The Mets front office has been unsure of what to make of SS/2B Wilmer Flores. While New York does have a glaring hole at short, scouts were unsure whether or not Flores had the ability to play the position at the major league level. And even though the young Venezuelan projects to be a solid major league bat, he had shown little to back that up during the early going in limited and sporadic playing time. However, Flores’ recent showing at the plate since Sandy Alderson ordered Terry Collins last month to play him everyday, should erase all doubt about his future offensively.
Over the last seven days, Flores has virtually led the Mets offense, hitting a scorching .474, with 3 home runs, 10 RBIs, and an eye-popping 1.158 slugging with a 1.658 OPS. Obviously, he will not be able to sustain this pace, but clearly Wilmer is showing that he can minimally produce at an above-average level.
In a larger sample size, if you look at Wilmer’s last 28 days, he’s still been pretty solid at the plate. A .275 batting average, 5 homers, 14 RBIs, and a .864 OPS are nothing to sneeze at. Project this particular 23 game span over a full 162 game season, and you have a .275 hitter with 35 homers and 98 RBI. That’s more like the Wilmer Flores we’ve been hearing about the last few years and what many of us expected to see when he was first promoted.
Furthermore, Flores’ BABIP sits at .236 during this period, so there’s a legitimate chance he can approach these numbers over a full season.
Even if you take Flores current OPS of .664, he ranks as the 17th best shortstop in the major leagues, above guys like Yunel Escobar, Jean Segura, and Andrelton Simmons. If he can be an adequate defender, Flores could finally fill the void at shortstop that has existed ever since we lost Jose Reyes to free agency three years ago.
Additionally, all the warnings and concerns over Flores’ defense have been found to be exaggerated and overblown, and he’s proven to be very adequate so far this season. In 49 games at shortstop, Wilmer has made only 4 errors, good enough for a solid .979 Fielding Percentage. And while no one will argue that Flores is a better defender than Ruben Tejada, the 23 year-old trails him by only .08 points in fielding percentage.
After years of floundering without a legitimate major league shortstop, it looks like the Amazins may have finally found their answer. If Flores can hold his own in the field and bat .270 to .280 with 20-25 home runs and 70-80 RBI, the Mets will have themselves a productive middle of the order hitter and will be that much closer to taking another step forward in 2015.
