Luis Guillorme Impressing Scouts Early This Spring

Luis Guillorme has been catching the eye of scouts early on in spring training, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. “He is not a body beautiful guy, but the scouts like the lefty swinger’s actions on both sides of the ball.”

What we already know about Guillorme is the fantastic glove work. Regardless of where in the middle infield he plays, his soft hands and solid instincts often make routine plays out of otherwise difficult plays rather often. Giving the appearance of an effortless approach made it so that it took a bit longer for people to catch on to what he is capable of.

Often overlooked is the 23-year-old’s situational awareness. Despite always being focused on making a play first, Guillorme knows where everyone on the field is and how much time he has to make a play. His baseball instincts are now starting to catch the attention of larger eyes.

New to reports though are scouts taking a liking to Guillorme on both sides of the ball. Guillorme is ranked a 40/50 hit tool guy after posting a .376 OBP in Double-A last year, and many pundits have questioned whether or not his bat would play in the major leagues as more than just a defensive replacement or utility player given the lack of power that accompanies what was considered a fringe-average bat.

Currently, Guillorme is hitting  .286/.360/.476 in 21 plate appearances during spring training including a home run and double over the course of six hits.

Over that period, he has also walked and struck out three times. Of course it’s a bit too early to allow the relatively small sample get to our heads, but what we can get excited about are things that we can see are changing.

What was plain to see was that Guillorme, our No. 10 ranked Mets prospect, did show up to camp this year with a bit more weight, and particularly muscle, on him. He’d been working with Mets senior advisor for strength and conditioning, Mike Barwis, during the offseason.

On top of his workout regimen, he worked on how to implement that weight into more power, as well working on the launch angle in his swing.

Notably, in this short time, we can see one notable change in Guillorme’s swing, and that is his hands. Guillorme’s hands used to drag behind his shoulder across the plate in his swing, and in this early going, he’s been getting them across faster. It seems that with the added strength, his hands have caught up to the rest of his swing.

Additionally, Guillorme has said that he’s been working on pulling the ball a bit more. Over the last three years, he has decreased his pulled ball percentage from and even 51 percent to 47.3 percent. More notably, he increased his ratio of ball hit to center from 18.4 percent to 28.6 percent.

While his approach at the plate leads to more hits going the other way, this deviation in his approach makes it so that defenses cannot pinpoint his hitting habits.

This could become more evident if he continues to increase his fly ball rate (up to 23.9 percent in 2017 from 12.8 percent in 2015) and pushes up line drive rate. Doing so will help Guillorme drive more balls down the line and into the gaps for extra bases.

Guillorme may never be a big home run guy, but his raw power in batting practice shows that he is capable of hitting a few out. As his offensive profile continues to develop, we may see an increase, though not a significant one, in his ability to drive balls out of the ballpark.

An advanced eye at the plate – as Guillorme walked more than he struck out in 2017 and was the toughest hitter to strike out in the Eastern League (Double A) – will help him find precisely the pitches he will be able to drive that way.

Despite not having everything a scout initially looks for, and having gone the extra mile to be looked at as more than just a utility player, Guillorme is setting the table for a promotion in 2018 after the Mets added him to the 40-man roster this offseason.

His flexibility around the diamond provides the Mets with a solid security piece wherever they choose to place him.