4:45pm: As expected, Vientos has been placed on the 10-day IL with a right hamstring strain, per Will Sammon of The Athletic.
8:45am: The Mets are calling infielder Ronny Mauricio back up to the majors for what’ll be his first MLB action since 2023, as first reported by Mike Rodriguez. Mauricio missed the entire 2024 season after suffering an ACL tear during winter ball in the 2023-24 offseason and began the 2025 season on the injured list as he finished up his rehab from the resulting knee surgery.
Mauricio’s return to the big leagues dovetails with a potential injury for third baseman/designated hitter Mark Vientos, who left last night’s game with discomfort in his hamstring after running out a grounder in the 10th inning. Skipper Carlos Mendoza noted after the game that it “didn’t look good” for Vientos following that exit and added that the slugger went straight to have imaging performed. The results of that MRI haven’t yet been shared publicly, but Mauricio traveling to Los Angeles to meet the Mets certainly seems to suggest an IL stint for Vientos could be forthcoming.
Still just 24 years old, Mauricio has ranked among the Mets’ top prospects for upwards of six years now. Originally signed out of his native Dominican Republic eight years ago, he’s had a relatively slow climb to the majors — granted, in large part due to that injury — but now looks poised for an opportunity of some note. He received a 26-game cup of coffee late in the 2023 season and batted .248/.296/.347 in his first 108 MLB plate appearances. Were it not for last year’s knee injury, Mauricio very likely would’ve gotten a larger opportunity in 2024.
The question of how to juggle playing time and opportunities for the promising young infield group of Mauricio, Vientos, Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña has loomed over the Mets for some time, but that quartet has never been healthy enough simultaneously to force the issue. Early this season, Baty increasingly looked to be the odd man out, but he shook off a slow start and has been hitting well enough to cut into Vientos’ time at third base. After collecting only three hits in his first 10 games of the season, Baty has tallied 101 plate appearances with a hearty .280/.330/.548 slash (146 wRC+). He’s homered six times and added three doubles, two triples and a pair of stolen bases along the way.
As Baty’s bat heated up, both Vientos and Acuña cooled. Acuña’s month of May was even rougher than Baty’s first week-plus; he hit .204/.252/.222 last month and is hitless in three plate appearances since the calendar turned to June. Vientos, meanwhile, carried above-average production at the plate into mid-May, but he’s batted just .191/.250/.298 in his past 52 turns at the dish. All the while as that balance of playing time shifted in the majors, Mauricio was reacclimating to the rigors of pro ball and readying for another opportunity — one that now looks to have presented itself.
Mauricio posted an awful .125/.176/.188 line with a 35.3% strikeout rate in his first 10 games back from the injured list, which were split between Class-A and Double-A. With his rehab complete, the Mets unsurprisingly optioned him to Triple-A rather than call him up after that performance in the lower minors. A return to Triple-A Syracuse coincided with a return to form at the plate. Mauricio has played in nine Triple-A games and collected multiple hits in seven of them. He’s ripped three homers and a double, all while drawing the same number of walks as strikeouts (five) in 39 plate appearances.
The Mets would probably have preferred to see Mauricio draw out this hot streak a bit longer — both given the extent of his initial struggles in the low minors and because he’s yet to play on three consecutive days at any point in his return to action. He’s only played on consecutive days six times since his return to the field on April 27. The Vientos injury likely forced the Mets’ hand, however. Mauricio may end up in a limited role early on, sharing time at third base with Baty, at second base with Acuña and Jeff McNeil, and at DH with Starling Marte.
It’s your time, young man.
Time to trade Brett Baty to the the the Brewers for Civale and Quintana
Those are pitchers that are more likely to be traded for pennies or DFA’d
Are you talking about the same Quintana of the 2.77 ERA?
Or do they have another one?
Nope. The one that can’t pitch to teams with disciplined hitters. See NLCS.
Mets fans may have a beef with Quintana. I don’t know. But as a Brewers fan I know he has been pitching well this season (7 starts… maybe small sample size?). He has a 120 ERA+ since 2021, and that is not a small sample size.
