It’s not uncommon to open Twitter, or X, or whatever it will be called by next week, and see “Mauricio” is trending. Every time the Mets make a roster move, or any time they release a lineup, or any time they tweet a promotion for some new food item at Citi Field, fans are there clamoring for Ronny Mauricio.

It makes sense. The Mets are bad, and, after selling at the deadline are routinely running out lineups that contain Danny Mendick, DJ Stewart, Rafael Ortega and Jonathan Araúz among others. 

None of those players are even close to being part of any long-term plans for this organization. In a season that is already punted, what is the point of running them out there every day instead of giving some of the young, exciting prospects a chance?

On one level, it is a valid point. There really is pretty much nothing the Mets can gain long-term from making players like Mendick and Stewart everyday starters, much less Ortega and Araúz. The young players should be given the chance to establish themselves as future everyday players.

Ronny Mauricio. Photo by Serena Spencer

Mark Vientos should be playing every single day. It’s easier now with Brett Baty being demoted to Triple-A, making Vientos practically the full-time third baseman. However, even if Baty is up, Vientos should get almost all the DH at-bats over Daniel Vogelbach, regardless of the perceived platoon advantage.

Francisco Álvarez is in a slightly different boat as a catcher, he needs more rest, but he should be catching at least four out of every five games, and probably DHing the fifth.

As for Baty, although it might be controversial, but it was the right move to send him down, even though the Mets aren’t competing. It’s one thing to let a player work through their struggles, but Baty had just a .482 OPS since the start of July, hitting .149/.229/.253. A chance to reset in Triple-A is probably a good thing.

That leaves Mauricio, the only position player on the Mets top-30 prospect list on MLB Pipeline who is currently at Triple-A. The last of the group of four that includes Álvarez, Baty and Vientos who has yet to make his MLB debut.

The fans want to see Mauricio, that is clear. For some reason though, most people either don’t know or are choosing to ignore one very notable thing — Mauricio has not had an impressive year at Triple-A.

Through August 7, the date all the numbers in this article are updated through, Mauricio is hitting .289/.338/.479 (.817 OPS) with 16 home runs. That doesn’t sound too bad, but the International League (the Triple-A league the Syracuse Mets are in) has been an absurdly offensive-friendly environment this season. Mauricio’s .817 OPS only ranks 38th among qualifiers, well behind players like Bobby Dalbec, Miguel Andujar, Matt Reynolds (yes that Matt Reynolds) and Travis Blankenhorn.

His wRC+, which reflects how a player’s offensive contributions stack up to the rest of the league with 100 being average, is 99. Technically, Mauricio has been a below-average hitter in Triple-A this season.

It’s been even worse lately too. Since the start of June,  Mauricio is hitting .227/.286/.387, which translates to just a .672 OPS. His wRC+ over that span? 62. For context, there are just two qualified MLB hitters with a wRC+ worse than that in 2023: Tim Anderson and Javier Báez. If Mauricio has done that for the past two months in Triple-A, imagine what it would be against major league pitching.

His approach also raises serious concerns. On the plus side, he is striking out at a lower rate than he has since rookie ball in 2018. On the negative side, he still isn’t walking. On the season, his walk rate sits at 5.7%, the fourth-lowest of 153 qualified hitters in Triple-A.

There are 23 qualified rookies in 2023 who have a wRC+ of at least 100. Of those 23, 21 had walk rates of at least 6% in the minors in 2022 (most were significantly above that too). The only two who didn’t were Josh Jung of the Rangers and Jordan Diaz of the A’s. In their cases, they both managed to still have an above-average wRC+ despite not walking a ton, and both had a walk rate over 6% in previous seasons.

Mauricio has never had a walk rate above 5.7%, and, as stated before, does not have an above-average wRC+ in 2023. Most of those 23 players also saw significant drops in their walk rates once they got to the majors. Álvarez is the prime example, putting up a 14.7% walk rate between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022 only to walk at a 6.9% clip in the big leagues in 2023.

There are only two qualified hitters since 2019 who had a walk rate under 6% in Triple-A and then went on to have at least a 100 wRC+ in a full MLB season: Ryan Mountcastle and Adolis García,

Walk rate is obviously not the only stat that matters, but it does reflect Mauricio’s plate discipline, or lack thereof. It’s an approach that major league pitchers will be able to exploit. 

His groundball rates also aren’t great, with his 48.9% mark being the eighth-highest among the 153 Triple-A qualifiers. That’s something Baty struggled with in the majors this season, and his 51.3% is right in the neighborhood of what Mauricio is currently at. Of 143 MLB qualifiers in 2023, just 19 have groundball rates of at least 48.9%.

This is all the long way of saying a very simple point — it’s harder to hit in the majors than it is in the minors. Mets fans have seen it firsthand this season too. Álvarez has thrived, but Baty and Vientos have not. Both of them also had much more success than Mauricio in Triple-A too.

Mauricio is already struggling against Triple-A pitching,  and it will most likely only get worse in the majors.

None of this has even mentioned the fact Mauricio would possibly be without a position on the Mets as well. A natural shortstop, he is blocked by Francisco Lindor. The Mets have been giving him a lot of reps at second base and left field, and now will also give him some reps at third base, but he has never played either position in the minors before this year. He is ultimately still very inexperienced in both spots.

Is it possible we’ll see Mauricio play for the Mets this season? Absolutely. Ultimately, as mentioned before, the Mets are gaining nothing from running some of the other veterans out there every day. At a minimum though, it won’t be for at least a couple of weeks, that way the Mets will preserve his rookie eligibility for next season.

If the Mets decide to not call him up at all, it would make sense. He doesn’t look ready. Yes, he hits some flashy home runs that get a lot of views on Twitter, but don’t let that mask the fact he has had an overall underwhelming season in Triple-A.

Mauricio is only 22 years old. He is still very young and has plenty of time to grow and improve as a ballplayer. But he needs time, he’s not ready yet.