Jose Reyes
When the Mets have Jacob deGrom pitching, they look like one of the best teams in baseball. Not only does deGrom shut down the opposition, but his presence on the mound seems to wake up the Mets bats. That was true again today in San Diego.
The lone mistake deGrom made in the evening was a pitch Hunter Renfroe hit atop the Western Supply Co. Building. At that point, the impressive home run was little more than a footnote in another deGrominant start.
deGrom’s final line was eight innings, five hits, two runs, two earned, two walks, and eight strikeouts. He’s now won eight straight starts.
It was a footnote because the Mets scored more than enough runs off Padres starter Clayton Richard. The scoring against him started with Wilmer Flores:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/889674702175784960
Coming into the game, Flores only at-bat against Richard was a homer. This at-bat made two straight homers.
In the third, it looked like Yoenis Cespedes was going to break his long home run drought. Instead, it hit the CF wall, and Cespedes pulled in for an RBI triple scoring Asdrubal Cabrera. Cespedes then scored on a Jay Bruce RBIsingle through the drawn in infield.
In the fifth, Michael Conforto got the rally started with a one out double. After Cespedes was walked intentionally, Bruce hit his second RBI single to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.
After the Renfroe homer, the Mets would get the run back.
Jose Reyes hit a two out infield single, and he stole his 500th career stolen base. He then scored on a Travis d’Arnaud RBI single.
With the Padres knocking in another run in the eighth, it created a save opportunity for Addison Reed. Things got interesting with a second Renfroe homer.
It got more interesting with Manuel Margot and Hector Sanchez hitting back-to-back singles to get the tying runs on with just one out. Jabari Blash JUST missed a homer with the ball going foul and just missing the pole.
Reed settled down, struck out Blash, and got the final two outs to save the 5-2 game.
It may have been just a mirage with this being a deGrom start, but the Mets look good again just as they’re selling.
Game Notes: Zack Wheeler was put on the DL with an arm injury. Tyler Pill will be in the bullpen for now, and Chris Flexen will be called up on Thursday to take his spot in the rotation.
After what has largely been a disappointing career for Rafael Montero, it certainly seems odd to ask him to have a better final pitching line than seven innings, seven hits, three runs, three earned, one walk, and four strikeouts. Considering where he’s been in his career, this line seems like nothing short of a miracle. Certainly, you would take that line from Jacob deGrom and be quite happy.
However, it is not the pitching line yesterday that is at issue. It was the way those three runs scored.
You hate to see the Mets fall down 1-0 early with Montero allowing a solo home run to the second batter of the game, Marcus Semien. By the way, the sooner that guy gets out of New York, the better. After entering the series as a .151/.300/.247 hitter with no multi-hit games, he went off on the Mets. In the series, Semien was 7-13 with a homer, three RBI, and two stolen bases.
Even with the Mets falling behind early, the team would tie it with Michael Conforto hitting his 19th home run of the season off Atheltics starter Daniel Gossett:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/889201912360439808
Right after that game-tying third inning home run, Montero would allow the Athletics to jump right back ahead in the top of the fourth. The pitch Khris Davis hit out was middle-middle meaning Montero just failed to execute.
The Mets would rally back in the sixth inning to once again tie the score. Jay Bruce would hit a lead-off single, move to third on a T.J. Rivera double, and he would scored on a Jose Reyes RBI groundout. Wilmer Flores walked to continue the rally, but Rene Rivera could not punch home that go-ahead run. It would cost the Mets as Montero would go right back out there and allow the Athletics to take the lead again.
This time, Montero allowed a solo homer to Matt Chapman. Again it was a poorly executed pitch over the heart of the plate to a player with plus power.
Overall, Montero allowing just three runs over seven innings is the latest sign of his turnaround from enigma to a major league caliber starting pitcher. It’s also impressive that even with him allowing these homers he didn’t melt down. He went right back to working to get the next out. With him pitching like this, there definitely will be a spot for him on the 2018 Mets roster.
However, while Montero is making these strides, he needs to begin making that next step. That step is shutting down the opponent when your team either ties the game or take the lead. Make no mistake, the Mets loss on Sunday was on the Mets offense for not producing against a poor Athletics starter. However, Montero played a role in allowing those home runs to come at the worst points imaginable.
So yes, Sunday was a step forward for Montero, but it was not as big a step forward as we may want to believe.
