Wilmer Flores, basically ever since his walk-off home run on July 31, 2015, a mere 48 hours after almost being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, has become an icon in a Mets uniform despite not even being an everyday player.
Last night was a shining example of that for Flores as he delivered his second walk-off RBI of the season and the eighth walk-off RBI of his career with his walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth inning that scored Brandon Nimmo.
His six walk-off RBI since the start of the 2015 season are the most in the majors, and his eight walk-off RBI are tied for second-most in team history with Kevin McReynolds. David Wright has the franchise record with nine walk-off RBI.
While this season hasn’t gone to plan so far, with a mere .233/.314/.411 slash line to go along with only three home runs and nine RBI so far, he has remained on this team as an important bench player, who starts against left-handers.
However, his season has been strange for him in regard to left-handers as well, as he has reversed splits this season as he is hitting a mere .175/.244/.250 against southpaws while hitting .280/.368/.540 with all three of his homers against right-handers.
With Todd Frazier on the 10-day DL, though, Flores has started each of the past five games for the Mets and has started to find his groove as he has gone 5-15 in that span.
Frazier is currently not expected back for at least another few days, thereby giving Flores time to potentially earn some more at-bats, even if that means playing him on the other side of the diamond at first base, or even, as Mickey Callaway has hinted, in the outfield.
Nonetheless, the 26-year old’s importance lies in his ability to produce in the clutch, as he has really developed a knack for that over the course of his career.
