Mets GM Billy Eppler on Potentially Calling up Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio: 'Definitely on our Radar'
After a 16-16 start that includes losing nine of their last 11, Mets fans are champing at the bit for them to call up these two top prospects.
Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio have been raking in Triple-A Syracuse and GM Billy Eppler was asked why Vientos hasn't been called up.
Vientos is slashing 354/.431/.717 with a 1.148 OPS, nine home runs and 26 RBI over 27 Triple-A games.
According to Eppler, calling him up is "definitely on our radar and something we're thinking about."
Eppler added that special assistant Carlos Beltran is going to Syracuse to watch Vientos and Mauricio play and a potential call-up could happen after receiving feedback from the scouting group.
"You know one of the things that we do is always just solicit the opinions of the people that are going through," Eppler said. "So I'm talking to our Triple-A staff or our coordinator staff as they go through Syracuse. I actually talked to Beltran last night, going to send him through there right now too. You want to look at all of the objectives and all of the things that drive the player plan and what you need to see from the player.
"And there's also some other things that kind of come into the calculus, you know, how much can you play the guy, what kind of usage, what kind of roles would you have for him at the major league level. And you're trying to balance that with some loss development opportunity if they're not going to play all that much. It's just something that's definitely on our radar and something we're thinking about. I just wait for the feedback from the group as they go through Syracuse."
Like Vientos, Mauricio is having a strong season, slashing .342/.377/.605 with a .982 OPS, six home runs, 10 doubles, and 17 RBI over 29 games. Mauricio is a natural shortstop, a position blocked by Francisco Lindor in the big-leagues, so the Mets have been playing Mauricio at second base more frequently. Eppler says Mauricio has been solid at second base, but they don't want to hurt his development by moving him around too much.
"Well the feedback I got this morning, I was on a call with all of the player development coordinators, and the feedback I got from Miguel Cairo was really strong at second base," Eppler said. "Will there be a time where we introduce something else? Perhaps. Try to take a systematic approach to this and not give him too much, too soon because that can start to carry over in the offense.
"What we were seeing early with Ronny was really good decision making in the batter's box. Really low chase percentages for his accustomed level and swinging at balls when they're over the white. That's just really what we want to drive. When you introduce multi positions and things, that can start to pull away from that a little bit. We want to make sure it's a systematic approach. Ultimately, would we like to build more flexibility in him? Sure. But I think at some point in time I want to have that conversation with him 1-on-1 before we speak about it publicly."
Eppler says the team wants to "try to stay away from bringing a guy up and bringing a guy up too early, and then having to send them back down."
This approach has been taken with Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty, who Eppler has been pleased with so far.
"I thought they've been great," Eppler said. "I thought they've really taken every opportunity they've been given. They're playing with a lot of passion, a lot of energy, they care, there's a lot of purpose behind what they're doing. Been very pleased with them so far."
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