Braves Outright Ian Hamilton
Right-handed reliever Ian Hamilton went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment by the Braves and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Gwinnett, per Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As a player who’s been outrighted previously (and who has three-plus years of MLB service), he’ll have the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency.
Hamilton made only one appearance with Atlanta. He was tagged for three runs in an inning of work. He fared better during his initial run with Gwinnett, holding opponents to a pair of runs with a 9-to-1 K/BB ratio in 6 1/3 innings of work.
The 30-year-old Hamilton has pitched 151 1/3 innings in the majors. In addition to this very brief appearance with Atlanta, he’s pitched for the White Sox, Yankees and Twins. The 2016 11th-rounder (White Sox) has a 3.75 ERA, though most of his success came in a 2023 season that saw him post a 2.64 ERA in 58 frames with the Yankees. He’s generally posted mid-4.00s ERAs in his other exposure to big league hitters.
Hamilton has little problem missing bats. He’s fanned more than one quarter of his major league opponents and carries a career 14.5% swinging-strike rate. He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a nice 45.9% clip, avoided home runs and avoided hard contact in general. He’s far too prone to walks, however, as evidenced by a career 11.3% mark.
Even if Hamilton elects free agency, the Braves have a habit of passing veterans of this ilk through waivers and quickly re-signing them. They did so with Jesse Chavez for several years and have done so with both Carlos Carrasco and Martín Pérez over the past calendar year.
Can Any Expected Contenders Escape The Early Holes They’ve Dug?
It's commonplace for at least one postseason hopeful to run into unexpected struggles early in the season. In the past, we've seen World Series aspirants and Wild Card hopefuls alike shoot themselves in the foot with sloppy April sequences that jeopardize their visions of October baseball. In some instances -- the 2022 Phillies, the 2024 Mets and, most notably, the 2019 Nationals -- teams are able to rally and make good on those playoff goals. For those 2019 Nats, they went so far as to win the whole thing. Nary a baseball fan in D.C. will ever forget the significance of the 19-31 record they faced roughly one-third of the way through the season.
More commonly, however, a disappointing April can prove to be a backbreaker. Fans need only look as far back as the 2025 Orioles to see a would-be contender whose awful early performance sunk their season before it ever had a chance to get going in earnest. The Orioles wrapped up April with a 12-18 record. By the midway mark of May, they were 15-27 -- buried by nine and a half games in the American League East and with their postseason hopes all but dashed.
There have been plenty of oddities so far in the 2026 season. Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery are the first pair of teammates in MLB history with active streaks of homers in four or more consecutive games. (Oh, and Miguel Vargas has gone deep in three straight.) We're about one-sixth of the way through the season and Mason Miller has fanned a superhuman 71% of his opponents through 11 1/3 innings. Tigers phenom Kevin McGonigle, who skipped Triple-A entirely and broke camp as a 21-year-old, ranks fourth in the majors in Baseball-Reference WAR or fifth in FanGraphs WAR, if you prefer.
But the strangest development of the 2026 doesn't focus on any one player's individual efforts. To see the most bizarre facet of the season's first month requires a step back and a more macro look at the league as a whole.
Entering play Thursday, the four worst teams in baseball weren't the Rockies, Nationals, Twins or any other widely expected cellar dweller. Instead, the bottom-four records belong to the Royals, Phillies, Mets and Red Sox -- four clubs that entered the season with clear designs on contending. Fifth-worst are the White Sox -- not terribly surprising -- followed by the sixth-worst Astros. One game up in the standings are the Blue Jays and Mariners, last year's ALCS opponents.
In any given year, seeing one or two of these clubs faceplant out of the gate wouldn't be all that remarkable. Teams fall short of expectations all the time -- often well short. But to see seven clubs who entered 2026 as win-now teams populate bottom-10 spots in the leaguewide standings with more than four weeks of the season in the books is fairly incredible.
Is the season lost for any of these clubs? Not quite yet, but the margin for error has all but eroded. For most of these clubs -- especially the bottom four -- it's going to take something close to .600 ball the rest of the way to end up in contention. Let's take a look at this year's most disappointing clubs at the season's one-month mark to see if there's a chance of a rebound and, if not, who they might have to begrudgingly listen on at this year's Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription
- Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
- Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
- Remove ads and support our writers.
- Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript
Anthony Franco
- Good afternoon, hope all is well!
- Looking forward to another of these, let's get it going
M
- Which under .500 teams do you think are most likely to make the post season, and which above .500 teams do you think are most likely to regress and miss out?
Anthony Franco
- Seattle on the positive side. There are a handful of teams a little above .500 that I doubt are playoff teams (A's, Tampa Bay, St. Louis) but most of the teams at the top of the league feel about right
- Cincinnati's the exception, I guess, but they're a viable NL Central threat or Wild Card team even if they're punching above their weight right now
JimJam
- Realistic expectations for Giolito in SD?
Anthony Franco
- Better than Matt Waldron, Germán Márquez and Walker Buehler
- Would guess he's a true talent mid-4.00s ERA pitcher at this point but a fine fifth starter. More intrigued by what they'll get out of Canning once he comes back though
Guest
- How much longer are the Brewers going to let the left side of the infield not hit before making a change?
Anthony Franco
- Just don't have alternatives right now. Jett Williams and Cooper Pratt aren't hitting in Triple-A and they clearly don't trust Tyler Black there defensively
- Calling up 18-year-old Jesús Made straight from Double-A (where he has 23 games played) is too aggressive. Maybe by late season he forces his way into the picture but just have to ride it out for now
Dave Dombrowski
- It's July 15 and the Phillies are 15 games out of a playoff spot. Zach Wheeler, who has promised to retire after the possibly unplayed 2027 season, is pitching reasonably well and improving with each start. Do I trade him for the best available return, or hope '26 is a blip and '27 is actually played?
Anthony Franco
- Can't see any way that Wheeler's getting traded. They have to assume the '27 season is getting played -- would put the odds less than 2% that the entire season gets banged -- and they'll still be all-in even if this year is a complete disaster
Cat_Herder
- All of the off-season talk was Skubal and Framber. Thoughts on Casey Mize? He's looking like a solid mid-rotation starter right now. Especially with Jack not looking reliable and Verlander still rehabbing.
Anthony Franco
- I don't feel much differently about him than I did entering the season. Splitter has gotten much better results than it did last year but that's kind of always been the one plus pitch
- Solid mid-rotation starter seems right. Good player, agree he's their third-best arm with Reese Olson out
RAGBRAI
- Is Curtis Mead anything to be excited about this year or next for Washington?
Anthony Franco
- Probably not given the career production but I don't have a great explanation for why he hasn't at least been a slightly above-average hitter
- He hit throughout his minor league career and the pitch recognition, contact skills and bat speed are all serviceable
- Still not a great overall player given the lack of athleticism and defensive value but I'm not completely out on him being able to carve out a career as a bench bat
- I know I can’t keep THIS up, but can I continue to be REALLY good? Maybe go for the Cy Young?
Arrer Prone
- MLBTR has been saying Soriano is a really good pitcher, but after last year I was beginning to wonder. Clearly I was wrong, but does it surprise you at just how dominant he's been this season so far? And does this put him as the clear Cy Young candidate, or at least in the running, or is it still too early?
-
Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription
BENEFITS- Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
- Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
- Remove ads and support our writers.
- Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
Brewers Designate Luis Matos For Assignment
The Brewers announced that they have recalled infielder/outfielder Tyler Black and left-hander Shane Drohan. In corresponding moves, they have optioned right-hander Carlos Rodriguez and designated outfielder Luis Matos for assignment.
Matos, 24, was once a top prospect with the Giants. However, he struggled to click in the majors and exhausted his option years. Coming into 2026 out of options, the Giants couldn’t fit him onto their Opening Day roster, so he was designated for assignment.
The Brewers took a shot on him, sending cash considerations to San Francisco in exchange. Matos has been on their bench so far this year. He has stepped to the plate 21 times in nine games, producing a .200/.238/.200 line in those. He has now been squeezed into DFA limbo yet again, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Brewers could take as long as five days to see if there’s any trade interest.
