Once rosters expanded on September 1st, the Mets made a long overdue decision by promoting top prospect Ronny Mauricio. The sample size is small, but his performance thus far in the big leagues shows New York should’ve called him up when there was still something to play for this season.
Mauricio collected another memorable moment on Tuesday night at Citi Field by hitting his first career home run. It wasn’t a cheap one, either. Ronny clobbered this ball 440 feet with an exit velocity of 112.4 mph.
First career long ball for Mauricio! 🍎 pic.twitter.com/CwtrZ6AerM
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 13, 2023
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He also showed us that his home run celebrations are ready for the big leagues:
Ronny Mauricio bat flips are awesome. pic.twitter.com/JuBc7Qd6ay
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 13, 2023
Mauricio has appeared in 10 games for the Mets since getting called up from Triple-A Syracuse. The early results have been fruitful. Across 38 plate appearances, the infielder is slashing .306/.342/.444. This includes three extra-base hits (two doubles, one homer), five RBI, two runs scored, and four steals.
His OPS is currently sitting at .787 to go along with a 118 wRC+ and 0.4 fWAR. At this point in the year, 21 Mets players have racked up at least 30 plate appearances in 2023. His 10 games played are easily the lowest within this group (next closest is Tomas Nido at 22).
Despite that, Mauricio’s 0.4 fWAR ranks as the ninth-best mark on the club. Some notable dudes he’s ahead of are Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, Starling Marte, Omar Narvaez, Luis Guillorme, and Daniel Vogelbach.
The raw talent — especially in the batter’s box — is certainly there. That was on display again Tuesday night with the numbers his home run produced:
Mets hitters in the StatCast era with a home run that went at least 440 feet and had an exit velocity of at least 112 mph:
Pete Alonso
Yoenis Céspedes
Ronny Mauricio— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) September 13, 2023
If you’re a Mets player and your power finds you on a list with Yoenis Cespedes and Pete Alonso, you know you’re in good shape. What about the overall production, though? As we’ve already noted, Ronny has been doing a little bit of everything. But when it comes to recording hits, steals, and RBI within a player’s first 10 MLB games, he joined an exclusive group of dudes:
Here are the last 3 players to record at least 11 hits, 4 stolen bases and 5 RBI in their first 10 big league games:
Charlie Blackmon
Carlos Correa
Ronny Mauricio@Metsmerized #Mets #LGM pic.twitter.com/v0mcrY3uf4— Mathew Brownstein (@MBrownstein89) September 13, 2023
Not too shabby, right? It’s great to see Mauricio finally getting a chance to perform in the big leagues. After so many false reports, many of us were starting to wonder if it’d happen at all this year. With an eye toward 2024, Billy Eppler and David Stearns needed to see what Ronny could do at the highest level before the offseason hit.
Don’t get me wrong — I’ve enjoyed watching him and look forward to seeing it in person soon. But part of me wonders if anything would’ve changed if the Mets found a place for him on the roster before they waved the white flag at the trade deadline.
I know there are other things to consider outside of just his bat. His plate discipline/swing decisions have been a hot topic, as well as his defensive capabilities as he learns to play second base.
But still, you’re telling me there was just absolutely no path to making something work with Mauricio? Vogelbach and his 0.0 fWAR, along with his lack of speed and any real ability to field just had to remain on the roster? I’m definitely not buying that. This is not to say that Mauricio would’ve been the savior of this club. However, giving him a shot certainly wouldn’t have made things any worse.
I guess I’m still a little bitter about how this season crashed and burned. At least, more than I thought I was. Mauricio making landfall in the big leagues took way too long to happen. However, what’s most important now is that he’s here, his production has been excellent, and he’s making a case to be part of the solution moving forward for the Mets.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on X: @mmusico8.
