The Mets journey with Shortstops over the 5+ years has been a wild ride. There was Reyes departing and the rise of Tejada while waiting for Flores. Then Tejada didn’t quite work out. Neither did Flores. So a cast of other characters came in to try to bridge the gap, but that didn’t really work out either. Then the Mets signed Cabrera, Rosario stepped it up in the minors and a replacement level player in Reynolds appeared.
And now the Mets have Luis Guillorme coming through the system. Luis is protected by not being Rosario so he’s gone under the radar but he’s been with the Mets since 2013 at age 18 in the Gulf Coast league.
In four seasons in the minors he has hit a respectable .285/.355/.326. He doesn’t really have pop yet, at all, but his offense isn’t what he’s known for. As the Baseball Prospectus 2017 Annual puts it, he’s “the best defensive infielder in the system”.
Luis is still quite young (will be 22 this season) and the Mets don’t need him to be a bonfide hitting stud. But just a little increase in power and his value will move. He also hasn’t played above St. Lucie yet.
Let’s see how he does this spring against tougher pitchers and revisit at the end of the season where he is on the Mets depth chart and where he should go.
