There’s no doubt that Asdrubal Cabrera has played a good portion of the 2017 for the New York Mets banged up. There’s also no question that his already below average range at shortstop has taken a serious hit.

Cabrera’s -3.5 UZR is the second worst in baseball among qualified shortstops and his .946 fielding percentage is also the second worst. Cabrera, who had seven errors at shortstop in 134 starts last season, has eight errors in 37 this season.

Meaning it’s not just range that has been an issue for Cabrera in 2017, he’s made some bad throws and we will all remember the dropped pop-up. The errors are the more alarming part of his defensive struggles because his range has never been a strong suit.

The Mets are ranked 27th in defensive runs saved this season and struggling to pick up their struggling pitching staff. Noticeable has been the drop off of shortstop Cabrera, who is a -7 DRS this season.

It’s no secret that the Mets pitching staff has struggled as w hole this year, but you have to wonder how much better they would be without the league’s 27th worst defense behind them.

The Mets pitchers are in the top third of the league in ground ball/fly ball ratio at 1.33 meaning they’re going to look better with a competent infield defense behind them.

Cabrera isn’t the only culprit on defense, Neil Walker (-4 DRS) and Jose Reyes (-3 DRS) have both struggled mightily this year as well.

Of course the Mets have a slick fielding shortstop just waiting in Triple-A Las Vegas in Amed Rosario.

The 21-year-old Rosario has range at shortstop that Mets fans haven’t seen in a very long time and an arm that was graded out at 65 by most publications. Last season, Rosario was chosen by the managers of the Florida State League and Eastern League as the best defender at the shortstop position they had seen all season.

Cabrera isn’t exactly earning his playing time at the plate neither, he’s hitting only .248/.324/.373 and has the lowest ISO (.124) since 2010. Rosario, despite a recent mini slump, is hitting .339/.381/.502 with a career high six home run and 11 stolen bases for the 51s.

The Mets pitching staff would surely benefit from Rosario taking over for Cabrera at the shortstop position given the increased range and stronger arm.