The month of Ronny Mauricio begins tonight!

The Mets welcome the Mariners to Citi Field as get set to debut their latest highly touted prospect. Also, Brett Baty will be returning to the Mets on Friday night

Justin Mears

Sep 01, 2023

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets were off on Thursday and will begin a three game weekend series with the Mariners tonight at Citi Field
Highly touted infield prospect Ronny Mauricio will join the Mets tonight, as will third baseman Brett Baty and RHP José Buttó
The Mets fired several members of their front office on Thursday, specifically on the player development side of the organization (MMO)

Prospect Watch 🔎

RHP Joander Suárez (No. 5 prospect, Double-A Binghamton): 6 IP, 1 BB, 6 K
OF Stanley Consuegra (Single-A Brooklyn): 3-for-4, 3 RBI, 2B, 3B, 2 R
SS Marco Vargas (No. 8 prospect, Single-A St. Lucie): 2-for-4, RBI, BB, R

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (61-73) vs. Mariners (76-57)

Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY

Starting pitchers: RHP Kodai Senga (10-7, 3.17 ERA) vs. TBD

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: Apple TV+

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The month of Mauricio is finally here! ✍️

At long last, the day is finally here. Why it took this long, well, who knows.

With rosters expanding today for the final month of the season, the Mets are calling up their heralded switch-hitting infield prospect, Ronny Mauricio.

And thus, September baseball just got a whole lot more interesting in Queens.

Is it meaningful September baseball? For Mauricio it is.

Mauricio is uber talented with a standout blend of both power and speed. In 116 games with Triple-A Syracuse this season he’s slashed .292/.346/.506 with 23 home runs, 71 RBI, 30 doubles, three triples, and 24 stolen bases. Had he stayed in the upstate New York for the rest of 2023 he would’ve had a legitimate shot at completing a 30-30 season in the minor leagues.

While his talent can’t be questioned, his fit and future in Queens very much can.

Mauricio is a natural shortstop and given the presence of Francisco Lindor, he’s just not going to play position number six with the Mets. The organization began exposing him to both second base and left field this summer, and how well he can handle either one of those positions will likely determine if he can or cannot become a cornerstone player for this team.

The Mets are fortunate to have such a defensively versatile player in Jeff McNeil who has now actually played every position on the field other than pitcher and catcher. The veteran is especially adept at both second base and left field, which is why those are the spots the club was trying to teach Mauricio. Whichever one he can handle the best, they know McNeil can play the other.

I’d expect when the Mets lineup for tonight comes out this afternoon Mauricio will be at second base, but a lot of things regarding this situation are fluid.

The simplest way to analyze it is this, though.

The Mets have 28 games remaining on their schedule in 2023. And they really need to get a healthy gauge on what Mauricio can do at this level to help set their off-season agenda.

Regardless of what position he plays on the diamond, the Dominican Republic native will be expected to hit, and his performance at the plate is instantly going to be the team’s most interesting storyline down the stretch.

His defense will likely be a work in progress, and at times it might not be the prettiest thing on the diamond, but that’s what these final month’s worth of games are about - this is a tryout for Mauricio, Brett Baty, and pretty much everyone else on the diamond not named McNeil, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor.

The Mets would love nothing more than for the kid to hit the ground running and make it impossible for the club to not consider him a day one starter in 2024. But how realistic is that? Three of Mauricio’s closest friends, Baty, Francisco Alvarez, and Mark Vientos have all been here for significant amounts of time this season, and all three have endured their share of growing pains.

But the experience that trio has gotten at the sport’s highest level is invaluable and will undoubtedly help them moving forward. And if the three of them—in addition to Mauricio—were to all figure it out at the same time it would really become one of the feel-good stories in club history.

If the Baby Mets all established themselves as cornerstone players, with veterans Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and McNeil, the Mets would boast an incredibly exciting everyday line-up.

Of course, a month’s worth of September games can’t always be fairly evaluated, especially against some of the other second-division teams they’ll be playing at times.

Still, that’s obviously best-case scenario and things often don’t go to plan, but hey, it doesn’t hurt to be optimistic. For now, the best thing to do is take things day by day, and one thing is for certain, all eyes will be on Mauricio from now until the end of the 2023 campaign.

Around the League 🚩

The Tigers walked off the Yankees thanks to a 10th inning error by Gleyber Torres
Jazz Chisholm Jr. crushed a three-run homer and Braxton Garrett fired six strong innings as the Marlins topped the Nationals 6-1
The Braves won a wild 8-7 game over the Dodgers in LA as Ronald Acuña Jr. became the first player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs and steal 60 bases in a season