The idea of sending a 3B to Milwaukee for pitching isn’t a bad one. The Brewers are finally starting to get some arms back. But to think they don’t like Quintana is just wrong.
douglasb: We have no beef with Quintana, not that it’s up to us anyway.
But the Mets have the second-best record in MLB without him, and he wouldn’t make the team any better.
They don’t need more veteran pitchers
There’s a reason the Mets didn’t resign Quintana. And Manaea will be back soon enough.
I’m curious. What was the reason? Because he has already given the Brewers 1.0 WAR and they could let him go after this season for $4m and that seems like a good contract.
Quintana peripherals are pretty atrocious.
The mets dont need to send Baty for Quintana, they have no need for Quintana whatsoever, didn’t offer to resign him, baty alone is an overpay for a guy who won’t move any needle for the mets.
Mets aren’t overpaying for pitchers over 35 anymore as you saw this offseason
Have you seen the Mets pitching?
This is obtuse. Mets do NOT need another SP.
Holmes
Senga
Peterson
Megill
Canning
Blackburn
Manaea
Montas
29 teams didn’t want Q, until desperate times for the Brewers. You are smarter than 28 GMs.
Mets have the best staff in baseball, already have six starters, and have an additional two starters (Manaea and Montas) working back from injury, and you want to trade a young third baseman who might finally be putting it together for more starting pitching. Even ignoring the fact that the Mets already passed multiple times on Quintana in the offseason, this is one of the stupidest posts I’ve seen here in a while. If it’s a troll, bravo.
For the record, I don’t make this trade as the Mets. Just disputing the valuation of Quintana.
Wrong. Time to play Baty so he can develop into a star. Have you been paying attention to how he’s been playing?
Mauricio stinks
Troll
His improved plate discipline makes me think he has a real shot to succeed as a regular. Can’t be too much worse than Vientos has been, at the very least.
“His improved..worse than Vientos”.. After starring for last year’s Mets, the disappointing Mark Vientos has quickly played himself into being the next likely odd man out.
Vientos’ injury may be a good thing for the team. I don’t wish ill will on him but he was slumping big time
Vientos’s injury does two things for the Mets:
1) It gives Vientos time off followed by games in the minor leagues ( after he rehab’s his leg) without the stigma of being sent down. If he gets his swinf corrected in that time, good for him and the Mets.
2) it gives Mauricio the chance to test himself against big league pitching without the Mets worrying about committing to keeping him up if he does NOT carry his current AAA hot streak going. And if he does stay hot and makes a statement to stay up, then the slumping Acuna can be sent down.
I lnow Vientos has been swinging over ans sometimes under pitches he recognized and crishes last year. But when he hit them, he has elite wxit velocity.
And Mauricio has elite exit velocity as well when he hits. Hopefully, he continues to recognize pitches in the major leagues, because i love to see the ball jump off his bat, too.
sophmore jinx. Has happened to so many guys who end up righting the ship
Wow. Not much into statistical avgs are you guys? Vientos has a ..438 career slg. He’s 25.
Vientos has increased his walk rate, and decreased his K rate. Not sure if it is cause or coincidence, but his quality of contact and production have taken a nosedive at the same time.
Lindor. 31. 59/60 games at SS. More games off … or at least off of SS?. DH … and getting him reps at 3rd? Start getting someone like Ronnie reps at SS as the aging Lindor ages. Yes? No? Maybe?
Lindor is still in his prime. He plays SS.
The Mets have played 60 games and Lindor has played short in 59 of them. He’s on the wrong side of 30. Agree, in this moment, “he is still in his prime”.
Suggest more breaks; both to rest him and to get someone else reps to be ready to go fulltime if Lindor goes IL.
Lindor won’t take time off unless forced to
I see your point Scdd. Hmm.
How about this? ASK him if he would consider giving up short from time to time but staying in the line up as a DH … and also suggest to him getting reps at 3rd just in case, as he’s aging, moving over there fulltime proves logical? It happens. Ripken in Baltimore did that, A Rod too.
Lindor doesn’t need rest.
Very different situations. Ripken did it at 35 or 36 and Arod did it because Jeter was the captain of the Yankees. I think everyone knew Arod was the superior defender but he deferred to Jeter.
