The Mets' Triple-A prospects are all doing well including Ronny Mauricio. But there's no room for him on the field, but the organization is looking to change that.
Mauricio, a shortstop by trade, played his first game at second base with Triple-A Syracuse on Friday night. The move was a long time coming for the Mets as Francisco Lindor will be manning the shortstop position for many years.
And with Brett Baty up in the bigs playing third base alongside Eduardo Escobar, Mauricio will have to transition.
But why now? Well, SNY's Steve Gelbs spoke to Mets GM Billy Eppler on Friday to find out.
"The minor league news today was that Ronny Mauricio is finally moving off of shortstop, started at second base earlier tonight," Gelbs said. "I spoke to Mets GM Billy Eppler, asked him why now was the right time to do that. He said honestly they didn't want to throw too much at Mauricio too soon. He was moving up a level to Triple-A, was going to be pitched a little differently and they wanted him to just focus on the offensive side while not having to learn a new position."
It didn't take long for Mauricio to get used to Triple-A pitching. In 70 at-bats, he's slashing .343/.395/.729 good for a 1.124 OPS.
Eppler and the Mets feel now that he's accustomed to the offensive side, it's time to teach him a new position.
"Second base makes sense, he's used to playing up the middle at shortstop," Gelbs continued. "He also played some third base in the Dominican Winter League, so look to see him start to move around a decent amount."
Manager Buck Showalter was asked about Mauricio before Friday's game and said that they are doing this to "increase his versatility."
"Whether it be short, second, third, outfield, first base. I know [minor league infield coordinator] Miguel Cairo thinks he's capable of doing to do any of those," Showalter said.
In his first game at short, Mauricio went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts but handled the position well. Syracuse plays against Saturday where Mauricio could be playing second or somewhere different.