The Mets finally showed some life on their most recent homestand, finishing it with five straight wins. Most of those victories came in dramatic fashion, too. But now that they’ve hit the road, it feels like we’re back to the same old story. Does that mean infielder Ronny Mauricio will be the next Baby Met to get called up from Triple-A?
New York has dropped each of its first two games in Chicago against the Cubs. Once they wrap things up at Wrigley Field on Thursday, they’ll head to Colorado to face the Rockies. The Mets will then have Memorial Day off (which feels like a crime) before hosting the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday at Citi Field.
Could Mauricio be there as well? That’s what this Twitter user’s “source” says:
? source report ? Mauricio will be in Citi field this Tuesday opening game of series vs Phillies if this person is correct this would be a big adrenaline shot for this team and seems like Vogey odd man out he has this next four games to produce
— NY Chris From Orlando (@JustaBBFan13) May 25, 2023
If you go through NY Chris From Orlando’s recent tweets, there’s some proof that he’s been right on things previously. The same can be said in the replies — several people have said he hasn’t been wrong in the past. But obviously, since this isn’t an MLB insider of any sort, we need to take this with a grain of salt. Depending on how the next few days go, we’ll see if there’s any truth to this.
It honestly wouldn’t be shocking, though. This also isn’t the first time we’ve heard rumblings about a possible Mauricio call-up depending on how the Mets do.
Mauricio’s plate discipline is still a bit of a question at this point. The 22-year-old has walked just nine times in 206 plate appearances. But, the kid can freakin’ hit. The infielder owns a .351/.384/.593 line with 31 extra-base hits (22 doubles, two triples, seven home runs) and 33 RBI so far in Syracuse. He’s been especially red-hot in May, which includes a 1.011 OPS and 14 doubles across 93 plate appearances.
We’ve seen the kind of boost that Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty have had on this lineup. If Mauricio were to get called up, it’s not like he’d be doing any worse than those who are already on the big-league roster, right?
Daniel Vogelbach potentially being on the roster bubble if this rumor is true will likely make many Mets fans happy, as well. He’s a fine player and has generally produced against right-handed pitching. But it’s not like he’s a huge value-add to the lineup when he’s in it. Being a one-dimensional player doesn’t necessarily help his case, either.
We know that if Mauricio does get the call, he’d slot in at second base, moving Jeff McNeil to be more of a primary outfielder. That’d push Mark Canha to the bench more often with Tommy Pham (if Buck Showalter stops penciling him into the lineup so much). This would also leave DH at-bats for Mark Vientos, with Eduardo Escobar available as a left-handed hitter if New York thinks there still needs to be a platoon.
If the Mets finish this road trip in disappointing fashion, it’ll be interesting to see if they do pull the trigger. General manager Billy Eppler purposely didn’t invest a ton into the lineup this past winter because of their Triple-A depth.
New York has already gone to the well a few times, and it’s worked. One more can’t hurt, right? Might as well give it a shot.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
