The Mets are probably going to make a lot of moves this offseason. Second base, however, likely isn’t going to be one of the positions that gets a makeover. Not only is there one starter — there are practically two. Luckily, they both offer varying degrees of positional versatility. Let’s get into it.
Big League Starter
With 94 starts and 107 games at second base in 2023, Jeff McNeil will probably be the Opening Day starter in 2024. McNeil started the season relatively well, like the Mets, and then seriously struggled in the middle few months, also like the Mets. However, as the season went on he started to figure things out and right the ship. Over the final two months of the season, McNeil hit .303 with a .809 OPS, looking a lot more like the hitter he was in 2022. His season slash line — .270/.333/.378 (.711 OPS) — doesn’t look great, but there was a noticeable improvement over the final months of the season. Unfortunately, at that point, the Mets had already sold off a lot of pieces at the trade deadline and given up on competing, but the improvement is still encouraging.
McNeil has struggled before, most notably in 2021 when he hit .251 with a .679 OPS, and then came back and won the batting title the next season. His 2023 wasn’t great, but his 96 OPS+ says that it was ultimately right about average. His 4-year, $50 million contract that he signed before last season is relatively cheap all things considered, and his ability to play basically anywhere on the field is incredibly valuable. McNeil technically saw time at five positions other than second base last season, combining for almost 500 innings in the two corner outfield spots and picking up 16 innings in center field, one at shortstop and one at first base. He’s probably the second base starter, but really, he’s one of the premier utility players in baseball.
Ronny Mauricio. John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Big League Depth
While McNeil is the starter, in the 23 games he played in September, he only started five of them at second base. Why is that? Well, the Mets called up Ronny Mauricio, their No. 8 prospect on MMO, for the final month. Mauricio played 26 games, and 21 of them came at second base. He had some ups and downs at the plate, bursting onto the scene hot and hitting .313 with a .770 OPS over his first 13 games. The last 13 games were a different story, hitting .189 with a .529 OPS.
Mauricio definitely has exciting potential. He played better defense than expected at second base despite not having a ton of experience there, and the same goes for the handful of games he had at third base. He also stole seven bases without being caught.
However, there are serious concerns with his bat, specifically his approach, that need to be fixed if he’s going to see consistent playing time. In his short stint in the majors, Mauricio had a 42.4% chase percentage. He was far from a qualified hitter, but if he was, it would have been the fourth-worst chase rate in baseball. Only Eddie Rosario, Javier Báez and Salvador Pérez were worse. Out of 461 players with at least 100 plate appearances, which includes Mauricio, his chase rate was the 15th-worst. There are a handful of productive players in the majors with swing rates in the bottom-10 percentile, like Luis Robert Jr., Nick Castellanos, Julio Rodríguez and Bo Bichette, but it’s largely not a path to success. Mauricio hits the ball hard and has some eclectic tools, but he still has a long way to go if he’s going to move McNeil to the outfield on a regular basis.
There’s also Luis Guillorme, who has been a solid utility infielder for the Mets for the last handful of years. However, after a really strong 2022, he fell off a cliff in 2023, seeing his average and on-base percentage drop significantly. He never hit for power, but that was fine when he was playing good defense and getting on base at a good rate. A sub .300 OBP though, as it was last year, just isn’t going to cut it. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Guillorme not make the roster, and maybe even get non-tendered. The same goes for Danny Mendick.
Luisangel Acuña. Photo by Bronson Harris of Binghamton Rumble Ponies
Upper Levels Depth
There are two big names for the Mets when it comes to upper-level depth at second base — Luisangel Acuña and Jett Williams. MMO’s No. 1 and No. 5 prospects in the organization respectively, both of them finished last season in Double-A. They’re both shortstops, but second base is a natural transition, especially with the Mets having Francisco Lindor at short for the foreseeable future. Acuña played the position a bit in Double-A but still played more shortstop, and struggled at the plate after being traded to the Mets to end the season. Williams doesn’t have a professional inning there yet, having just played short and center. However, after a great 2023 campaign and stating a desire to make the big leagues in 2023, it would make a lot of sense to start the transition to second to find a way to get him on the field. Regardless, both Acuña and Williams will probably start 2024 in Double-A with a chance to maybe make a big league cameo at the end of the year.
Luke Ritter, a seventh-round pick in 2019, is also an under-the-radar interesting option. He played a lot of second base between Double-A and Triple-A, and hit .244/.372/.492 with 27 home runs across the two levels. If McNeil or Mauricio has to miss time, a big league debut for Ritter could be on the table. Jose Peroza also has almost 800 minor-league innings at second base and had a solid 2023, and will likely be in Triple-A with Ritter to begin the year.
As for other options, Jonathan Araúz remains in the organization for now, and could serve as emergency depth at Triple-A as he did in 2023.
Potential Acquisitions
As said earlier, second base is not a position the Mets should heavily target in free agency. With McNeil and Mauricio already splitting the position and high-level prospects not that far out, the group that’s in-house is probably going to be the group they go into the season with
However, there are a couple of interesting free agents who could be potential depth pieces. Adam Frazier had a solid season for the Orioles and, while mainly a second baseman, has some versatility. Donovan Solano is another option after a good year for the Twins, though he will be in his age-36 season. Kiké Hernández is an option, but his 2023 season was a rough one. Really though, it’s not likely any of those names end up in Queens in 2024.
