The New York Mets have certainly established an intriguing crop of prospects pushing towards the upper levels of the minor leagues. The position player ranks are littered with talent, including shortstop Ronny Mauricio, who has gotten hot of late for AA Binghamton. Mauricio is the focus of this week’s edition of Minor League Mondays.
The top addition in the Mets’ international free agent class of 2017, Mauricio received a $2.1 million signing bonus to join the organization. Things took a big leap forward for Mauricio after the pandemic when he put together a 20-homer campaign between High-A Brooklyn and AA Binghamton last season. Mauricio only got a cameo appearance with the Rumble Ponies at the end of last season, which made Binghamton the perfect place for him to start the 2022 campaign.
In 34 games for the Rumble Ponies this season, Mauricio is batting .270 with six home runs and 24 RBIs in 141 at-bats. The raw power is certainly developing nicely for Mauricio, who has already added 12 doubles and a triple to the six bombs he has stroke so far this season. Mauricio is a switch hitter with more pop from the left side but the key to his development as a hitter will be his ability to improve his pitch selection. The Mets have tried to work on getting Mauricio to chase less, a problem since he has 41 strikeouts already in 141 at-bats, an area he will need to work on as he continues to face more advanced pitching.
Mauricio is also a solid defensive prospect at shortstop thanks to a strong arm and excellent fielding instincts. The one downside for Mauricio is that he doesn’t have a ton of speed, which may force him off of shortstop in the long run. That isn’t a bad thing for the Mets since Francisco Lindor is locked into the position for the next decade but does make projecting a fit at the big league level trickier for Mauricio.
MLB.com has rated Mauricio as the team’s third-best prospect behind Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty, who are his teammates with the Rumble Ponies. Baty’s best position is third base, which is also the position of fellow top prospect Mark Vientos, making a move to third a tough one for Mauricio since he has to outdo several other prospects in the long run.
That move won’t come immediately, however, so the Mets will likely leave Mauricio at shortstop for this season in order to try and let him focus on making improvements at the plate. The long-term play for Mauricio may well be a trade in order to upgrade another area of the roster, such as the starting rotation after this season. Trade discussions will certainly be a part of Mauricio’s future, which will likely result in most of the season being spent at AA Binghamton with a cameo at AAA Syracuse if all goes well. Mauricio’s progress is worth tracking this season and he will likely attract the attention of opposing scouts working for teams that could match up with the Mets on potential deadline deals.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
