Wednesday catch-all thread (2/26/25)

Please use this thread all week to discuss any Mets-specific topic you wish.

There’s one spot among position players available for the Opening Day roster and it’s overwhelmingly likely that it will be filled with an infielder. There are two main considerations for the team to weigh. The first is if it’s okay for the spot to be filled by a young player to get sporadic playing time, rather than regular at-bats in the minors. And the other is how important is it for the player to have experience playing shortstop.

Luisangel Acuna, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio are the youngsters vying for the spot. Yet, each comes with at least one red flag. For Acuna, it was his noodle bat at Triple-A. For Baty, it’s the fact he has limited experience at 2B and virtually none at SS. For Mauricio, it’s that he missed all of last season.

With Francisco Lindor at shortstop, who plays virtually every inning of every game, the need for a reserve to play short is probably the lowest for the Mets than any other team in MLB. But just because it’s low doesn’t mean it’s zero. But how high does it have to be to justify carrying an inferior hitter? We saw last year that carrying Zack Short and Joey Wendle as reserves for their ability to play good defense at up the middle positions was less than ideal.

Of course, there are also veteran options in camp, most notably right now is Donovan Walton, who has MLB experience at 2B, 3B and SS.

To me, it’s a pretty easy decision. While Walton has experience - it’s all bad. In 205 PA in MLB, Walton has a (-1.3) fWAR. He should be the last option. Mauricio needs to see quality pitching after missing last year. He would also benefit from better strike zone judgment.

Acuna’s best claim for the spot is that he’s a shortstop. If the Mets had someone besides Lindor at the position, it might make sense to carry Acuna. But the youngster would be best served by going back to Syracuse and being (at least) a team-average hitter. Last year, the Syracuse team had a .767 OPS, compared to the .654 mark of Acuna. And before you say that Acuna hit better as the season progressed, know that in his final 154 PA at Syracuse, he posted a .629 OPS with a .294 BABIP. That’s, um, not good.

So, by default, the choice is Baty.

Still, it wouldn’t be the worst thing if the Mets were somehow miraculously able to find a taker for Starling Marte and allow the Mets to carry someone with SS experience to be on the roster.