Game Notes: This could have been the final home game for Curtis Granderson (0-3, BB), Bruce (1-4, BB, K), and Lucas Duda (0-4, K) as a Met. Conforto was 2-4 with the homer.
The problem with Zack Wheeler is we don’t know why he is struggling so mightily. Is it because he hadn’t pitched in over two years due to his Tommy John surgery? Is it because there is some injury he and/or the Mets are hiding? Is this just him being the same pitcher he has always been in his career?
The right-hander has not won a game since May 20th losing his last five decisions. He has not pitched past the sixth inning since June 7th. No matter what you want to look at, he just hasn’t been good.
Tonight would be no exception. On the second pitch of the game, Matthew Joyce would hit a homer to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead. When Wheeler then walked Marcus Semien, you knew it was going to be a rough night for Wheeler.
In that poor first 36 pitch first inning, Wheeler allowed four runs on three hits and four walks. He allowed the aforementioned homer and a double to Bruce Maxwell. He put his team well behind the eight ball, and he put them further behind as he grooved a 92 MPH fastball over the heart of the plate to Matt Chapman, who hit a long home run.
Not to belabor the point, but if Wheeler is throwing 92 MPH fastballs, something is wrong here. Something’s really wrong when you’re walking an American League pitcher. With this diminished stuff and his continued control issues, he didn’t give the Mets much of a chance. His final line was five innings, seven hits, five runs, five earned, four walks, and six strikeouts. He needed 1oo pitches to just get through the fifth.
The Mets looked dead in the water, but fortunately for once their bullpen kept them in the game. The Mets would get a scoreless inning from Josh Smoker and two scoreless from Josh Edgin. It didn’t look like this work would matter much as A’s starter Sean Manaea was straight dealing.
That was until the sixth inning. After a Wilmer Flores double, Jay Bruce would put the Mets on the board:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888930030058967040
Unlike the old adage, the homer did not kill the rally. Jose Reyes tripled, and Travis d’Arnaud brought him home with an RBI single. Curtis Granderson then came into the game as a pinch hitter. Granderson hit a grounder that would normally have been an inning ending double play. Because the A’s had the shift on, it gave Granderson an opportunity to beat the throw to first. That would allow d’Arnaud to score the third run of the inning, and it would give Michael Conforto an RBI opportunity.
Since Conforto was called-up to the majors, he was given little chance to prove he could hit left-handed pitching. For some reason, he was benched against them until it almost became a self fulfilling prophecy. However, with all the injuries, the Mets have not had the same ability to bench him against lefties. During this season, Conforto has proven those previous decisions to be just plain silly, and he did it again tonight.
On the night, Conforto would go 2-5 with a double and one RBI. That double and RBI came in this sixth inning at-bat when he hit an opposite field double scoring Granderson from first pulling the Mets to within 5-4.
The Mets would then get a chance in the eighth. After a T.J. Rivera lead-off single, it looked as if the Mets had things cooking with Reyes at the plate. Reyes has been hitting well of late, and he was great in tonight’s game. Overall, he was 2-4 with two triples and a run. This at-bat was not one of those two triples as he hit into a double play.
d’Arnaud, who was having a great game of his own going 3-3 on the night, got the two out double over the head of A’s center fielder Rajai Davis. The Mets then announced Lucas Duda as a pinch hitter, and the A’s countered with the left-hander Daniel Coulombe. Duda stayed in on the pitch, and he hit a single up the middle easily scoring d’Arnaud and tying the game.
After a Hansel Robles scoreless ninth, it set the stage for another Flores tears of joy moment:
https://twitter.com/JFialkow305/status/888949318719242240
The last time Flores hit a walkoff homer, it helped propel the Mets into the National League East title. This homer the Mets have a four game winning streak, but it may still be too little too late. Still, that does not mean we should enjoy this 6-5 win any less.
Game Notes: With the trade rumors swirling, Asdrubal Cabrera started the game at third base. This was Robles’ second win in as many days.
For those of us that forget, the New York Mets really had no interest in re-signing Jose Reyes after the 2011 season. When he signed with the Marlins in the offseason, there was a war of words between the two camps with Reyes saying he never received an offer, and Sandy Alderson saying Reyes’ agent was aware of the framework of the type of deal the Mets might be willing to do.
Since leaving the Mets, Reyes was roundly booed as a member of the Marlins, was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, and finally had an overly brief and turbulent career with the Colorado Rockies. For reasons we all know, and need not be discussed in-depth at the moment, it led to the Rockies releasing Reyes. This also led to Reyes re-uniting with the Mets.