The major league track record doesn’t provide much optimism, as Matos now has a .230/.279/.363 line in 614 plate appearances spread across four seasons. Any interest would be based on his past prospect pedigree and minor league production. He was a notable international signing and was considered a top 100 guy a few years ago. He’s been a better hitter in the minors but he’s been more good than great lately. He slashed .268/.329/.469 on the farm over 2024 and 2025 for a 104 wRC+.
If Matos lands somewhere else, he will need to be on the active roster, due to his out-of-options status. He has between one and two years of service time. If he does click on another roster, he can be controlled for four seasons after this one. If he were to clear waivers, the Brewers could keep him as non-roster depth.
Parting with Matos allows the Brewers to call up Black. He has also been a notable prospect in recent years but hasn’t been able to carve out much big league playing time. He was sent to the plate 70 times over the 2024 and 2025 seasons and was only able to produce a .211/.357/.263 line in that small sample.
He’s been much better in the minors. Dating back to the start of 2023, the first year he reached the Triple-A level, he has a combined .270/.395/.453 line and 128 wRC+. His 15% walk rate and 19.7% strikeout rate in that span are both a few ticks better than average.
His future defensive home has been more of a question. He has some experience at the non-shortstop infield positions and the outfield. The Brewers haven’t had him at second base since 2022 and he hasn’t played third since 2024. Even though they’re not getting much production from the left side of the infield right now, Black apparently won’t help in that regard.
He’s been playing the outfield corners more than first base this year, so perhaps the Brewers will have him in the outfield mix, since Jake Bauers is doing okay at first. They currently have Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and Akil Baddoo on the injured list. That leaves them with Sal Frelick, Garrett Mitchell and Brandon Lockridge getting the playing time in the outfield, with Greg Jones and Blake Perkins on the bench. Mitchell is the only guy in that healthy group with a wRC+ above 95 at the moment, so perhaps Black can charge in ahead of the other guys. There’s also the designated hitter spot to consider, though the Brewers are largely using that to split playing time between catchers William Contreras and Gary Sánchez.
Photo courtesy of Mark Hoffman, Imagn Images
Mariners Trade Casey Legumina To Rays
2:08pm: The teams have announced the swap. Tampa Bay opened a spot on the 40-man roster by transferring Uceta from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.
12:55pm: The Rays are going to acquire right-hander Casey Legumina from the Mariners, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Mariners, who designated Legumina for assignment last week, will receive minor leaguer Ty Cummings in return, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Tampa has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make the deal official. Legumina is also out of options and will need an active roster spot when he reports to the team.
Legumina, 29 in June, is in his fourth major league season. He got limited looks with the Reds in 2023 and 2024. He was designated for assignment before the 2025 season and flipped to the Mariners. Seattle gave him a decent amount of time in the big leagues last year but he didn’t do much with the opportunity. He tossed 49 2/3 innings, allowing 5.62 earned runs per nine. His 25.1% strikeout rate was pretty good but he also gave out walks at a high clip of 11.4%.
As he struggled to produce decent results, the Mariners optioned him to the minors a few times. That burned his final option and left him out of options here in 2026. He held his roster spot to begin the year but couldn’t turn a corner. In 11 2/3 innings, his 4.63 ERA was an improvement compared to last year but with less impressive underlying numbers. He showed better control by only walking 5.7% of opponents but also saw his strikeout rate drop to 17%.
Maintaining that ERA was going to be tough, as a big factor is that he hasn’t allowed a home run yet. Also, his velocity is noticeably down. His four-seamer averaged 94.3 miles per hour last year but is down to 93.5 so far this year. His sinker has gone from 93.8 to 93 mph while his slider has dropped from 81.1 to 79.7 mph.
That got him bumped off the Seattle roster but the Rays will take a shot on him. Tampa is out to a strong 13-11 start but it’s no thanks to their bullpen. Their relief pitchers have a collective 5.64 ERA, worse than every team in the majors apart from the Astros and Royals. Injuries have taken a toll on the depth. They lost Manuel Rodríguez to Tommy John surgery last year. Both Steven Wilson and Edwin Uceta began the season on the injured list due to spring injuries. Since the regular season started, they have lost Garrett Cleavinger and Mason Englert to the IL.
