Mets nearing deadline to make a decision on Ronny Mauricio
New York Mets player Ronny Mauricio during a spring training workout in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Wednesday Feb. 12, 2025. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PHOENIX — One way or another, the Mets will need to make a call soon on long-injured infielder Ronny Mauricio.
Tuesday marked the 10th day of Mauricio’s rehab assignment, the halfway point of the 20-day maximum allowed for position players. By the end of next week — as long as he remains healthy — the Mets will have to decide whether to put him on the major-league roster or send him to the minors.
“We have a decision to make. So we’ll see. Gotta get there first,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Hopefully he continues to feel the way he’s feeling and we’ll see what we got.”
How Mauricio has been feeling: pretty well, actually. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and his second stolen base in five games with Low-A St. Lucie on Tuesday. He will move up to Double-A Binghamton beginning Friday, Mendoza said.
Although he has appeared rusty at the plate overall, batting .133 with five strikeouts to one walk, Mauricio has played shortstop, third base and second base (and DH), a resumption of the versatility the Mets have been trying to cultivate for years.
“Feeling good, playing defense, moving well, getting at-bats,” Mendoza said. “That’s good to see.”
The Mets’ looming transaction is interesting in part because Mauricio technically has been a major-leaguer — albeit on the injured list — since late 2023. Although he hasn’t played since tearing the ACL in his right knee in December 2023, he has been collecting a big-league salary and accruing big-league service time.
What the Mets do next with Mauricio will depend on how he progresses over the next week and a half. But based on how long it has taken him to get to this point, and how far away he is based on a spring training-style progression, there is reason to believe the Mets will simply option Mauricio to the minors when he comes off the IL.
So far, Mauricio has not played a full game during his rehab assignment. He has not played on back-to-back days.
Combine that with the Mets’ many options across the infield on the roster as it exists now — Luisangel Acuna and Jeff McNeil, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos — and it’s not clear carrying Mauricio is a viable option until he is more built up to play about every day and/or personnel issues create an opening.
Baty: back
When Mets officials informed Brett Baty late last month that they were sending him back to Triple-A — mere hours after he rocketed a two-run home run off Zack Wheeler into Citi Field’s rightfield second deck — it came with a simple message.
“They just told me to go down there and keep doing what I had been doing for the past couple of weeks,” said Baty, who had started to be more productive offensively. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
What happened was Jesse Winker suffered a strained right oblique, creating an opening for a lefthanded hitter. So Baty returned.
“Didn’t know what to think,” Baty said, “then got the call back.”
Lineup choices
The Mets’ lack of a clear everyday guy in centerfield and at second base and DH has created daily lineup questions, which on Tuesday against the Diamondbacks included why Starling Marte drew another start at DH.
Mendoza said he is “trying to give him some at-bats here, trying to get him going a little bit.” Marte entered the day batting .183 with a .613 OPS, struggling to find a groove as a part-time player.
“When he gets going, we look at his numbers throughout his career, he’s been a good hitter,” Mendoza said.
Acuna, consistently praised by Mendoza as a sparkplug in the field and at the bottom of the lineup, sat for a second day in a row. That was less an indictment of Acuna’s recent performance and more a statement about the Mets’ personnel.
“He’ll play. He’ll play,” Mendoza said. “He’ll continue to get at-bats. It’s a good problem to have, when you have to sit a couple of the guys who you want to get in there. But again, using all 13 position players, he’ll continue to get opportunities.”
Montas & Manaea
Frankie Montas (strained right lat) threw his third bullpen session Tuesday, Mendoza said. That typically is a sign that he is getting close to facing hitters.
Sean Manaea (strained right oblique) hasn’t gotten on a mound yet but is playing catch from 105 feet. He estimated recently that he would return in mid-June. Montas is pacing to beat him back to the active roster.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
