Ronnie Mauricio
Mark Vientos was drafted in 2017, and he’s now on his seventh general manager. Maybe that’s part of the reason the Mets keep pushing him aside for other less producing players.
When Vientos was drafted as a shortstop, he was almost immediately moved to third base. He hasn’t been great there defensively, which is a large part of his problem.
The biggest issue for Vientos was Brett Baty being drafted in the first round of the 2019 draft. It was a new regime, and they identified their third baseman of the future.
The other issue has been Ronny Mauricio. In 2017, he was given a then Mets record signing bonus. Mauricio is blocked at his natural shortstop, and the question has been where does he eventually land.
Of these three players, Vientos is the only one with any success at the Major League level. Last season, he was a monster with 27 homers and a 133 wRC+.
Vientos was arguably the Mets best hitter in the postseason. Over the Mets 13 games, Vientos hit .327/.362/.636 with five homers. That included three homers in the NLCS.
We hoped Vientos would springboard from that. Unfortunately, he’s having a lost season.
Typically a slow starter, Vientos had a bad start to the season. Then, he was injured. Somehow he got Wally Pipped by Baty and Mauricio.
Baty has a 92 wRC+. Since June 1, he’s hitting .198/.257/.330. The Mets are pushing him over Vientos for this complete lack of production.
Mauricio has been better with a 107 wRC+. Like Baty, he can’t hit left-handed pitching with a .118/.167/.118 batting line. That is despite the fact Mauricio is a switch hitter.
Since Vientos returned from the IL, he’s started just five games over an eight game stretch. He’s become a short-side platoon option.
Last season, Vientos had a 127 wRC+ against right-handed pitching. That’s far better than the numbers Baty and Mauricio are producing. More than that, it’s just solid proof and evidence Vientos can hit right-handed pitching.
It’s gotten real bizarre. In the series finale against the New York Yankees, Carlos Mendoza lifted Vientos for Mauricio. It did work in the short term as Mauricio and Baty would get back-to-back pinch hits.
Now, it needs to be noted it worked in a vacuum. Those consecutive pinch hit singles were part of two run inning which saw the Mets pull within 5-4.
Yankees left-handed reliever Tim Hill allowed a single to Mauricio. That was just his second hit in 18 at-bats against left-handed pitch. Baty, and his 39 wRC+ against left-handed pitching, followed. He hit into a double play ending the Mets last real chance of the day.
The Mets would lose 6-4. It’s just one loss for a team that is having an otherwise very good year. That said, this loss highlighted the Mets biggest problem.
They gave up on Vientos.
Vientos has struggled, and he’s not forcing the Mets to play him. He’s being treated as a short side platoon option, and it’s hurting the team.
Make no mistake, Baty has not been good this year. Mauricio has shown flashes, but he’s still limited. Unlike Vientos, both players are just platoon options.
The Mets have a massive hole at third base. Their lineup is shallow. Both of these issues are directly related to Vientos.
Vientos started the issue by struggling and getting hurt. The Mets made it worse by giving up on him for a player in Baty who continues to show he’s not a starter at the Major League level.
It’s time to give Vientos some run. Let him get back to last year’s form (the same player he was in the minors). If they invest in him, the Mets lineup will be complete, and they will have their best postseason hitter from last year ready to help the team on another deep run.
According to Baseball America, Major League Baseball is considering eliminating 25 percent of Minor League baseball for a number of reasons including the need to pay players a living wage. Part of that is the elimination of stateside short season minor league baseball.
For the Mets, that means no Kingsport Mets or Brooklyn Cyclones. With respect to the Cyclones, there are kinks which could be worked out allowing the Mets to keep them as an affiliate in some fashion.
But Kingsport, they’d be as good as gone.
Instead, they could be a part of a “Dream League.” That would be a league of now unaffiliated teams who catch undrafted college players. That’s a fairly steep drop in cache for affiliates like Kingsport.
For example, in 2018 Kingsport had significant prospects like Jarred Kelenic, Ronny Mauricio, Simeon Woods Richardson, and Mark Vientos. This year, Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty played for Kingsport. That’s a reason to not just go to the ballpark but to also follow the team.
Then again, just having a team in Kingsport, TN is reason to follow the team.
The Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves are nearly five hours away. The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals are over six hours away. Those are the closest options meaning if you want to see a baseball game live your best bet is the Kingsport Mets.
The question is whether Kingsport can continue operations without an affiliation with the Mets and having a roster of players like T.J. Rivera at the point in Rivera’s career where he was a complete nobody with little to no chance of making it to the majors.
Remember, Kingsport needs a new park. While the Mets would help now, that won’t happen if Kingsport is not part of their system two or three years from now.
Where does that leave Kingsport? Well, it likely leaves them on the brink. They need a new ballpark, and with them needing to help pay player salaries in the new “Dream League,” you wonder just how much longer they can continue operations.
If they’re gone, the State of Tennessee has one fewer professional baseball team. The City of Kingsport loses baseball period. That’s a missed opportunity to grow the game in what is mostly football country.
Really, when you look at things, Baseball is the only league without a Major League team in that state. To that end, you’d wonder why baseball would not want to try to find a way to keep fans engaged in that region as much as they possibly can to grow the game.
In the end, this is about punishing players for not being able to afford living off wages below the poverty line. In doing that, Major League Baseball is going to cut its nose off to spite its face.