With Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes joining David Wright and Lucas Duda on the disabled list, the Mets needed to go to AAA to find a utility infielder. For some reason or another they chose Ty Kelly.

Kelly has been a nice story this year.  He dominated AAA forcing the Mets to finally give him the major league shot the Orioles, Mariners, Blue Jays, and Cardinals declined to give him.  He had gone from a career minor leaguer to a player who has finally gotten his shot to be a major leaguer at 27 years old.  On June 8th, he even hit his first career home run off future Pirates ace James Taillon.  Kelly’s story has been one of perseverance and one of triump.  However, that terrific story does not make Kelly a major leaguer.

In 14 games, Kelly was over-matched hitting .148/.207/.259 with that one home run being his only extra base hit.  He has showed why four other organizations passed over him time and again.  He has shown why the Mets buried him on the depth chart after his 14 game stint.  Given his performance, it makes you question why he is back with the Mets,e especially with the team having presumably better options down in the minors.

If you are going to stick with the 40 man roster, Eric Campbell would have been a better choice.  He is a career .221/.310/.312 hitter, and he hit .159/.270/.222 this year.  He had some flashes this year with a five game stretch that saw him hit .273/.467/.273 while playing well defensively at first and third base.  On different occasions over the course of his career, he has come up with key pinch hits.  Since his demotion, he has hit .363/.493/.593 in AAA, which shows that he has the ability to get on base, and anyone can hit in the Pacific Coast League.  Regardless of your position on Campbell, he is a better player than Kelly.

However, Campbell has been given numerous chances to stick with the Mets, and he still hasn’t.  It has gotten to the point that the Mets now favor Kelly over him.  The Mets have moved on from him.  With that in mind, it might be time to consider someone other than Campbell and Kelly.

Again, the Mets should give T.J. Rivera consideration.  He was a Pacific Coast League All STytar, and he is hitting .340/.380/.490 in 90 games.  He has more defensive versatility than Kelly and Campbell as he plays all four infield positions, and he can also play left field.  He may not be a plus defender at any of those positions, but neither are Kelly or Campbell.  He may be a 27 year old rookie, but so was the older Kelly when he was called-up with year.  Overall, the only difference between Rivera and Kelly is that Kelly got his shot; a shot in which Kelly has mostly failed.

Admittedly, a pennant race is not the best time to give someone like Rivera a shot to prove he is capable of playing in the majors.  Then again, a pennant race is an even worse time to keep sending out a player like Kelly who has shown he struggles at the major league level.  If you are going to pass on Campbell, who has shown some ability to play at the major league level, the Mets should have called-up Rivera who provides the team more versatility despite not being a switch hitter like Kelly.

Sooner or later, you’d have to imagine Rivera will get his fairy tale shot like Kelly did.  He might even do more with the chance than Kelly has.  It would be in the Mets best interests to find out.

Editor’s Note: this was first published on Mets Minors