Lindor doesnt fit either criteria and using your arod example didnt the guy he moved over for in jeter stay at short until he was 40?
Good idea to give Lindor an occasional day off. Either Mauricio or Acuna can sub in.
You’re on a roll, Roll. Point taken. But still, come on, 1 day off 60 games in. Oof.
and the only reason he took that day off was because his child was born.
Agree with getting Lindor more rest. He’s under contract thru 2030. The time to start conserving him is now, not after he starts to fade. 154 games a year is plenty, he doesn’t have yo play 158 or 160. Disagree with giving that time at SS to Mauricio, who has been a terrible SS throughout his minor league career.
Says who?
Say everyone, and says the numbers. His poor SS fielding has been noted and talked about throughout his minor league career. They’ve only stopped talking about it recently because he’s changed positions. His error rate at SS is 37.3 per 150 games. Thats abysmal. And it wasn’t just early in his career. that rate was 35 in double-A. And his admittedly tiny AAA sample would translate to 42 errors per 150 games there.
Bust
.515 in aaa
What took them so long to call him up??
He’s only really gone off in the past 2 weeks. Was very slow before that. Prospects aren’t going to supercharge a team. If anything, they weaken them.
Reality.
Vientos, Baty, Mauricio, Acuna, McNeil, Alonso, Torrens, Alvarez, what is going on here?
A New York team with only one infielder that didn’t come through the system?
Hey, don’t forget Nick Madrigal!
Right!
It’s a new day! Uncle Steve, Stearns, and Mendoza as a group are top notch.
Torrens came from NYY.
Lindor from Cleveland.
Torrens was a mistake, my bad. Lindor wasn’t mentioned.
And Acuna came from the Rangers, for Scherzer.
Oh poop, I can’t keep track. i wish there was some place to get this information.
Mauricio is an awful fielder if anyone was wondering. Hes super utitlity but hes bad at everything. With that being said, I’ve always loved his bat and his speed. He’d make a great DH
You’re the first one I’ve heard say he’s awful in the field. He looked fine to me in 2023. He’s probably lost some range with the knee injury but his hands and arm are still solid. I’m not saying he’s a Gold Glover but he’s no worse than an average infielder.
@Camikey just don’t be shocked when he makes 3 errors in 10 games. He is better than Vientos (really not saying much) but hes way behind Acuna and McNeil in terms of fielding prowless
@LFGMets
MLB Pipeline:
50 glove – which is average
60 arm – above average.
@camikey also dont be shocked if the “expert” is wrong for the 99th out of 100th time this season.
@LongTimeFan1 Check what rating Ahmed Rosario got for his fielding and get back to me. He was supposed to be an amazing fielde at SS but he was below average. These random ratings that are given out are by people that know nothing about baseball
Awful fielder? Huh? Athletic as all get-out.
what they need to do us trade McNeil. free up at bats for the young kids
McNeil has a .817 OPS so far this year. He’s been one of their best hitters since returning from injury.
134 OPS+ to boot.
And he plays multiple positions. This is a very good version of Jeff McNeil.
@Frank Fds McNeil has not been a problem this year. Marte needs to be the one to go
While i am not a fan of dealing McNeil as he is my fave met since daniel murphy, he probably has the most value of tradable not young talent. Especially if you want a usable piece back.
No one is taking Nimmo, and Marte will not get much back and will probably need to give something for trading with it definitely being money and maybe a lower level prospects for even a lottery pick back. Taylor doesnt get you back much and you need him at this point unless you find someone better.
@Roll,
McNeil is likely to become odd man out with so many young middle infield prospects either with the major league team already, or on their way. So it really depends on how Mets view the logjam and whether they see Acuna and Jett as future infield/outfield super utility players. McNeil’s value is his experience and versatility. If they hold onto that it might come down to trading one of Acuna/Williams.
If Mauricio is a keeper, maybe even trade Vientos. They can’t keep all these young players if they keep McNeil. They made need to trade one of the youngsters even if they don’t. .
Nimmo’s going to be career-long Met. Full no-trade clause.
