Each year at 213 we look through the Non-Roster Invitees to spring training and get to know them a bit. Are they in camp to get a look at big league hitting/pitching to aid their development? Are the Mets just trying to get a better look at a future rookie? Are they a veteran trying to get back to the major league level? What can we expect from them this season?
There are some baseball players that seem destined to become Mets. Generally it’s due to someone in the organization liking them, failing to acquire them in a trade and then failing to acquire them in free agency. At that point the self-fulfilling prophecy is born that this player is going to be a Met at the twilight of their career.
We actually wrote an article after the 2017 off-season about Eduardo Nunez because we were that sure that the Mets were going to be that cheap that he was going to be signed. It was between him, Reyes, Cabrera, Frazier and Harrison. You can read it here. The Mets surprised us and went with Frazier and at the time we weren’t completely down on the idea of Nunez. He just seemed inevitable and unexciting. But since then he has seen major regression in hitting:
2017: 491 PA, .313/.341/.460
2018: 502 PA, .265/.289/.388
2019: 174 PA, .228/.243/.305
It’s been a steep fall for Nunez recently. To make the team he needs to play well enough in Spring that he gets a 40-man spot and somehow edges out Luis Guillorme who should see regular time as a back up infielder, the spot Nunez is going for. Nunez’s career is declining, and he had a lot of success. The Mets tend to have a thing for playing aging middle infielders with declining hitting abilities more than they should, and it would be a shame for Guillorme to have to step aside for Nunez.
I’m going to be optimistic here, outside of a terrific spring that surprises everyone, I think Guillorme holds onto his spot on the bench and even if he doesn’t, I don’t think it’s going to happen due to Nunez.