Last year, he was decent with the Mets helping the team make the postseason by obtaining the top Wild Card spot. The Mets brought him back as David Wright insurance, and he has struggled for most of the season. So far, Reyes is hitting .231/.293/.392. That’s good for a 79 OPS+ and a -0.8 WAR. Not to belabor what you already know, but Reyes has been a bad baseball player.
It’s bizarre we all know it, but the Mets don’t. Reyes’ 90 games played leads the Mets this season. Part of that is he hasn’t been hurt. An even bigger part of that is Terry Collins and the Mets organization won’t or can’t admit Reyes isn’t good. This is of course reflected in how the social media team has inundated us with Reyes since the All Star Break with tweets like this:
A man of the people. pic.twitter.com/Ovn5sg29Ce
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 12, 2017
Jacob deGrom is the ace. Michael Conforto is the All Star. Yoenis Cespedes is the most important player. Curtis Granderson is the role model. Addison Reed, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Jay Bruce are the players on the trade block. Yet, somehow, the Mets have made it a point to feature Reyes despite his poor play and his personal issues.
Yes, Reyes has played better of late, but he has been nowhere near as good as Conforto, Duda, deGrom, or Seth Lugo. You wouldn’t know that by looking at how the Mets promote their players.
Sure, this is a silly gripe, but when the Mets have nothing to play for this season, you tend to notice these things. Maybe if the Mets did the right thing by calling up Amed Rosario fans could focus on that. Maybe, just maybe, the team could promote him. I think we can all agree that is beneficial for everyone.
On a night surrounded with turmoil over what were largely benign comments from Yoenis Cespedes about how he wanted to return to Oakland at the end of his career, it was a player who began his career with the Mets who dominated the game.
In what has been a breakthrough season where Michael Conforto has supplanted Cespedes as the team’s best player, he put on a performance similar to what we’ve seen from Cespedes.
In the third inning, Conforto would give the Mets a 2-1 lead with an absolute bomb that almost hit the Shea Bridge:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/888549796323184640
The Mets had trailed 1-0 before that homer due to what was an uneven performance for Steven Matz.
The A’s began the game by loading the bases with no outs. It was beginning to look like his last two poor starts. The entire tone of the inning, and perhaps the game, changed when Khris Davis hit into a 6-4-3 double play. A run scored on the play, but the rally fizzled.
Matz gave the 2-1 lead back in the fifth.
Rajai Davis single and stole second. On the steal, Davis broke early, and Matz threw to first. Lucas Duda made a perfect throw only for Jose Reyes to whiff on the tag:
https://twitter.com/mlbreplays/status/888560049752203264
It cost the Mets as Davis came to score on a Marcus Semien RBI single. Semien came into the game only hitting .151, so naturally, he went 4-5 with a run and two RBI.
Semien then scored on a Ryon Healy base hit giving the A’s a 3-2 lead.
Still, Matz would not get the loss because of a Mets sixth inning rally.
The rally began with an Asdrubal Cabrera lead-off walk. He moved to second on a Cespedes one out single. Duda then hit a grounder to the A’s first baseman Healy. It took a funny hop and hit him in the side of the head.
Healy came out of the game, and the bases were loaded. T.J. Rivera then hit a go-ahead two RBI single that became a comedy of errors. Actually, error as there was one error on the play.
On the single, Duda was thrown out by Davis trying to hit first to third. Rivera, the trail runner, went late to second. A’s third baseman Matt Chapman threw it into right field allowing Rivera to complete the Little League homer.
The Mets 5-3 lead would balloon to 7-3 as Conforto hit his second homer in the game:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/888575204275998720
On what was another great night for Conforto, he was 2-4 with two runs, two homers, and four RBI.
The Mets would need those insurance runs as the bullpen almost had a complete meltdown in the eighth.
Erik Goeddel got the chance to shut the door, and he was ineffective. He allowed a lead-off single to Matthew Joyce, and then Josh Phegley doubled to center.
It was a play a regular center fielder makes, but Conforto is a corner outfielder by trade. In any event, there were runners on second and third, and they both came home to score on a Jed Lowrie single.
Addison Reed was then brought in for what seemed to be his second multiple inning save in three days.