The healthy guys haven’t stepped up. Yoendrys Gómez, Ian Seymour and Griffin Jax have each thrown at least nine innings and no one in that trio has an ERA below 7.00. Bryan Baker, Hunter Bigge, Kevin Kelly and Cole Sulser have been a bit better but each member of that quarter has an ERA above 4.00. There’s room in there for Legumina to earn some innings, especially if he can regain some of last year’s strikeouts and velocity.
To get Legumina on their big league club, the Rays are subtracting from their farm system. Cummings, now 24, was acquired as the player to be named later in the 2024 trade which sent Randy Arozarena to Seattle. Now the Mariners get Cummings back a little over a year later.
The right-hander has mostly worked as a starter in his minor league career. Prior to the first trade, he tossed 116 1/3 High-A innings in 2024 with a 4.17 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate. In 2025, he pitched in Double-A and Triple-A, logging 123 innings. His ERA improved to 3.29 but with a reduced 17.6% strikeout rate and 47.1% ground ball rate. So far in 2026, he’s been pitching in relief in Double-A. He tossed 5 1/3 innings over three appearances with a 1.69 ERA, 33.3% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 45.5% ground ball rate.
Perhaps the Mariners are intrigued by that recent bullpen move or maybe they will want to stretch him back out. Either way, they are probably happy to get back a guy they drafted, while giving up a guy they had already cut from their roster. Cummings will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this December if not added to the 40-man roster.
Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images
Phillies Recall Alex McFarlane For MLB Debut
The Phillies announced that they have recalled right-hander Alex McFarlane from Double-A Reading. He’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. The Phils had an open roster spot due to yesterday’s moves, where they released Taijuan Walker and optioned Alan Rangel while recalling Nolan Hoffman.
McFarlane, 25 in June, was a fourth-round pick in 2022. The Phils tried him as a starter in the lower levels without much success. He underwent Tommy John surgery late in 2023 and missed all of 2024. Back on the mound in 2025, the Phils tried stretching him out again for a while, but moved him to a relief role late in the year. His final ten appearances were out of the bullpen. He wasn’t particularly impressive in those, with a 4.50 earned run average, 22.4% strikeout rate and 12.1% walk rate.
The Phils still believed in McFarlane th the point that they didn’t want him to get scooped in the Rule 5, so they added him to their 40-man roster in November. Baseball America ranked him the club’s #19 prospect coming into the year. FanGraphs put him at #14, highlighting the huge spin on his slider. He threw a splitter as a starter but both BA and FG suggest he would likely move to be more of a fastball/slider guy as a reliever.
He has started this year back at Double-A with some intriguing results. It’s only 6 1/3 innings but McFarlane has only allowed one earned run while striking out ten. However, there is some wildness, as he has walked four and thrown two wild pitches.
The Phils have been pushing their pitching staff a bit lately. Today will be the eighth game in a stretch of ten without an off-day. In the past five, their starter/bulk guy hasn’t gone more than 5 1/3 innings. That has left the relief group to pitch a lot, including five relievers in yesterday’s ten-inning loss to the Cubs.
McFarlane will give the club a fresh arm for tonight’s game. It’s possible he’ll be optioned back down right after. The Phils are planning to reinstate Zack Wheeler from the injured list to start Saturday’s game, so someone will have to be sent out for him. Since it could just be a short assignment, the Phils are going with McFarlane since he’s on the 40-man roster, skipping him over Triple-A. After the game, perhaps he will be sent back to Double-A Reading but heading to Triple-A Lehigh Valley is also a possibility.
Photo courtesy of Morgan Tencza, Imagn Images
Mets Select Carl Edwards Jr.
1:15pm: The Mets have now made it official, announcing they have selected Edwards and optioned Scott.
12:37pm: The Mets are going to select the contract of right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. from Triple-A Syracuse, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. Fellow righty Christian Scott will be optioned in a corresponding active roster move. The Mets have two open 40-man spots, so Edwards can fill one of those vacancies.
