Ronny Mauricio gets the call to the majors

You never know what’s going to happen. Yet there were people who spoke with complete certainty how the Mets were not going to call up Ronny Mauricio until he had significant time in Triple-A under his belt. But two things happened that resulted in Mauricio to get the call back to the majors. First, he torched the ball at Syracuse. Second, an injury happened at the major league level to Mark Vientos that made for plenty of playing time. And the result is that Mauricio is joining the Mets in Los Angeles.

Here’s what I wrote on May 24 in response to someone who was positively convinced that a Mauricio call-up was not imminent:

Absolutely no one who doesn't work in the Mets' front office has any clue when or if Mauricio will get promoted.

Right now, Mauricio has 47 PA in the minors, which is essentially what an MLB starter would have in Spring Training. Soto had 46, Lindor had 66, Vientos had 55 this year. He's played at three different levels and didn't hit at all in the first two. He's had a nice start in three games at Triple-A. I'm sure the Mets want to see him hit for more than three games before calling him up.

As for innings played in the field, it's not like he's playing three innings and coming out. In his last three starts in the field, he played 25 innings, twice not coming out in the field in the 9th inning when his team had the lead and it was unlikely he was going to hit again.

You told me that A.J. Minter wasn't going to start the season with the Mets because he didn't pitch in back-to-back games. But Minter made the Opening Day roster without clearing that alleged hurdle. I would view Mauricio's promotion in the same way. If he's proven to the club's satisfaction - whatever that standard may be - that he's ready to hit MLB pitching, they'll call him up.

I don't pretend to know what the club's standard for a Mauricio promotion is. But if he plays six games in the next week and gets 24 more PA - and most importantly hits well in that span - then I don't find it unreasonable that the clubs (sic) would promote him if there was some substantial playing time available because someone was hurt or under-performing.

Here’s what Mauricio did since that comment: 6 G, 26 PA, .455/.500/.591 – not too shabby.

A few days later, some additional thoughts on Mauricio were written in a column, rather that a comment. Here was my take on May 29:

My opinion is that the Mets should promote Mauricio in the near-future, assuming he doesn’t revert to a bunch of strikeouts in the interim. He can replace Acuna on the roster. Mauricio offers the same multi-position flexibility that Acuna does, while offering a reasonable pinch-runner option, too, even if he’s not quite as fast. But there’s more offensive upside with Mauricio, who should be given that same starting percentage (64.4%) that Acuna enjoyed earlier in the year. The Mets can run a time share at 3B and DH with Brett Baty, Mauricio and Vientos. Essentially, that trio should play two out of every three games, at least until someone demands more playing time.

Mauricio played three games after that piece was posted. In that time frame he had 3 BB and 1 K. Overall, in his nine games for Syracuse, Mauricio had 5 BB and 5 Ks in 39 PA. That was a massive improvement over what he did when he first returned to live action. In his first 10 games after missing over a year due to injury, Mauricio had 2 BB and 12 Ks in 34 PA split between Lo-A and Double-A. Plate discipline will continue to be a concern in the majors. Just because he did well in Triple-A doesn’t mean that MLB pitchers won’t potentially be able to exploit him.

Earlier, my speculation was that there was enough playing time for Baty, Mauricio and Vientos to each receive enough at-bats to remain sharp. And with Vientos out of the picture, it’s possible for both Baty and Mauricio to play 90% or more of the time. The main thing to be determined is where each of them will play. Baty has looked sharp at third base but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Mauricio get some time at the hot corner, too.

During his time in the minors this season, Mauricio played six games at second base and seven at third base. And while my expectation is that he’ll see most of his time here in the next little bit at DH, my opinion is that he’ll see starts in the field, too.

It won’t surprise me at all if Carlos Mendoza eases Mauricio into the lineup. He’s still going to want to give playing time to Luisangel Acuna, Starling Marte and Jared Young. But my expectation is that he’ll get significant playing time after a week to 10 days in the majors, if not sooner.

Of course, Mauricio is going to have to perform to keep getting that playing time. We’ve already seen Acuna’s playing time drop once the hits stopped falling in for him. Yet one thing to keep in mind is that we saw Mauricio have success in Triple-A – 532 PA with an .852 OPS in 2023 – while Acuna did not hit at the highest level of the minors. If given enough PA, our expectation should be that Mauricio will hit, too.

Again, we never know what’s going to happen. Maybe Mauricio comes up and hits like Michael Conforto in 2015, when he had an .841 OPS in 194 PA. Or maybe he hits like Baty in 2023, who had a .598 OPS in 389 PA. All we can do is consider the odds and act accordingly.

My opinion is that with a full-season’s worth of good hitting at Triple-A under his belt from 2023, combined with the equivalent of a full Spring Training’s worth of rehab in the minors here in 2025, that Mauricio is better positioned for success than either Baty in 2023/2024 or Acuna in 2025. It’s too bad that it took an injury to Vientos to push the Mets to act. Hopefully, Mauricio runs with this opportunity and establishes himself as an MLB-quality starter.

As soon as he came to the Mets, David Stearns talked about needing to give young guys a shot. Stearns also said that the shot wouldn’t necessarily be at the very start of the year. Vientos got a shot during the 2024 season and took advantage of it. Now it’s Mauricio’s turn to do the same thing.