Reed first walked Davis on a 3-2 pitch he swore was a strike. Key word here is swore as he began to get into a war of words with Home Plate Umpire Dan Iassogna, who was chomping at the bit for a fight. Or as Keith Hernandez put it:
Keith said Red Ass. So that was pretty cool
— The Coop (@Coopz22) July 22, 2017
Following another Semien RBI single, the A’s were within 7-5 with the bases loaded and one out. With all the left-handed batters due up for the A’s, Terry Collins took the ball from an angry Reed and gave it to a struggling Jerry Blevins.
Blevins has allowed 25 inherited runners to score, which is the fifth worst in the majors. Naturally, he would get out of that jam unscathed, and he’d pitch a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.
It was another bizarre game for the Mets on another bizarre day. At least the Mets came up on top.
Game Notes: Hansel Robles got the win after pitching a scoreless sixth. Cespedes was 3-4 with a run and a double against his former/future team.
* The headline was a joke. Please lighten up about Cespedes’ comments.
It is nice to see the Mets win a game because the other team had mental lapses in the field, poor managerial decisions, and had a bullpen blow a late lead and finally the game. Through the first 82 games, that seemed to be the Mets specialty. Today, in what was mostly a lethargic afternoon game, the Mets got bested by the Cardinals in something they had seemingly mastered.
Through the first 4.2 innings, Seth Lugo had a no-hitter going. Somewhere someone must’ve taken notice and said something because Greg Garcia hit a double for the Cardinals first hit of the game. Still, things were in good shape for the Mets because Lugo erased Garcia, and the team had a 1-0 lead.
That lead came because Lucas Duda hit a second inning homer against Cardinals starter Lance Lynn:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888078198524841984
The sizzling hot Duda has homered three times over his last five games. Duda was also good in the field saving his infielders from a few errors. Most notably, his scoop of a bad T.J. Rivera throw in the seventh saved a run. Hopefully, one of the teams that needs a 1B/DH, and there are more of them than people will lead you to believe, have taken notice.
That 1-0 lead evaporated in the sixth. After a one out walk to Matt Carpenter, Tommy Pham, who has been killing the Mets of late, doubled him home to tie the score. Once again, Lugo settled in, shut the door in the sixth, and he pitched a scoreless seventh.
The Mets hurler deserved the win with his outstanding performance, but will have to settle for a no decision. His final line was 6.2 innings, four hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and five strikeouts. With him and Lynn out of the game, it became a battle of the bullpens, and a battle of wits between the managers.
With Erik Goeddel getting the last out of the seventh, Terry Collins turned to him to pitch the eighth. It’s hard to fault Collins when everyone else in the bullpen is terrible, but the decision backfired when Pham hit a 3-1 pitch out of the park to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. With the way this game was going, and with how poorly the Mets have played of late, it seemed like this was how the game was going to end.
That was until Mike Matheny thought it was a good idea to let the left-handed Brett Cecil pitch to Wilmer Flores in the eighth. Everyone and their mother knows Flores crushes left-handed pitching. Matheny either didn’t know that, or didn’t care. That decision cost him as Cecil hung one to Flores:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888108826888556544
From there, the Mets turned to the one reliever in their bullpen that they can have confidence – Addison Reed. Reed did his job pitching a scoreless ninth thereby giving the Mets a chance for a walk-off victory.
The ninth inning rally started with Michael Conforto drawing a lead-off walk against Trevor Rosenthal. It was another excellent game for Conforto that has gone unnoticed. On the day, the Cardinals allowed eight baserunners (six hits and two walks). Conforto accounted for four of those with him going 2-2 with two walks on the day.
Conforto would be erased on the basepaths on what initially appeared to be a double play ball off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. Credit should be given to Cespedes for busting it down the line and keeping a runner on base. It paid off as he went first to third on a Rivera single. He would then score on what should have been the last out of the inning:
https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888108826888556544
That Jose Reyes “single” was the improbable winner that sent Mets fans home happy, and it enraged Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter:
I love Matt Carpenter. The look on his face, exasperation as he yelled "Trevor!" was priceless. Furious and rightly so. #STLCards #Mets
— Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) July 20, 2017
It was nice to be on the other side of one of these games this year. It was also nice to earn a split in the series. Even if the Mets aren’t going anywhere, it is still always a joy to beat the Cardinals. At the very least, it was a pleasure helping ensure they didn’t get the sweep they needed to get back into an NL Central race that is suddenly in flux.
Game Notes: Neil Ramirez was designated for assignment before the game to make room for Josh Smoker on the roster.
In a nine inning game, the Mets had as many errors as they had base hits (three). In consecutive innings, T.J. Rivera made errors leading to two unearned runs.
