Ronny Mauricio, Photo by Richard Nelson

If there is one trend that has continued from New York Mets spring training, it is the fact that shortstop Ronny Mauricio has a ton of power. On Tuesday night, Mauricio crushed a solo home run to right against Scranton Wilkes-Barre for his fourth home run in Triple-A Syracuse’s tenth game of the year:

 

To put things into context, Mauricio’s fourth home run last year with Double-A Binghamton did not come until his 25th game of the year (May 11). As of Wednesday night, he is tied for second in the International League lead in home runs (4), one of 11 players with double-digit RBIs (12), is eighth in slugging (.732), and tied for tenth with Mark Vientos in OPS (1.145). Plus, he has recorded at least one hit in 10 of the 11 games that he has played in.

This spring, Mauricio was one of the storylines for the Mets. He carried his momentum from winning MVP of the Dominican Winter League with a strong spring as he had four home runs and eight RBIs in 17 games (33 at-bats). With each passing home run, it would be impressive just how far he was crushing the ball out of spring training complexes.

Right now, it is clear that the switch-hitter has a ton of confidence as the plate and that was echoed by his manager, Dick Scott (courtesy of Syracuse.com):

“I think his confidence is really growing. For him, the sky’s the limit.”

It may also not seem like much, but Mauricio’s plate discipline has improved in the early going. In the first 11 games of this season, he has drawn four walks and he has a .413 on-base percentage. His walk percentage is up to 8.7% so far this year after being just 4.4% last year in Double-A. Yes, that walk total is not too big of a number, but keep in mind that the 22-year-old only drew three walks in all of April last year, so it is progress in the right direction.

While fans may be clamoring for Mauricio to learn a new position so his power bat can help the Mets at the big league level, it is clear the organization is going to be patient with him at shortstop and not move him to another position. This spring, manager Buck Showalter talked more about his defense at one point than his offense:

“I know you want to talk about offense and hitting the ball over the fence,” Showalter said. “It’s about defense with young players for me. He did well over there. He’s a better defender now than he was last year when he was here. His work habits, the pace to his game. There is a certain fluidity that he is gaining. He’s got a chance to be a good one.”

Last season, Mauricio hit 26 home runs for Binghamton (career-high) while also stealing 20 bases. He has the chance to put together another strong season and show that the complete player is being put together and potentially become an important piece at the major league level in the near future.