With Wilmer Flores‘ performance Sunday in the Mets series finale against the San Francisco Giants, the infielder racked up another solid performance, going 2-for-4 at the dish while also drawing a walk and scoring a run.
The 25-year-old is now hitting at a .299/.325/.487 clip with seven long balls and 24 RBI.
Late last month, I wrote a piece on how Flores was putting together a nice little season for himself and he is continuing the trend as June concludes.
Since May 1, Flores is batting .324 (48-for-148) with five homers and 21 RBI, and in the last week he has been red hot, going 8-for-21 at the dish.
A big argument against Flores was his lack of ability to hit right-handed pitching. He had always mashed against lefties, but righties proved to be an Achilles heel of sorts.
In 2016, Flores hit just .232/.289/.353 with five homers against right-handers as opposed to his .340/.383/.710 slash line with 11 dingers against southpaws.
This season, Flores has been able to control right-handed pitching and work it to his advantage, hitting .294/.326/.484 with five of his seven home runs coming against righties thus far in 2017.
For the 2011 season, Flores was ranked as the No. 4 top prospect in the Mets system and the No. 39 prospect in all of baseball as a 20-year-old by MLB.com.
MLB.com consistently ranked Flores in the top five Mets prospects through 2013, after which he was called up to the majors.
Here’s what they had to say about the infielder that year:
After scuffling in the lower Minor Leagues for a few seasons, Flores broke out in 2012. As a 20-year-old, he moved up to Double-A Binghamton for the first time. He built on that progress in 2013 and made his Major League debut. Flores has made impressive progress at the plate in the last two years. He has a knack for making contact and is extremely tough to strike out. His overall approach at the plate improved, and that helped him tap into his raw power more consistently. Initially a shortstop, Flores now splits his time between second and third base, either of which is a much better home for him, given his lack of quickness. He has good hands and a strong arm, but the lack of range might continue to be an issue. Flores’ bat is ready to contribute soon, regardless of his position.
Pretty spot on, huh?
With regular playing time, Flores has finally begun to flourish, regardless of the fact that he still doesn’t have a set position for the future, in line with what the scouting report on the native Venezuelan said.
Even still, he has put his head down and got to work, playing at any position the Mets have asked him to across the infield and has been passable at the very least.
If Flores continues to hit, however, it doesn’t matter where he plays as he has proven to be a valuable asset to the lineup.