That doesn’t even begin to mention the slow motion attempt by Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes in the second which could have limited the damage to 2-0. Instead, the Mets got one out and allowed the Cardinals to score three runs in the inning effectively ending the game.
Between the lack of offense and the terrible defense, Rafael Montero took the loss. Unlike most of the losses in his career, Montero didn’t really deserve this loss. His final line was six innings, seven hits, four runs, two earned, one walk, and five strikeouts.
Certainly, Montero showed enough to more than justify the Mets giving him another start.
Aside from Montero, the only positive from tonight’s game was Michael Conforto going 2-4 with a double. If you want to really stretch things and look for positives, Hansel Robles pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts.
In reality, a bad Mets team was shut out by Michael Wacha (CG SHO). They’re a bad team playing disinterested baseball. Games like this usually get managers fired. Considering this is far from the first time this has happened this year, it’s safe to assume Terry Collins finishes the year as the manager.
If that’s the case, the Mets dropped the ball worse than Lucas Duda did in the seventh.
Game Notes: The Mets left side of the infield has a -27 DRS which is by far the worst in the minors.
Because nothing can ever go easy for the Mets, we got to see Yoenis Cespedes leave the game after this awkward slide in the sixth inning:
"We were just talking about the health of his legs." No kidding. pic.twitter.com/qcn4Ug9CDR
— Meditations in Panic City (@MedInPanicCity) July 16, 2017
Before that play, things could not be going better for the Mets. After yesterday’s 14-2 victory, the Mets quickly went up 8-0 in tonight’s game.
After Tyler Chatwood issued back-to-back walks to Michael Conforto and Asdrubal Cabrera to begin the top of the first, Jay Bruce would drive them all home:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886367979788791808
The rally continued, and the Mets would score their fourth run when Travis d’Arnaud would single home T.J. Rivera. Rivera had reached via the walk. After he walked, Chsteood came out of the game due to injury.
As if four first inning runs weren’t enough, the Mets would pile on three more in the second inning.
The second inning runs were all unearned as Bruce reached on a two out error by DJ LeMahieu. The Mets did capitalize starting with a Rivera RBI single scoring Cespedes. Bruce and Rivera would score on a Lucas Duda RBI double.
The Mets eighth run would be provided by Lugo himself:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886382537244913665
As you can surmise from Bruce, the Mets pulled that old shtick:
Silent treatment for Seth Lugo….very sad. pic.twitter.com/Tu9N5FQCj1
— MetsKevin11 (@MetsKevin11) July 16, 2017
Lugo’s first career home run was certainly a high light, but it was not his only highlight of the evening. Lugo went out there, and he dominated the Rockies for five innings.
The Rockies did get to him for two in the sixth with the help of Cespedes’ aforementioned divot. The double set up second and third with one out. After a Gerardo Parra sacrifice fly and a Raimel Tapia double, the Rockies pulled within 8-2.
The Rockies tacked on another run in the seventh on a Charlie Blackmon two out RBI triple. At that point, Terry Collins wasn’t taking any chances. He brought in Paul Sewald, who struck out LeMahieu to get out of the inning. That strikeout closed the books on a terrific start for Lugo.
Lugo’s final line was 6.2 innings, seven hits, three runs, three earned, two walks, and five strikeouts.
He would get the win as Sewald, Jerry Blevins, and Addison Reed would combine to pitch 3.1 scoreless.
With the scoreless work out of the bullpen, and a Reyes’ eighth inning homer, the Mets would win 9-3.
With the win, the Mets are now 8.5 games behind the Rockies for the second Wild Card, and the team is six games under .500. The team is beginning to make a run. The question right now if this is too little too late . . . especially with Cespedes having to leave the game.
Game Notes: Curtis Granderson replaced Cespedes in the sixth. The Mets have now won
If the Mets really want to go on that second half run like they’ve done the past two years, the run needs to begin now. It needs to begin now because the Mets have put themselves in a deep enough hole. It needs to happen now because the Rockies are in town.
For the Mets to get on that run, their pitching needs to be great, and Yoenis Cespedes needs to get going. Tonight, that happened.
Jacob deGrom shook off an unearned first inning run to completely dominate the Rockies. Over eight innings, he only allowed four hits, two runs, one earned, and one walk with 10 strikeouts.
The Rockies had an opportunity to score a third run in the sixth, but Cespedes nailed DJ LeMahieu at home plate. It was a typically strong throw from Cespedes, and it was a great tag by Travis d’Arnaud. The lesson as always is you do not run on the tandem of Cespedes and TdA.
