The Mets are promoting infield prospect Ronny Mauricio, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase (Twitter link). He’ll join the club on Friday when active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players.
Mauricio, 22, joins the major league team for the first time. He has been one of the most highly-touted players in the system since signing out of the Dominican Republic during the 2017-18 amateur period. Baseball America has slotted him among the Mets’ five most talented farmhands at the start of each of the last five years, while he placed among the league’s Top 100 talents at BA every season from 2019-22.
A switch-hitter, Mauricio draws praise from evaluators for significant power potential from both sides of the plate. He’s an excellent athlete with a strong throwing arm and has a shot to stick in the middle infield. Few minor league players can match Mauricio’s physical ability, which he has put on display in the upper minors over the past couple seasons.
Mauricio has posted consecutive 20-20 seasons, spending last year in Double-A before moving up to Triple-A Syracuse for this year. He connected on 26 longballs with 20 stolen bases a year ago. Through 115 contests with Syracuse, he has hit 23 homers and gone 24-31 on the basepaths.
The main question is whether Mauricio is a selective enough hitter to continue performing against MLB competition. This year’s 6.6% walk rate is his highest at any full-season level but is still a couple points below the MLB average. The lack of free passes have generally resulted in below-average OBP marks as he’s climbed the minor league ladder. His prospect stock has dimmed slightly as a result. Baseball America no longer includes him in their Top 100, though he still ranked sixth in the organization on their midseason update. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN left him just outside a recent Top 50 list.
Mauricio is still a very good prospect, albeit perhaps more high-variance than most top minor league talents. To his credit, he has continued to perform well at the upper levels — generally against slightly older competition. Mauricio is hitting .295/.349/.511 across 527 Triple-A plate appearances. Alongside his marginally improved walk rate, he has cut his strikeouts to a lower than average 18.2% clip — nearly five points better than his Double-A figure. Mauricio has performed well from both sides of the dish, hitting .298/.358/.521 against southpaws while posting a .284/.316/.477 slash versus right-handed pitching.
The Mets have used Mauricio at shortstop for the majority of his pro career. He has logged nearly 500 innings of second base work in Syracuse this year. The latter position seems his likeliest fit at the MLB level given the presence of Francisco Lindor in Queens. New York could kick Jeff McNeil into left field while taking reps from Rafael Ortega as they get their first look at Mauricio to close a disappointing season.
Mauricio will retain his rookie eligibility headed into next year, leaving open the possibility of him netting the club a future draft choice if he meets the criteria for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. He was already added to the 40-man roster two offseasons ago, so the Mets won’t have to make any additional moves to bring him up on Friday.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Finally!!!! Had nothing left to prove.
They were trying him at positions other than shortstop and he was having difficulty. If he’s part of the future, it’ll have to be at second or third, most likely second if Baty’s ready for third, since Lindor’s signed for the decade.
Three months too late. When Mauricio was in a roll and Stay Puft Vogelbach was leaving his bat on his shoulder game after game, i suggested to bring up Mauricio to play 2nd, where he was at least fielding it passably, and move McNeil to the OF to replace the struggling Canha-Marte duo, and release Stay Puft. Then you may have had some DH possibilities who could use a glove in a pinch.
But Noooooo, let’s wait on that.
Too late, Billy E.
Season’s over.
I’m surprised that “Big Boy” is still on the Mets. He won’t be there next year so I’m not sure why they’re holding onto him. He’s a strong off-season non tender candidate.
@mlb fan I’m not a fan of Vogelbach, by any stretch, but he’s currently a league average hitter (OBP heavy, no less) on a team that as of today has retained all of five such hitters, including DV, and otherwise is regularly playing guys w/ OPS’s of 48, 55, 77, 42, and 21.
In contrast, Vogelbach is the reincarnation of Babe Ruth.
Vogelfat
@EasternLeagueVeteran: You don’t know that he was ready then.
An actual GM like Eppler and the player development staff are in a better position to judge than you.
Vogelbach is league average as a hitter. No reason to release him
A “league average” 300 pounder that can’t run, catch or field is not of much value. On successful teams the DH is much more than “League Average”.
And the Mets are not a successful team. So he has tons (or many pounds) of value for them.
Seriously, there really is no reason to release him.
He is a DH. Their job is to hit. Betting he runs faster than you ever have.
I take your point. His hitting has been maligned more than it deserves. But there is a reason to cut him: he has too many limitations for which “league-average” is not enough to compensate. .
