Ronny Mauricio continued his torrid play at the plate in the Dominican Professional Baseball League Friday night.

With the Tigres del Licey trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Mauricio stepped up to the plate batting right-handed. The Mets’ fourth overall prospect then clubbed his first homer of the winter and tied the game for his squad.

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While the Tigres eventually fell 9-4, Mauricio stayed hot in the winter. Through six games, Mauricio is slashing .500/.519/.769 with one homer and two doubles.

Mauricio’s offensive success in LIDOM shouldn’t be a surprise. In 46 games last winter, Mauricio slashed .287/.335/.468 with five homers in 188 at-bats and took home the LIDOM’s Most Valuable Player award.

Despite an impressive stat line early this winter, Mauricio is still struggling with familiar woes. He’s only walked once in 27 plate appearances, and in 35 2/3 innings at third base, Mauricio has made four errors.

The defense at third base is especially glaring for Mauricio. He recorded a negative one-outs above average at third in 44 2/3 innings last season and hasn’t improved in a short sample size this winter.

The glove may be the deciding factor for David Stearns and the Mets moving forward in 2024. Stearns stated at the Winter Meetings in Nashville that defense and run prevention was going to be a focus moving forward. So far, Mauricio doesn’t fit that narrative.

Still, the Mets and Stearns also stated they were comfortable with third base being filled in-house. That leaves Mauricio, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Joey Wendle as potential options for the position for 2024.