If you had the pleasure of watching Luis Guillorme play middle infield in the minor leagues, you had the privilege of watching a virtuoso at work.  He had the ability to make the impossible seem plausible, the difficult seem easy, and perhaps just as impressive to make the routine look routine.

Defensively, he could be the best player in the entire Mets organization this side of Juan Lagares.  Offensively, well, he had work to do.

While he had work to do, he continued to make strides.  Over the past three years in the minors, he increased both his walk rate and his wRC+.  He worked both on bunting and hitting the ball with more exit velocity and a better launch angle.  Really, he was working to do anything he could do to make himself a Major League hitter.

When he was called up to the Majors on May 11th, he may have been making progress, but he was not ready to make the leap to the majors.  However, with his being on the 40 man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft and the team facing a number of injuries, he was needed in the majors.

It’s been a struggle for Guillorme since getting called-up.  Not only was he asked to play third, a position he had not previously played as a professional, but he struggled at the plate.  With those struggles, he has become buried on the bench being nothing more than a pinch hitter.

During this stretch, a stretch which may potentially stunt his development, Guillorme said nothing.  No complaints.  No excuses.  Nothing.

That was the case yesterday when he made a couple of errors and another misplay.  Instead of whining about rust, lack of playing time, and not being in the best position to succeed by his manager Mickey Callaway, Guillorme owned up to his mistakes and made no excuses.

Seeing how hard he works as a player, and seeing his making no excuses, why is he used as a pinata for those people who want to call upon Jose Reyes to play more for some reason or other.

Guillorme is not someone to develop in the way u mean. Reyes numbers are skewed by fact that Callaway has not put him in the best position to succeed. They are both low ceiling. This is a silly argument and I'm incapable of convincing someone so I prob shouldn't have started it https://t.co/YFtnl6JIG2

— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) June 24, 2018

That’s just one example of the unfair treatment Guillorme has received from those in the media who would rather have a wife beating bad baseball player get more playing time.  The narrative on Reyes has gotten to the point where they suggest he has not been put in a position to succeed, which is completely absurd because Reyes was getting the playing time befitting a utility player, which is what he signed on to be.

As an extension, the people holding the water for Reyes and the Wilpons decide that since they can’t defend Reyes based upon his play on the field, they would rather trash a player like Guillorme.

It’s nonsense, and it has to stop.

Day-in and day-out, Guillorme is there waiting for his chance.  He’s working on his game.  He’s not speaking to Matt Ehalt of nj.com and saying things like, “I believe in what I can do.  But it’s hard for me if there isn’t opportunity out there.”

Nope, Guillorme keeps to himself and works hard.  His reward?  People going out of their way to trash him for making the simple mistake of getting called up before he was ready, arguably still out-performing Reyes, and being the being labeled as the guy who is preventing Reyes from getting in the lineup.

Guillorme deserves better than this garbage treatment.