Got heeeeeem! @ynscspds shows off the cannon to nail the runner at the plate. ?
9-2 #Mets | Mid-6 pic.twitter.com/F0qoQuDZP6
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 15, 2017
In addition to this throw, Cespedes was great at the plate once again going 4-6 with a run, double, and an RBI.
Two of Cespedes’ hits came in a six run third inning where the Mets knocked Rockies starter Jon Gray out of the game, and they blew the game open.
Cespedes got the inning started with a double. Both he and Jay Bruce would score on a T.J. Rivera RBI double. Rivera would come around to score on a Jose Reyes single.
The Mets would keep the rallying going loading the bases with no outs. After a deGrom strikeout, Mets All Star Michael Conforto knocked in a run with an RBI groundout. An Asdrubal Cabrera RBI single later, and the Mets were up 8-2.
From there, the Mets used a pair of homers to tack on runs:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886026068272062464
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/886039800356188161
Rockies reliever Scott Oberg loaded the bases in the eighth, and he walked Cabrera to bring home the 13th run. Cespedes followed with an RBI infield single to cap off the Mets scoring on the night.
It was a complete offensive onslaught where every batter in the Mets lineup reached base at least two times. That includes deGrom, who is a good hitter in his own right:
Jacob deGrom has a league leading 12 hits as a pitcher, second most is three guys with 8.
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) July 15, 2017
This is the type of onslaught where you can at least dream of the Mets making a run. Certainly, there’s an opportunity ahead of the trade deadline. There’s an opportunity when the Mets playing up to their abilities like they did in tonight’s 14-2 victory.
Game Notes: This was deGrom’s seventh double digit strikeout game and 17th of his career. Nolan Arenado seemed to injure his hip running through the bag at first base, but initially stayed in the hand. Later, he was pulled. It was unknown if an issue flared or if it was due to the blowout. Josh Edgin pitched a scoreless ninth.
Mets uber prospect Amed Rosario has been extremely busy of late. Last weekend, he had to fly out from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Miami, Florida to be the starting shortstop in the Future’s Game. From there, Rosario would fly out to Tacoma, Washington to be the starting shortstop in the Triple-A All Star Game. Over the past week, Rosario literally played shortstop from coast to coast.
It seems everyone wants him to play shortstop for their team. That is everyone but the Mets.
As it turns out, Mets fans aren’t the only ones perplexed over why Rosario is in Triple-A. Former Major Leaguer Billy Ripken was puzzled why Rosario was in the Triple-A All Star Game instead of playing in Flushing. MLB Pipeline‘s Jim Callis pointed out Rosario is ready to be an everyday shortstop at the major league level right now.
On the very first play of the game, Rosario showed us all why he is major league ready. On a routine fly ball to medium depth left field, Rosario was in position to make the play himself. Later in the game, he stole a base against Rays prospect Mike Marjama, who has throw out 48% of base stealers this year. Overall, in a game where he was 0-4, Rosario showed the skills that will make him a special major league player.
Watching the Future’s Game and the Triple-A All Star Game, you realize there are just no excuses remaining why Rosario is not in the majors right now.
We know he can hit. On the season, he is hitting .327/.365/.474 with 16 doubles, seven triples, seven homers, and 52 RBI with 16 stolen bases. Over his past nine games, he is hitting .415/.432/.537 with a double, two triples, three RBI, and three stolen bases.
We know he’s an upgrade defensively. Mets shortstops have combined to post a -15 DRS, which is the worst in the majors. Seeing his range, and the scouting reports, Rosario has the range to play the position, and play it quite well. He would be a boon to a pitching staff that has been struggling.
And it’s not like the Mets shortstops have been making up for the poor fielding with their bats. The shortstops have combined for an 85 wRC+. That’s why their -0.4 combined WAR is the among the worst in all of baseball. Arguably, anyone would have been an upgrade. Rosario should be a massive upgrade even if he struggles out of the gate.
Between him being an upgrade and the Super Two deadline having passed a long time ago, it really is time for Rosario to come up to the majors. The Mets need his offense and defense. Rosario could also benefit from being mentored by Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera. Considering the Mets are intent on selling, the time for such an arrangement could possibly be dwindling. Between that and the Mets coming up on a soft part of the schedule now is a good time to call him up.
Now would be a good time for the Mets to find out why everyone but them want Rosario to be their shortstop.