League average hitters need to be able to play the field at least a little bit of the time. He couldn’t even play 1B when Alonso was hurt.
And he’s only a league average hitter because he only bats against RHers.
Teams can/will accommodate those limitations for hitters who produce and are more than league-average. At his production, those limits are liabilities.
Lastly, his baserunning. His inability to take the extra base in situations where even slower-than-average runners would means he fails score runs that the team should score. Furthermore, his holding at at 2nd or 3rd means the runner behind him also has to stop a base short, and that runner may not score when he otherwise might have. . That is a liability that detracts from whatever he does with the bat.
On balance, he is a below average player at best, and his limits make it harder to manage a game and a roster the way it needs to be managed.
Well, you were mistaken three months ago on two levels.: Mauricio was not fielding 2B passably, he was making errors all over the place. He made 6 errors in his 12 errors in first 22 games at 2B, and now has 12 in 56 games. Hitting in a league where the average OPS is about .800, his OPS was .620 in June an .773 in July.
Now is actually the correct time to be calling him up.
You were also wrong about Canha, who was putting up a .736 OPS on June 1st w/ average defense, on pace to put up yet another 2.5 WAR season.
Second Base IS the position he fields the best at. He is a sub-par SS, and that BS mid-year experiment with turning him into an outfielder really messed with the kid’s psyche and with his batting groove. The development people should have been canned for that stunt.
Uh, Jack Strawb, Canha’s OPS after games of June 30th, when the Mets were 10 games under .500 and pretty much out of contention, was .712. He was NOT on pace for a 2.5 WAR. And I like Canha. Willing to pick up his first baseman’s mitt when Alonso got plunked instead of Stay Puft Vogelbach, who should have been gone way back then.
I am not saying that he was the only reason the Mets were sunk. They had Nimmo living in the shadow of what he was the year before, McNeil and Lindor doing the same, Marte playing hurt, and for sure the pitching staff not putting together good outings when the bats did come alive.
Met fans never appreciated Canha. They fancy themselves as astute baseball fans. In reality, they overrate their team and themsiv
Met fans never appreciated Canha. In general, they are not astute baseball fans.
That’s quite the generalization of millions of people after reading nothing but garbage posts on a rumor site full of teenagers. I loved Canha.
About time ! Aruaz is absolutely horrible when the bar.
I think I know what you mean if you mean he absolutely sucks.
Vogelbach is statistically league average as a hitter, BUT he can only hit vs. RHP, can’t run, and has no defensive value whatsoever. That’s a far below average player.
He CAN to run!!! First one to the clubhouse buffet! Not even close,yo!
Hence his $1.5 million below average salary.
That’s still above for him.
FINALLY! Now he can ride the bench with occasional pinch hitting and DHing against lefties because Vogelbach is so good against righties. Stewart looks like a keeper. I think I remember he had a great spring training. I could look it up but I’m getting shîthammered.
Is it bcuz you’re celebrating the Mets walkoff tonight?
Yes Brooklyn. It’s a weird balance of wanting them to win but also wanting a top 6 pick.
Stewart looks phenomenal in a SSS, but who doesn’t? Still, 5th OFers who can go on this kind of tear don’t grow on trees. With a career OPS 135 points higher against RHP than LHP, the Mets have their new, slightly improved Daniel Vogelbach, v.2024, someone who isn’t a complete writeoff against LHP, who can fake a passable corner OF, and whose arm is good enough to hit 3B from RF.
Stewart is at least at Tommy Pham’s level.
I was surprised when Stewart didn’t come up with the Mets after spring training.
Big Whoop! The most embarrassing season for a franchise that has had a storied tradition of embarrassing seasons….
2021 was surely more embarrassing. Drunk GMs, sexting GMs, the Lindor ‘thumbs down’ (‘do we really have this clown for another decade?’) fiasco, the ‘Steve Cohen can’t find a real PBOPs to take his money’ fiasco, the ‘did he really just offer Trevor Bauer a record AAV deal for a pitcher and Bauer turned it down because the Mets offseason has been so ridiculous?’ fiasco, the dealing away PCA (currently the #5 prospect in all of baseball) for 2 months of Javy Baez’s company fiasco….
Though, maybe. Cohen quitting on the team on June 24 with the trade of Escobar (whose OPS since April 14th had been around .850, whereas Baty’s seasonal OPS was .680 with bad defense) is pretty embarrassing. Should be the kind of thing that haunts a team owner for a decade or two.
You’re an idiot. This is the exact type of poster that has made this site a dumpster. Grow up.