Edwards, 34, has had productive stretches in the past with the Cubs and Nationals. He’s barely pitched in the majors over the past couple seasons, however, logging just five total appearances (six innings) in 2024-25. He’s spent the bulk of those seasons in Triple-A between the Padres, Cubs, Rangers and Angels organizations.
Edwards has worked exclusively as a reliever in the majors. All 300 of his big league appearances have come out of the bullpen. He worked as a starter with the Triple-A clubs for the Padres (2024) and Rangers (2025), however, and that’s the role he’s had so far in Syracuse. He’s started four games and pitched to a 5.29 ERA across 17 frames. He hasn’t missed bats at his typical levels (just an 18.5% strikeout rate) and has battled with command. However, the Mets need some length after Scott didn’t make it out of the second inning in yesterday’s game; David Peterson and Tobias Myers both threw 40 or more pitches in long relief and will be unavailable today.
If Edwards makes it into a game with the Mets, they’ll be the ninth MLB team for which he has suited up dating back to his 2015 big league debut. Edwards, who won a World Series ring as a key member of the Cubs’ 2016 bullpen, carries a lifetime 3.56 earned run average, 28% strikeout rate, 12.7% walk rate, 42.1% ground-ball rate and 0.88 homers per nine innings pitched in 286 major league innings. He can’t be optioned, so this will likely go down as a short stint that results in him being designated for assignment and placed on waivers. Even if that’s the case, he’ll add another handful of days onto his seven-plus years of MLB service time.
Optioning Scott means that he won’t be available to start the next time his rotation spot comes up, unless he’s recalled as a replacement for an injured player in the interim. Barring an injury replacement scenario, he’d need to spend at least 15 days in Syracuse before he could again be summoned to the majors. That likely puts one of Peterson, Myers or Sean Manaea in line to take the bulk of the innings — whether in a traditional start or following an opener — next Tuesday when that rotation spot comes up again.
Fantasy Baseball Subscriber Chat With Nicklaus Gaut
Nicklaus Gaut will be talking fantasy baseball with Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers today at 1 PM Central time. Get your question in early or participate in the live event at the link below!
Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription
- Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
- Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
- Remove ads and support our writers.
- Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
Nationals To Recall Riley Cornelio For MLB Debut
April 24th: This is now official, as the Nats announced they have recalled Cornelio and optioned Fernández.
April 23rd: The Nationals are going to recall right-hander Riley Cornelio, reports Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic. The Nats announced that righty Julian Fernández was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after today’s game, so Cornelio is presumably the corresponding move.
Cornelio, 26 in June, was a seventh-round pick of the Nats in 2022. As a minor leaguer, he has been working primarily as a starter. In 2025, he climbed from High-A to Double-A and then Triple-A. Across those three levels, he threw 134 1/3 innings, allowing 3.28 earned runs per nine. His 10.1% walk rate was a tad high but he struck out 24.8% of batters faced.
The Nats didn’t want him to be exposed in the Rule 5 draft, so they gave him a 40-man spot in November. He came into big league camp but made just two official appearances before being optioned to the minors. He has started his season with four Triple-A starts, posting a 2.45 ERA in 18 1/3 innings. His four-seamer and sinker are both averaging around 95 miles per hour, as he also mixes in a mid-80s slider and changeup.
Presumably, Washington wants Cornelio to potentially provide length out of the bullpen. Fernández pitched the past two games, including two innings this afternoon, so he may not have been available tomorrow. Miles Mikolas is the scheduled starter tomorrow and he hasn’t been able to go deep into games. His five starts this year have ranged from five innings on the high end to three innings on the low end. Being short-handed in the bullpen would be less than ideal if Mikolas ends up getting another quick hook, so Cornelio replacing Fernández makes sense.
Photo courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images
Mets Notes: Rotation, Shortstop
The Mets’ rotation — and roster at large — has underwhelmed thus far in 2026. Mets starting pitchers rank 19th in the majors with a 4.24 ERA and are tied for the game’s sixth-highest walk rate at 10%. In particular, struggles from Kodai Senga and David Peterson have set them back. New York turned to Christian Scott for his first big league start since 2024’s Tommy John surgery yesterday against the Twins, but he walked five of the 10 hitters he faced and plunked a sixth before being lifted from the game in the second inning.
