ronny mauricio mets
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The Mets are a win-now team. Their roster full of proven veterans is proof of that. But which top prospects in the farm system could help in the organization’s pursuit of a World Series title in 2023?

The most common names we hear are Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, and Mark Vientos. Ronny Mauricio is doing his best to make sure everyone notices and takes him seriously this spring, though. The 21-year-old has been successful in doing that so far this spring.

All it took was a couple of long home runs to get everyone’s attention again. On Sunday, Mauricio launched a 450-foot moonshot that generated a 110 mph exit velocity:

His next one came on Monday. The below dinger traveled “just” 413 feet while producing a 108.6 mph exit velocity:

He’s racked up five at-bats so far during Grapefruit League action. Mauricio’s only two hits have been these two tanks. The sample size is obviously small, but a .400/.400/2.000 triple slash is always worth pointing out.

Another thing that’s quite apparent is the high confidence level the top prospect currently has. Check out his bat flip after launching that 450-foot moonshot:

That’s a dude who knows he can contribute at the big-league level in 2023. While he was tearing it up in the Dominican Winter League this past offseason, I initially made comments about how he’s just increasing his trade value. After all, he’s a natural shortstop and virtually the entire Mets infield is accounted for heading into the immediate future.

But if he continues to impress this spring and moving forward? He may end up forcing his way into plans at Citi Field.

He’s not as far along in his development as Baty, Alvarez, or Vientos, but he’ll get there soon enough. Mauricio spent his entire 2022 campaign at Double-A Binghamton. He played in 123 games and accumulated 541 plate appearances in the process. His results took another step forward with a career-high .767 OPS. This consisted of a .259/.296/.472 line, 26 home runs, 26 doubles, 20 steals, 89 RBI, and 71 runs scored.

That was encouraging, but his growth in winter ball between 2021 and 2022 was more noticeable and eye-popping. After the 2021 campaign, Mauricio played in 25 games (94 plate appearances) for Licey. That led to a .244/.277/.364 line with seven extra-base hits (five doubles, two homers). This past winter, that triple slash increased to .287/.335/.468 with 22 extra-base hits (15 doubles, two triples, five homers) in 203 plate appearances (46 games).

Mauricio’s performance this past winter earned him MVP honors in the Dominican Winter League. So, it’s easy to see why his confidence is through the roof right now. For the Mets, it’s great to see his growth immediately translate in camp.

His confidence is so high that he’s even talking about being in the big leagues with New York this year. That probably won’t happen… at first. Mauricio is all but ticketed for Triple-A to begin the 2023 season. Based on how the Mets are constructed, the infielder will hopefully get some reps in the outfield while he’s there.

It doesn’t look like there’s much room for him in Flushing right now, but one thing is always certain when it comes to the big leagues (especially in New York). Professional sports is a “What have you done for me lately” kind of business. If all Mauricio does is hit in Triple-A and there’s a spot for him to play in the field, the Mets will make it work.

At the end of last season, not many were probably expecting Mauricio to be knocking down the door to the big leagues this season. That’s especially the case with Baty, Alvarez, and Vientos all likely being factors at some point. But the growth and development he’s shown over the past few months now makes it a much more intriguing question. That’s why they play the game, folks.

Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.

Matt Musico is an editor for ESNY. He’s been writing about baseball and the Mets for the past decade. His work has been featured on numberFire, MetsMerized Online, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo! Sports.