Ronny Mauricio Playing Second Base

On Friday night, for the first time in his minor league career, Ronny Mauricio is playing a position other than shortstop. The 22-year-old will play second base tonight for Triple-A Syracuse. Mauricio did play one game in winter ball at second base during the offseason and nine games at third base, but never in the minors.

Moving Mauricio off of shortstop certainly expedites his path to the big leagues. Moving him to second base makes the most sense for an in-season change because that’s the easiest position for a shortstop to transition to. The Mets are also lucky enough to have Jeff McNeil that has the ability to play a strong outfield in addition to second base. On the last couple of MMO Weekly podcasts, we’ve talked about how we thought this might happen despite outfield maybe being the position that the 6’3”, 233 pound ends up playing long-term.

The switch-hitter is slashing .358/.411/.761 with seven doubles, a triple, six home runs, and 14 RBIs in 18 games for Triple-A Syracuse. He has struck out 16 times and has walked only four times (5.5%). Mauricio’s seven doubles are tied for the International League lead, his six home runs are tied for third, and his 192 wRC+ is eighth.

Mauricio started the offseason by winning the Dominican Winter League MVP award before showing off his power with four home runs in Mets major league camp. However, Mauricio has posted two straight years of sub-300 on-base percentages and finishes this spring with a .286 OBP.

The Syracuse Mets started the 2023 season with four of the Mets top prospects, though they’ve already seen Francisco Álvarez and Brett Baty promoted to the majors and now have Mauricio and Mark Vientos (194 wRC+) slugging their way close to opportunities as well.