Will Sammon and Tim Britton of The Athletic report that at least for now, the plan is for Scott to make another start next week. The Mets have Peterson, Sean Manaea and Tobias Myers all pitching out of the bullpen right now and will work to keep them all stretched out, given the uncertainty in the rotation. If they end up needing a fresh arm — Peterson and Myers both threw 40-plus pitches in long relief yesterday — it’s possible Scott could instead be optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. Any of those more veteran options in the ‘pen could then step in for a start in Scott’s place.
Scott and young ace Nolan McLean are the only two members of the Mets’ rotation who can be optioned. The latter, of course, isn’t going anywhere. In the bullpen, only Myers and Huascar Brazobán can be optioned. The lack of flexibility, coupled with the Mets’ injured and underperforming lineup, prompts Britton and Sammon to wonder whether president of baseball operations David Stearns might eventually explore the trade of a pitcher to help bolster the offense.
Trades of any real significance are rare this early in the season, but there are a handful of notable April or May deals in recent history. The Brewers picked up Quinn Priester from the Red Sox last April, for instance. A year prior, the Marlins shipped Luis Arraez to the Padres in early May. As The Athletic duo points out, when Stearns was running things in Milwaukee, he acquired Willy Adames from the Rays in a May trade.
The Mets aren’t going to get a hitter of any note for Manaea or Senga with their contracts underwater. They could perhaps try to swap either for a hitter with a similarly undesirable contract, but that sort of player isn’t going to help turn the lineup around. The best version of the Mets would have McLean and Freddy Peralta atop the rotation, and the Mets parted with multiple top prospects to get Peralta this winter, so he’s not an early candidate to move. Clay Holmes‘ opt-out opportunity at season’s end tamps down his value.
Speculatively speaking, Peterson feels like the most logical candidate to move in that type of scenario. He’s a free agent at season’s end, earning $8MM, and currently working in the ‘pen. The 30-year-old lefty had a tough run of three starts before being moved into a long relief role, but he started 30 games last year and finished the season with a 4.22 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate in 168 2/3 innings. He’s allowed one run over his past two appearances — a total of seven innings. He’s not going to net a controllable, established hitter, but the Mets could try to swap him out for a veteran bat with similar service time.
There’s no indication at this point that the Mets are actively seeking to ship out a pitcher and/or bring in another bat via trade, to be clear, but it’s worth keeping in mind as the season progresses. That’s especially true with star shortstop Francisco Lindor hitting the injured list due to a calf strain this week.
In place of Lindor, it’ll be just-recalled Ronny Mauricio getting most of the reps at shortstop, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. The Mets could slide Bo Bichette over to shortstop on occasion, but DiComo notes that the club has been pleased with Bichette’s move to third base so far. Bichette has been charged with a pair of throwing errors through his first 210 frames at the hot corner but has generally corralled anything hit in his direction. Metrics like Defensive Runs Saved (0) and Outs Above Average (1) feel he’s been perfectly adequate during his foray into a new position.
Shortstop is a familiar spot on the diamond for Mauricio. The 25-year-old, who ranked as a top-100 prospect for years before injuries (namely a torn ACL) set him back, has logged nearly 3900 professional innings at the position. He’s healthy now and was playing all over the diamond in Syracuse prior to his recall, though he did spend more time (seven games) at shortstop than at any other position. Even if Lindor hadn’t suffered an injury, pressure to recall Mauricio was mounting. He’s bludgeoned Triple-A pitching so far in 2026, raking at a .293/.349/.638 pace (150 wRC+) with six homers and five stolen bases through 63 turns at the plate.
It’s not clear just how long Mauricio’s runway will be. The Mets haven’t given a timetable for Lindor’s return, with manager Carlos Mendoza telling reporters only that Lindor will “be down quite a bit here.” He’s looking at more than a minimum stint, but the Mets haven’t specified whether Lindor is looking at an absence of three to four weeks or something more appropriately measured in months. Regardless, the injury gives Mauricio a rare everyday opportunity with the Mets — something that’s generally eluded him in recent years as he’s sought to establish himself in the majors.