Ronny Mauricio Rides Hot Streak to Queens

Ronny Mauricio has been on the top prospect lists since his signing in the 2017-2018 offseason. He’s flashed sexy defense, long homers, a big-league body, and great taste in reggaeton music. He’s also shown scary high strikeout rates in his career and Tim Anderson-esque low walk rates throughout his career–until recently. In addition to the versatility he added in Syracuse in 2023, Mauricio has seen his walk rates increase and strikeout rates decrease, especially in August.

Mauricio’s 6.6 BB% is the highest of his career, albeit still only half that of league average. His 18.2 K% is the lowest he’s had since his days in the GCL and is 4% better than the Triple-A league average. In August, his walk rate was 8.7%, and in the last two weeks, it’s league average at 11.3%. His adjustments have been impressive this season in what has surely been a frustrating campaign, with teammates hopping up to Queens left and right when his stat line and abilities were equally deserving. His improvements have been particularly noticeable on pitches below the strike zone. Traditionally, he chases on breaking balls down and is a good high-ball hitter with lower miss rates up in the zone. Lowering the chase rate on two-strike breaking balls has been a game changer as he’s never had particularly bad in-zone whiff rates.

While his plate discipline has improved, he’s been taking out his frustrations on the baseball, routinely reaching the mid-110 mph exit velocity range. He recently hit a home run that got out of the park in the blink of an eye, measuring 115 off the bat. His exit velocities rank in the top few percentage points of the MLB ranks, and he can reach those velocities from both the right and left sides of the plate.

Ronny Mauricio a race car driver honing his skills with the nicest car on the track. The horsepower in his engine is close to that of Francisco Alvarez‘s, but he needs to keep refining the skills like he’s shown he can in August.

His plate discipline has long been the biggest scapegoat for evaluators in explaining why he is underserving of the MLB Top 100 Prospect lists at this point in his career. At just 22 years old, however, Mauricio has time to change the narrative of who he is as a player.

If we can learn anything from the trend of hitters improving their walk and strikeout rates, it’s that an athlete as gifted as Ronny Mauricio can join them. Not only can he continue his improvements, but he can likely join the tops of these leaderboards as he has both age and bat speed on his side. The biggest help that the Mets could give Ronny is time to make these adjustments in the show and proper communication that these metrics are his main goals.

If Mauricio swings at better pitches, his ability to hit the ball at ridiculous velocities will make him the star that he’s been heralded as for so long. In fact, his bat speed is actually an encouraging variable for future improvement of swing decisions. Players with higher bat speed have an easier time making good swing decisions as they have longer to decide whether or not to swing at the pitch before they need to start their swing. Without having Ronny’s bat speed on hand, his exit velocities are a strong predictor for high bat speed, so one can assume he has the ability to improve his chase rate down the line significantly.

Bottom line, Mets fans should be excited, Ronny has a star personality and All-Star potential.