The Mets claimed Luis De Los Santos from the Blue Jays in early November to provide infield depth. De Los Santos has been in the Blue Jays system since 2016 and finally made it to the majors this season.
Over 13 games with the Blue Jays, De Los Santos hit .172/.226/.241 with a 34 OPS+. Over that short time, he played at third, first and in left field. He had a pretty solid batting line in Buffalo, hitting .260/.375/.441 which is a pretty sizeable bump from from his career minor league line of .250/.312/.385. He’s played in the minors for eight years and when he takes the field this season, it will be his 600th minor league game played. Because of the chunk of time he’s played, he’s racked up 543 hits.
The Mets claimed De Los Santos for additional infield depth. In the last calendar year, between the majors, minors and Dominican winter ball, De Los Santos has played first, second, third, short and left field. He still has options left and he gives the Mets quite a bit of roster flexibility to get an additional glove on the bench when needed.
As of writing (2/27), he has already played in four spring training games in the first week of games, so the Mets are giving him a real look. There are a lot of players in front of him right now on the depth chart, but given his ability to play a bunch of positions and his options situation, he’ll be called up at some point this season. This spring we will watch for:
- Is his bat close to replacement level?
- How is his defense across the infield? Do the Mets lean to playing him more at one position than any others?
After spring training, I’m curious to see how the Mets play him defensively in the minors. He was mostly at third and short last season, do the Mets keep him there?
