On Monday afternoon the New York Mets added another depth piece, as infielder Adeiny Hechavarria passed his physical in Port St. Lucie, making his minor league deal with a an invite to big league camp official.
General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen, manager Mickey Callaway, and bench coach Jim Riggleman wined and dined with Hechavarria last week, and they told the 29-year old shortstop “all about the opportunities they have” for him.
“First and foremost the opportunity was the most important thing, and I know that they’re a good team,” Hechavarria told reporters this morning.
Though he couldn’t directly speak on the matter as the signing wasn’t official just yet, Van Wagenen told reporters on Sunday afternoon, “We were aggressive in identifying which pieces we wanted to acquire, but I don’t think it was mutually exclusive to not continuing to look for other players. This potential depth piece that we’re about to finalize, hopefully, is another example of it.”
Hechavarria first came into the league when he signed a signed a four year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays prior to the 2010 season. He had a pretty solid first year in the Blue Jays organization, and by the end of the 2010 season he rose to Double-A. In 61 games with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, he hit .273/.305/.360 with 18 doubles and 13 stolen bases.
He continued that success into the 2011 season, and made it to Triple-A with the Las Vegas 51s by years end. In total that year, he played 102 games and hit .312/.363/.424 with 20 doubles. Hechavarria made his debut with the Blue Jays during the 2012 season. He appeared in a total of 41 games and hit .254/.280/.365 while making just three errors at second, short, and third base.
That offseason he was shipped off to the Miami Marlins in a blockbuster deal. The trade included Henderson Alvarez, Jeff Mathis, Yunel Escobar, Jake Marisnick, Anthony DeSclafani, and Justin Nicolino going to Miami in exchange for Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio.
He started the 2013 season off as the Marlins starting shortstop. Hechavarria missed some time due to injuries, and struggled at times during his first full season in the big leagues. Over 148 games, he hit .276/.308/.356 with 14 doubles and stole bases, but was responsible for a -2.1 wins above replacement.
He followed that up with two of the strongest offensive years of his career. In 2015, he hit a career high .281/.315/.374 with 20 doubles and ten triples while posting a 2.2 WAR, nine defensive runs saved, and a 2.2 ultimate zone rating.
Hechavarria had a down year in 2016, but he opened up the 2017 season with a strong first month. However, in May he landed on the disabled list due to an oblique injury.
Towards the end of the June he was finishing up his rehab assignment, and was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for Braxton Lee and Ethan Clark. He finished the year playing some solid baseball, and over a total of 97 games he posted career highs with nine home runs and a .695 OPS.
Defensively, he made just four errors at shortstop while posting a 4.5 UZR, 1.5 WAR, and five defensive runs saved. He went on to break the Tampa Bay Rays franchise record by recording 242 consecutive chances without an error. He also set another record by going 71 consecutive games without committing an error.
Hechavarria spent the 2018 season with three different ball clubs; the Rays, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the New York Yankees. Of the 94 games he appeared in, 77 of them were spent at shortstop. Though his defense has always been his calling card, as MMO’s own Jack Hendon pointed out on Sunday, his 34.2% hard-hit rate and 22.2% line-drive rate ranked 12th and 11th last year among all shortstops.
Though Hechavarria doesn’t offer all that much at the plate, he is an excellent defender. He certainly adds to the Mets much improved depth, and provides them with a more reliable option than Jed Lowrie if something were to happen to shortstop Amed Rosario.
For that reason alone, Hechavarria should have a good shot at cracking the Mets 25-man roster out of spring training, and the veteran infielder certainly seems to understand that.
“First of all, I’m just trying to earn a spot here. And I know that if I work hard and do what I have to do I can eventually do that,” Hechavarria said.
