After the Mets sold at the trade deadline, the natural question became, “When does Ronny Mauricio come up?”. With rosters expanding today, the Mets will finally call-up Mauricio with Brett Baty. They join a roster that already has Francisco Álvarez and Mark Vientos. At long last the four most intriguing Mets are all playing in Queens.
Kodai Senga will kick-off the weekend series for the Mets. Over 24 starts and 136 1/3 innings this season, Senga has a 3.17 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 1.240 WHIP and a 131 ERA+. Since July 5th he has made nine starts totaling 54 2/3 innings with a 2.63 ERA, 2.82 FIP striking out 63 batters during that stretch. In his last start he struck out 10 batters, his first time with double digit strikeouts since July 5th. Senga has gone from a promising rookie, to an All-Star to now being in a position where he’ll probably get some Rookie-of-the-year votes.
Logan Gilbert has pitched 155 innings this season over 26 starts with a 3.66 ERA, 3.71 FIP, 1.045 WHIP and a 112 ERA+. Gilbert has allowed only three runs over his last 13 innings while striking out 10. Since June 17th he has pitched 81 innings over 13 starts with a 3.00 ERA, 4.00 FIP. The only Met who has seen him in a major league game is Tim Locastro (0-for-4, 2 K).
Three Things To Watch For:
- The Baby Mets. Ronny Mauricio makes his debut, Baty returns as they both join Vientos and Álvarez. Mauricio started off his 2023 campaign hot, cooled off between June and July. Since August though he has been scorching hot. As the Mets look at their roster and their farm system, this is Mauricio’s chance to show how he fits into the 2024 and beyond plans. Since going to the minors, Baty has gone 17-for-69 at the plate with two doubles and five homers during that 17 game stretch. We are hoping to see all four Baby Mets get a lot of playing time for the remainder of the season.
- Daniel Vogelbach and playing time. Since August 12th Vogelbach has gone 13-44 at the plate with six homers and nine walks, leading to a .296/.426/.705 batting line. This includes a homer he hit on Wednesday night, also known as the DJ Stewart game. Going forward the best way to get all four Baby Mets into the lineup is for Vientos to DH. The younger players really should be getting the bulk of the playing time for the rest of the season. We are curious to see how Buck Showalter manages this for the next few weeks.
- Dominic Leone. Dominic Leone is now a Mariner after the Angels waiver wire sale yesterday. Leone has had a crazy 2023. He was signed by the Rangers during Spring Training and released at the end of March. A week later he resigned with the Rangers and was released at the start of May. He then signed with the Mets and was traded to the Angels for Jeremiah Jackson (who has been doing well in the Mets system). The Angels then fell apart after becoming buyers at the deadline and put players who would be free agents after the season on the waiver wire to save money. What a weird season for Leone.
Let’s Go Mets!
