QUEENS, NY — Mets infielder Ronny Mauricio will remain in the minor leagues even when he is 100% healthy, “until we have a need,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said on Wednesday.
The Mets have a May 16 deadline to decide where to place the 24-year-old after the 20-day maximum for a rehab assignment expires. With options remaining on his contract, the minors appeared to be a no-brainer.
“Ronny continues to progress. Still in Double-A. We’ll get him up to Triple-A here pretty soon,” Stearns said. “Then it’s just play all three [positions] on the infield, continue to build up volume. I think he’s got a little ways to go. He’s a healthy player, but to get back into that true baseball shape, ready to compete at a high level in the big leagues, we still got a little bit of a ways to go. So it’s continuing to get him at-bats, continue to get him reps in the minor leagues.”
Mauricio is finishing an extensive and complicated rehab process stemming from a torn ACL he suffered while playing winter ball in December of 2023. The surgically treated area took longer than expected to calm down, which included inflammation that extended until August of 2024. It was not until then that he could ramp up legitimate baseball activities.
“It’s certainly taken longer than we anticipated,” Stearns said. “I think we’re on the right track here, but he was out of baseball competition for over a year. That’s a big hill to climb to get back. He’s working really hard, and I think he’s going to get there. He’s on a good path.
“We have a player who is medically healthy, who has checked off a lot of the boxes in the rehab progression, has worked erally hard to get there, and now we’re working him back into Ronny Mauricio the baseball player, who was on the verge, seemingly, of really breaking out at the major-league level. That takes some time as well.”
Mauricio had impressed during his 26-game MLB debut toward the end of the 2023 season. While he slashed .248/.296/.347 with two home runs, nine RBI, and seven stolen bases, it was his exit velocity that particularly jumped out.
Balls put in play by Mauricio left his bat at an average of 90.7 mph and his maximum exit velocity of 117.3 mph, which came on a double against Logan Gilbert of the Seattle Mariners on Sept. 1, was in the top 1% of Major League Baseball that season.
“I think he’s close,” Stearns added. “I don’t think I can sit here and say from a quickness-reaction standpoint, it’s exactly the same, but I think he’s very close at this point. We have all indications that he will be able to get back to completely 100% from a physical standpoint.”
