Mets Should Not Call Up Mauricio Or Vientos
When teams are struggling, many times fans want to see the best prospects in the organization. That goes double when those prospects are putting up big numbers in the minors. It’s not a bad thought as this is the best and easiest way to improve the ballclub and/or see if that is an area which needs to be addressed at the trade deadline.
When it comes to the Mets, fans want to see Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos called up. Unfortunately, Mets fans are wrong here, at least for now.
For Mauricio, there is presumably a spot as he could move to second base allowing Jeff McNeil to shift to left to take Mark Canha out of the lineup. The underlying concept has merit, but it is misplaced when you consider Mauricio isn’t ready for the majors.
Yes, Mauricio was the LIDOM MVP (a level of baseball below Triple-A). He was great in spring, and so far this season, Mauricio has a 134 wRC+. This is only part of the story.
Mauricio also has a 4.2 BB%. With that being the lowest mark of his professional career, we see he is not improving on his greatest weakness as a player. His swing at everything approach is problematic and does not portend for success at the major league level.
Consider for a moment that’s actually lower than what Amed Rosario had in the minors. Rosario came up to the majors, and he couldn’t maximize his abilities because he never learned any patience at the plate. When he got to the majors, things got worse.
Mauricio is potentially a big part of the Mets future. If the Mets want him to be that, they need to call him up when he’s ready. He’s not ready now, and his bad habits are only going to intensify. With those habits, there’s not promises he outhits anyone on the Mets roster, and as a result, Mauricio needs to stay in Triple-A.
As for Vientos, he’s absolutely ready with the bat. Arguably, he would have more power than anyone in the Mets lineup, and he could provide the power so desperately needed by this team.
The question is where does he play?
Vientos isn’t going to supplant Pete Alonso at first base. Brett Baty is better defensively at third, and he has been hitting with a 115 wRC+. Daniel Vogelbach isn’t hitting like a traditional DH, but he has been productive with a 134 wRC+. As the Mets found out, Vientos cannot play the outfield.
That’s the problem with Vientos. there is nowhere to put him. As we saw with Francisco Álvarez, you don’t want to cool off the bat of a red-hot prospect by calling him up to put him on the bench. That leaves Vientos in limbo. He belongs in the majors, but there is no spot for him.
As a result, the Mets issues can’t be resolved by calling up Mauricio and Vientos. Mauricio isn’t ready, and Vientos can’t play the outfield. That leaves the Mets looking in other directions to try to improve as a team.
Sorry MD,
But Manny Sanguillen had a 4.1 BB% throughout his MLB career. Sanguillen was a lifetime.291 hitter. This is sabermetric (you depict as a poor production for Ronnie-Mo) is BS — IMO. If a kid (MAURICIO) can hit better than the player he is going to replace on a MLB level, then bring him up. Moreover, statistics can be skewed to support any hypothesis (trust me – I tested out of statistics in both Masters’ & Ph.D. programs many years ago!). And just to prove my point, the player Mauricio would be replacing (Canha) has an OBP of .297 at present (while Mauricio’s OBP at Syracuse is almost 80 points higher!). That, my friend is easily replaceable!!!
You’re analysis has the fallacy of assuming Mauricio would produce the same exact numbers in the majors.
Typically speaking, players with zero plate discipline struggle mightily in the majors and see a major drop-off from their Triple-A numbers
Regarding Marky-V? Just make him the full-time DH, PERIOD!!!!!
After playing 6 games on the Yankees, Jake Bauers has as many dingers as Vogelbach has produced in almost 1/4 of a season. Vogelbach is not in the lineup to take pitches and walk; he’s in the lineup to hit HRs and drive in runs. This is another no-brainer: Bring Marky-V up to “The Show” and give Danny-V his walking papers (sad, because Vogelbach is so likable!). But scoring runs has been at a premium; The Pirates have scored more runs per game than the Mets. That should tell us enough about the need to make changes in the lineup!!!
Vogelbach has been producing, so it’s hard to bench him.