Wow it only took InEppler 85% of the season to promote arguably our best hitting prospect who has been tearing the cover off the ball since March. How can someone EFF up 2 franchises and still have a job? Billy EFFler is a joke of a GM. Been saying this since he was hired. And Steve Cohen, how do you give your 8th choice a 4 year contract? The organization is run like a circus from top to bottom
Eppler is an actual GM and you are not. He and the player development staff are better judges of Mauricio’s readiness than you.
@Blue Baron thats kind of sad that an “actual GM” could have a payroll of 400 million dollars and manage to finish in last place. Give me 400 mil to spend and this team would win 120 games. I could have 10 players at Bryce Harpers (30 mil per year) level and still have 100 million to spare on constructing the rest of the team. We don’t even have one player at his level. Joke of a GM
We? What’s your job in the organization?
When you become a MLB GM, you’ll get your shot. Until then, you’re just an unhinged armchair wannabe.
You sound rather unhinged TBH.
He always does. Guys a lunatic.
Do some people call him Mauricio because he speaks of the pompitous of love?
Now the question for Mauricio and Mets fans is how long before Mets fans start recanting their Cooperstown votes for him?
Marlins, what are you talking about? No one is promoting Mauricio for the HOF. Most posters are talking about whether he is ready for the big leagues or not.
You are not only out in left field, you are out in the left field bleachers if you read anything of the sort into any of these posts.
Mauricio was got coming out of spring training, and stayed hot in AAA the first 2 months of the season. But he is a shortstop with nowhere to go with Lindor locked up for years. So they had him move over to second base. Yes, he made errors early but he was learning. Then Eppler and the delevlipment dept
Marlins, what are you talking about? No one is promoting Mauricio for the HOF. Most posters are talking about whether he is ready for the big leagues or not.
You are not only out in left field, you are out in the left field bleachers if you read anything of the sort into any of these posts.
Mauricio was got coming out of spring training, and stayed hot in AAA the first 2 months of the season. But he is a shortstop with nowhere to go with Lindor locked up for years. So they had him move over to second base. Yes, he made errors early but he was learning. Then Eppler and the development dept decided with no prior experience to make him an outfielder. He immediately made errors, he got off track with the bat because he worried about doing something he hadn’t done before. And it messed his season up bigtime.
Listen, he a kid. 23. But he would have brought to the plate some speed, some pop, and a lot more than StayPuft did at a time when the team needed some enthusiasm and desire.
Mauricio is the latest version of Daniel Murphy. A bat first player with someone at his position not moving, like Wright was to DM.
The Mets got too far away from what made them successful in the first half of 2022, which was hitting to all fields, putting the ball in play and not swinging for the fences, etc etc. They like so many teams rely on Homeruns for runs, and can’t do
Much more than station to station baseball. Mauricio would have changed the dynamic. Now it is just for the experience of being a big leaguer, and acting like a big leaguer.
You talk like he is a sure thing to be even what you say. Therefore, this supports my statement…even if I used hyperbole. You Mets fans always talk like every prospect is a sure thing to even be adequate at the MLB level. That’s where you guys get ridiculed because many hyped up prospects don’t succeed enough at the MLB level to last long. Remember the many many many Mets prospects that fell under that situation? I guess not since you seem to thinkg that Mauricio can already cut it at the MLB level.
If you’re not saying that he’s a sure thing to be even a decent player at the MLB level, take a look at your post.
I guess we will get to see if Mauricio succeeds against your Marlins. I will wait until the six fames in September are over. Then I will be willing to accept your criticism, or reject it. I hope you are up to that challenge on your end.
Yeah, six games will definitely make his career and prove one of us right.
Keep proving my point about Mets fans.
Best case scenario is Soriano. Most likely scenario is a 30%+ k rate.
Mets fans would settle for Alfonso Soriano. Probably won’t get that, but thru first 15 games, ..300 BA, 6 SB, 1 HR, 7 RBI, and 26% K rate. A little excitement into the lineup. Sure, the kid left runners on in the scoring position in the Mets loss to the Marlins in the second game of the season that really cost then the game. But he’s new and learning.
Love to see how he and the other Mets kids develop.
He’s gonna suck and disappoint like every Mets top prospect ever.
Shhhh…That’s what makes it funny.
Guess he proved you wrong huh ?
OMG! OMG! OMG! (speaking you guys’ language)
Yes, 11 MLB PAs has proven me wrong! So, when is he eligible of the Hall of Fame? We know he’s first ballot now.