The kids came to play in Port St. Lucie this spring, folks. With a roster mostly set on the position player side of the house, prospects like Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty, and Mark Vientos have done their best to force the Mets’ hand before Opening Day.
Who knows how much near-term decision-making will ultimately change from it all. But still, this young talent has opened the eyes of many over the past couple of weeks. All three have been impressive at the dish. But when it comes to the one who has probably dropped the most jaws, that honor likely goes to Mauricio.
Heading into Monday’s game, the 21-year-old is leading the Mets in spring-training home runs with four. Mind you, Mauricio only had 27 career Grapefruit League at-bats prior to 2023 and hasn’t played about Double-A Binghamton yet.
Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to enjoy those four home runs all over again, shall we?
Here’s the first one, which he hit in his second game of the new year:
Ronny Mauricio went 450 feet and 110 mph!
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) February 26, 2023
Mauricio didn’t wait long for his second dinger, as it came the following day:
Another homer for Ronny Mauricio! ?
(via @espn) pic.twitter.com/Q1gAckmIUG
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) February 27, 2023
Then, he skipped a day before notching his third spring homer:
RONNY MAURICIO HAS DONE IT AGAIN
His third home run of spring training! ? pic.twitter.com/i0ap2sFjxQ
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 1, 2023
Mauricio went on a bit of a “power drought”, not going deep again until Sunday. He let loose with another absolute moonshot, though:
RONNY MAURICIO HOMER.
MUST BE A DAY THAT ENDS IN "Y". pic.twitter.com/kJ33FpU48k
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 12, 2023
The young infielder is slashing .304/.360/.870 through 23 at-bats so far this spring. It’s not just all the homers, either. Mauricio also added an opposite-field double in there. So, of the seven hits he’s collected for the Mets, five have gone for extra bases.
Two of his four homers have traveled at least 450 feet (his first and his fourth). How powerful of a spring has Mauricio had so far, though? This stat from Metsmerized’s Mathew Brownstein puts it into perspective:
Ronny Mauricio's 4 HRs this spring have traveled a combined 1,728 feet.
That's nearly the equivalent of 5 football fields.@Metsmerized #Mets #LGM pic.twitter.com/ROggdnxTri
— Mathew Brownstein (@MBrownstein89) March 13, 2023
Five football fields worth of home runs, and he hasn’t even racked up 25 at-bats yet. He’s turning heads everywhere with his performance. Mauricio may be ticketed to start the regular season in Triple-A, but it’ll be hard to keep him down there if he keeps up some semblance of this pace. You can count outfielder Brandon Nimmo as someone else who is impressed.
I mean, who wouldn’t be impressed with what’s going on right now? Mauricio’s development over the last couple of years has been eye-opening. And while it may have been initially viewed as a way for him to boost his trade value (I’m guilty of that), maybe that’s not the case anymore.
I mean, how could you let someone with this much power and potential go somewhere else? The Mets have a good problem on their hands with all this young talent on the position player side of the house.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
