It might be too little, too late. But at least the Mets are giving us a lreason to be curious about the rest of the season.
Ronny Mauricio gave us a glimpse of why he might have the highest ceiling of all the prospects the Mets had before the Eppler Purge in July.
WELCOME TO THE SHOW, RONNY!
Ronny Mauricio doubles in his first major league at-bat! pic.twitter.com/bRblm4iZwK
— SNY (@SNYtv) September 1, 2023
That hit was the hardest hit by a Met all season. (It would be comical if it wasn’t true.) And I’m not one for making too much of a big deal out of exit velocity. (Pay attention to when SNY flashes the “hardest hits of the game” graphic. 7 times out of 10 the hardes hit ball of the night is either a single or a ground out.) But it just shows you the tools that Mauricio has that, if honed correctly, will make him into a star.
I thought Dontrelle Willis on the Apple TV broadcast menioned him in the same vein as Elly De La Cruz a little too much. I mean, let’s pump the breaks on those comparisons until Ronny has a few weeks in. But Ronny looks like the kind of player that can go on a huge heater much like De La Cruz. As long as he doesn’t swing at everything (not that he did that tonight, I just mean in a general sense), and learns one position well enough to park him there (in other words, don’t make the same mistake they made with Wilmer Flores and have him be a bad defender at four different positions), then he might hit the ceiling that he has which, in my mind, would make him something special.
Kodai Senga is already something special. That Mariners team he faced hit .285 in August with an OPS of .864. For refence, the Mariners hit .282 with an OPS of .859 in all of their wins this season, when you would expect the numbers to be high. They maintained that pace for an entire month. Senga shut that team down tonight. The team with Julio Rodriguez who had 28 hits in the previous 10 games.
3 straight strikeouts in the inning gets Kodai Senga to 10 strikeouts on the night 👻
(via @AppleTV) pic.twitter.com/8jSDxVjyba
— SNY (@SNYtv) September 2, 2023
He struck out 12 in seven innings, and five with RISP in the 6th and 7th. He’s got stats, and he’s got stats when it matters. He’s figuring out pitching in America, and we’re learning that he’s got a little bulldog in him to go along with the stuff he has. He’s going to be a treat to watch the next three seasons.
The Mets didn’t waste Senga’s outing, though they tried. Logan Gilbert shut them down through the first five innings and was absolutely cruising. But Brandon Nimmo’s 20th HR of the season tied the game, and Daniel Vogelbach’s slap hit to the left side gave the Mets the lead for good at 2-1. Drew Smith came on for the save and scared the hell out of everyone when he walked Cal Raleigh to start the inning. But Jose Caballero broke pinch running rule number one: DON’T GET PICKED OFF!!! He did, and Smith got through the rest of the inning without too much of an incident and the Mets denied the Mariners a chance to push the Rangers and Astros away. The rest of the season doesn’t matter, but at least watching Senga and Mauricio will make it a little more fun.
Today’s Hate List
Speaking of the Rangers, our old friend Max Scherzer was pitching a one-hitter through six innings at 88 pitches. Bruce Bochy, for some reason, took him out.
Give you three guesses what happened next:
Luplow goes oppo! #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/fBHCRzRjbj
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 2, 2023
Colo just being a copycat. 😏#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/aq2KqhsLNC
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) September 2, 2023
The Rangers’ bullpen is the last bullpen you want to overmanage with, Boch.
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