made Lucas Duda look like a GG right fielder.
He also hasn't looked that great at second
That leaves third and that just ain't available
Mack, how can a guy with plus speed and arm like Mauricio not be able to be a decent outfielder? Head scratcher. His fielding has been baffling for years - MLB teams don't like errors. He's made 136 in his pro career. No MLB team made 136 errors last year.
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