The New York Mets elected to keep young infielder Ronny Mauricio up in the big leagues and optioned designated hitter Jared Young to make room for returning third baseman Mark Vientos, per Andy Martino of SNY.
Young’s demotion isn’t surprising, as he was just a stopgap while designated hitter Jesse Winker recovered from an oblique strain. However, Mauricio being in the lineup at this point wasn’t part of the plan at the start of the season. The 24-year-old tore his ACL last year and was expected to rehab and continue his development in the minor leagues for the majority, if not the entire, year.
“He’s a player who has options,” David Stearns, Mets president of baseball operations, said back in May. “So, he’s going to stay in the minor leagues until we have a need.”
Well, the Mets had a need for Mauricio after a series of injuries thinned the roster. Once Vientos went down with a hamstring injury earlier this month, the team called up Mauricio to split third base duties with infielder Brett Batty.
In his first major league game of 2025, Mauricio showed off why the Mets see such a high upside in him by blasting a 456-foot home run en route to an 8-1 win over the Colorado Rockies.
Since then, Mauricio has shown he has a long way to go to develop into the star the Mets want him to be. In 65 at-bats, Mauricio slashed .226/.273/.403. It’s across the last seven games that Mauricio has shown more of his potential, recording a .292 batting average in 24 at-bats.
Still, the young Mets have struggled in 2025, with Vientos slashing .230/.298/.380 and committing seven errors on the field before his injury. Catcher Franscio Alvarez’s .236 batting average and defense weren’t good enough to remain in the lineup, so the team sent Alvarez to the minors to play every day and fix his swing. Mauricio, however, has shown enough promise recently to stay up and see if he can continue to develop in the high-pressure setting of the major leagues.
It would be surprising for Mauricio to take a big enough leap to take an everyday spot on the roster, but there’s a chance he can be a high-level contributor to the team. However, it might not be so surprising if Mauricio stagnates without consistent playing time. The team will have to balance how they use Baty, Vientos and Mauricio, but if either player breaks out, then it’ll be an easy decision on who to feature more.
Of course, the Mets can option Mauricio at any time if they feel he won’t develop any further as part of the lineup, but Friday’s move suggests they don’t want that to happen. Mauricio has a chance to play the rest of the season in New York, and his success will ultimately be the team’s success as well.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
