According to Kevin Burkhardt, Wilmer Flores will make his debut at second base tonight when the Mets take on the Phillies.
Finally….
I’m looking forward to this….
Hat tip to BBLB….
Original Post 8/26
Wilmer Flores will get a chance to play second this week, according to Kristie Ackert of the Daily News.
Lost in the debut of Daisuke Matsuzaka last night, was the three-hit performance of third baseman Wilmer Flores, the player whose numbers were mostly the product of the Pacific Coast League, according to some so-called experts. Experts I took pride in calling out a couple of weeks ago, one of them projecting Flores as a .240-ish hitter in the majors.
It was the fourth multiple-hit game in 13 starts for the right-handed phenom who is now batting .306 since making his debut on August 6 – the day he turned 22-years old.
In addition to his prowess as a hitter, Flores has also shown glimpses of the middle of the order hitter many scouts projected as his 11 RBI in those 13 starts would indicate.
In his short stint thus far, we’ve seen a very disciplined hitter and as Keith Hernandez pointed out, “it’s amazing how Flores protects the plate when he has two strikes on him.”
“Nobody would know that better than you,” quipped Gary Cohen.
During the series in San Diego, Terry Collins called for a rare hit and run. Flores literally threw his bat at the ball and made contact to protect Murphy from getting thrown out at second base. You can’t teach a baseball IQ like that. You either have it, or you don’t. It’s all instinct and this kid has plenty of it.
With the news that David Wright is close to playing in rehab games, Mike Kerwick of The Record, caught up with Flores and popped the question: Does he have a favorite position?
“Not really,” Flores said. “I’m just going to play anywhere they want me to.”
Kerwick speculates that if the Mets choose to abandon the Ike Davis experiment, Flores could be a fit at first base. If they choose to move Daniel Murphy this off-season, Flores likely would get a look at second.
“Last year I started playing second, I wasn’t feeling too comfortable,” Flores said. “But now I feel real good there.”
Both scouts and and Sandy Alderson alike have confirmed that Flores has made great strides at second base this season, and one of them said his deficiencies have been “greatly exaggerated.”
In his last ten games, Flores is batting .375 with 13 hits, six RBI, five runs scored and a .451 slugging percentage. Perhaps the greatest sign of respect for what he’s accomplished in such a short time, was that his manager now has him batting fifth in the lineup to “protect” Ike Davis – who by they way is batting .188 in his last ten games and has five strikeouts in his last 12 at-bats. But I’ll talk more about Strike Vegas in another post. This one was to point out the amazing start Wilmer Flores is having to his major league career. Not really a surprise here at MMO, but it does have a lot of prospect experts chewing their nails.