@LongTimeFan… What you’re saying is true, but a bit premature. We still haven’t established exactly what caliber of player each of these youngsters really is. Are they all future starters? Maybe, maybe not. And even if they are, it doesn’t mean they are ready to assume that role just yet. And let’s not forget that the Mets are actually in contention this year. The off season, or next trade deadline might be a better time to deal McNeil, once we know for sure if and which of these youngsters is a starter. Also bear in mind that the Mets only have 3 real OFs right now, 4 when Siri comes back. They currently have no DH lined up for next year. McNeil’s ability to play LF allows them to put Nimmo at DH when his legs act up.
Let’s hear all the haters on this one. It’s Ronny’s world and we’re just living in it baby. Absolute right call. If not for the injury he’s an all star today. Let’s go.
You might turn out to be right. A lot of talent.
I don’t know about all star but solid big leaguer who could hit 30+ homers steal some bases but have no set position. He has to get on base enough/put the ball in play. The latter is key.
Guy is a freak waiting to happen. Speed still plays power holds enough and he’s a great contact hitter. Baseball rat too and I think yea you can call the play on vientos injury but really not only has he earned this he deserves it.
Super pumped for him as we all should be.
Mauracio would have had the job in 24 easily to start year if not for his injury. This guys going to be special but the numbers are saying that not the player today.
Don’t miss out most of you balked st PCa too and I under shot that 30-50 🤷♂️mauracio is .300+ no 33 33 at his peak he just needs to get into the groove and stay healthy.
Let’s not get carried away here. Mauricio is a tremendous talent. In spite of that and the excitement he generated, he still wound up with just a .651 OPS, and a 67 OPS+ in ’23. Yes, he certainly would have played last year. But to say he “would have had the job in 24 easily to start year” is almost baseless. He would have been part of the competition. Whether he would have won or not is mere guesswork.
Acuna and Baty got it with far less production. The only knock on this guy is his health on account of his love of baseball.
I don’t like the ops argument because people wanna knock numbers for it on PCa too and he’s king of the hill in the national league
Acuna did not get the job to start the year – he only got called up very late in the ’24 season. Baty only got the job after what some thought was a strong spring, and on a roster that deficiently started the season with only 5 IFs instead of 6. Perhaps Mauricio would have gotten that 6th IF spot if healthy, but what he would have done with it is anybody’s guess. Whether or not Mauricio would have outplayed Baty in spring to win the starter’s role is also anybody’s guess. . Saying he would have had it easily is unfounded.
I agree that OPS (and statistics in general) is not the be all and end all. I’m just pointing out that Mauricio was not yet a dyed-in-the-wool, hands-down major league starter. He’s a very exciting talent – more talented than Baty or Acuna, IMO. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he was/would have been ready for the full-time role at the start of ’24. We never now how long its going to take for these youngsters to stick in the majors. Its normal and common for them to go back and forth to the minors a few times for a year or two before sticking.
Ronny’s better career minors hitter than Baty atleast. It’s .262 to .271 I was surprised Acunas bat played better but Ronny is more breakout and rehab. Acuna at .280
Baty made it over the glove not the bat. Was the right call but the vientos stuff wasn’t he needed to be up day one.
I still say smart play is move Acuna to of and take the super versatility out of ronny. Bays out of favor and just get what you can out of him.
I do think out of the 3 in 23 mauracio played himself into that job before the injury yes he just needs to be healthy and he’s going to be a freak with abs
I recall Central Park in fall.
Good short-term showcase to raise his trade value.
Ronny Mo looks completely lost at the plate. Planless, flailing, NOTHING like his terrific stretch in AAA.
Acuna looks more lost the longer he’s in MLB.
Alvarez started out on fire then hasn’t hit in two years.
His 5th time in the majors, and Baty only recently topped a 100 OPS+ but still has a .279 OBP.
Vientos collapsed this year.
Mauricio’s already forgotten how to hit.
Someone’s not doing right by the Mets young hitters.
Hoping this kid can supplement some of the power lost in the lineup with Vientos injured.
“Meanwhile” has to start the sentence, not come in the middle between commas.