Photo by Ed Delany/MMO

When we last left off with baseball games, Guillorme was competing with Eduardo Nunez for one of the last roster spots on the Mets bench (Jed Lowrie‘s spot because even a delayed season is not going to be enough time for him to get ready). When I originally wrote most of this article in February, this spot felt like Guillorme’s to lose. I had no faith in Nunez’s health.

When Spring Training stopped, Nunez was raking, playing like he had years ago. This puts a lot of doubt into Guillorme’s chance to get this roster spot, unless someone else gets injured.

Luis Guillorme got into 10 more games last year but somehow had 4 less trips to the plate. Which is surprising because by most metrics he improved at the plate last season going from a .209/.284/.239 line to .246/.324/.361 and going from -0.3 WAR to 0.3 WAR. We all know his bat isn’t the reason why the Mets want him around, it’s his glove, which is probably why he got into more games last year – more a late inning defensive option.

2019 Stats: 45 G, 70 PA, 61 AB, HR, .246/.324/.361, 0.3 WAR, 85 DRC+

The problem with projecting Luis is figuring out his playing time. I think he makes the team out of camp. The only thing really blocking him at this point is Lowrie and Cespedes’ health. If both of them are healthy and ready to go out of camp, then Luis gets squeezed out of a roster spot. That’s a shame because the Mets don’t have a defensive minded middle/corner infielder anywhere else on their roster.

As mentioned earlier, Nunez is also going to be a hurdle for Guillorme. Is there enough room on the roster for both of them? Additionally, will the Mets need so many back up middle infielders if the season is shortened dramatically? If Guillorme is on the roster at the start of the season and stays on the entire season, at this point he probably sees less time than he did last year due to the shortened schedule.

His projections have him hitting about what he did last year if not a tick better. I think that’s more than worth the intangibles that he brings. Plus a not fully healthy Lowrie is probably a strain on everything rather than Luis he just feels like he fits.

But I’ve been supporting Luis for a long time now and it still feels like the Mets refuse to lean into him. Use him. He’s the only one who fits his profile. Here’s hoping we see more Guillorme this year!

(Citations: BP projections come from the Baseball Prospectus Annual, a must read for all baseball fans and can be purchased here. ESPN comes from their fantasy baseball projections and can be found here. Both ZiPS and Steamer are found on FanGraphs. ZiPS can be found here, Steamer can be found here. BR comes from the Baseball Reference for this specific player and is linked earlier in the article)