Refreshing Mets Fans on Ronny Mauricio's Many Red and Green Flags

[Tom Gatto]

Image courtesy of © Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Ronny Mauricio is getting another shot with the New York Mets, thanks to Juan Soto's calf injury.  The club recalled Mauricio from Triple-A Syracuse on Monday as the corresponding move for Soto being placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 4. 

The return to the majors is an important moment for the 25-year-old. He needs to impress after a difficult ending to his 2025 season. The trouble is, he figures to be the same player who spent most of the final month on the Mets' bench. Let's refresh ourselves on the best (and worst) parts of his game and offer an overall outlook on what's to come for the former top prospect.

Ronny Mauricio Returns: Weighing the Pros and Cons of His Game

Pro: He Hits the Ball Hard and He Hits It Far

The 25-year-old switch-hitter has eight home runs in 292 career plate appearances, and half of them are catalogued by Baseball Savant as no-doubters. Upper-tank rockets at Citi Field and Coors Field, both delivered from the left side, were "wow" moments and teases of his power tool. His maximum exit velocity is 117.3 mph, his barrel rate is an above-average 7.6 percent, and his bat speed is a zippy 73.8 mph. The Mets know he can provide big-time pop off the bench.

Con: He Doesn't Hit the Ball Often Enough

Pitchers are good at missing Mauricio's bat, especially if they throw in a wrinkle. He sports a poor 29.1 percent strikeout rate and 32.8 percent whiff rate for his young career. His biggest hole is breaking pitches -- he has a .150/.186/.250 career slash line against them. The curveball is an unsolvable mystery, evidenced by a 50.9 percent whiff rate. Mets fans are bracing for more of Mauricio dropping to a knee as he waves at the pitch.

Pro: He's an Athlete on the Infield

Mauricio is tall and lanky, listed at 6-3 and 166 pounds. His mechanics aren't the smoothest, but he gets to the ball and his big arm (76th percentile arm strength in 2025) gets it across the diamond. Now that he's more than two years removed from the ACL tear that cost him the entire 2024 season, he should be able to move well wherever he plays. And he's expected to play all over as the backup to second baseman Marcus Semien, shortstop Francisco Lindor, and third baseman Bo Bichette.

Con: He Is a Liability Against Left-Handed Pitching

Liability is putting it kindly: Mauricio sports a .134/.174/.195 career slash line and 36.0 percent strikeout rate in 86 plate appearances as a right-handed batter. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza would have a tough time justifying a start for Mauricio against a left-hander if Semien, Lindor, Bichette, Jorge Polanco, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are all healthy. The Mets would be wise to consider making Mauricio a full-time left-handed hitter, or a simple platoon option if he wants to maintain some faux flexibility.

Outlook: Mauricio Is a Full-Time Backup

Mark Vientos has slipped into a full-time role in the starting lineup thanks to a white-hot start and a minor injury to Jorge Polanco, though most of the rest of the infield is struggling this season (Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette, in particular, are off to frigid starts). Mauricio will likely get an opportunity or two to spell them for a game, but he'll have to be really impressive in a small sample to stick around in New York for longer than it takes Soto to recover from his calf injury.

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[Lefty Specialist]

Well that game-winning hit yesterday was a nice start.

[The Hot Corner]

Mauricio has throughout his limited MLB career displayed dramatic splits as a switch hitter.

Granted, this is based on a limited sample size (82 & 188 ABs from Right and Left side respectively), but I would suspect that his minor leagues numbers demonstrate a reasonably similar split.  I realize that his RH stats are displayed in the above article, but I display them again here to contrast the stark difference compared to his LH stats.

For his career vs LH pitchers:  .134/..174/.195/.370      with 37.8% K rate & 4.88% Walk rate

For his career vs RH pitchers:  .282/.348/.436/.784   with 28.7% K rate & 9.57% Walk rate

Obviously, he is a free swinger that needs to make contact more regularly.  However, the dramatic difference between his production as a  left-handed batter as opposed to as a right-handed batter is telling.  With such a huge difference in production, it begs the question should he drop the switch-hitting and concentrate all his time and energy to hitting left-handed?  I would tend to think it could be a wise choice.  

His current stats make him a valuable LH bat off the bench and possibly a platoon player against RHP.  Arizona offers Mauricio a unique opportunity for late game heroics (like yesterday) since they do not have a single lefty in their bullpen.