Mets call-up catcher Tomas Nido from Double-A Binghamton

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - MARCH 05: Ball and gloves of the New York Mets sit in the dugout before a game against the Washington Nationals at Digital Domain Park on March 5, 2012 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The Nationals defeated the Mets 3-1. (Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images)
PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - MARCH 05: Ball and gloves of the New York Mets sit in the dugout before a game against the Washington Nationals at Digital Domain Park on March 5, 2012 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The Nationals defeated the Mets 3-1. (Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images)

September is rolling through, and another minor league prospect will be joining the Mets to finish out the season

This time it will be a catching prospect, 23-year-old Tomas Nido, who comes up to the big leagues to hopefully make his major league debut with the Mets at some point these last couple of weeks.

Nido played the 2017 season in Double-A Binghamton, and was his first season above high-A ball. He’s been with the Mets organization since he was 18 back in 2012, and is now being looked at as possibly having some future with the team in the long-term. Nido’s call-up was delayed as the Mets affiliate had made their respective playoffs so the team was still playing somewhat meaningful games.

With the Rumble Ponies this year, Nido had a down year batting just .232/.287/.354 with eight home runs and 60 runs batted in. He hit .320 last season in St. Lucie, so the Mets were naturally hoping his success in 2016 would carry to a higher level. Unfortunately, for now, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The Mets are at a point in time where they should be giving the catching position a bigger look from outside the organization, but it doesn’t seem like that will be the case. Early last week, general manager Sandy Alderson said the team was comfortable with Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki going into 2018, so who knows if any type of change occurs this offseason in that area.

Plawecki specifically has shown tremendous upside since being recalled. Over his last 11 games, he’s been knocking the ball around all over the field for a line of .302/.362/.535 overall. If he can manage to be remotely that consistently, he will easily win the starting job with the Mets next season. That’s unfortunately still an unknown, so the Mets will continue to groom other players, just in case.

Next: Mets release 2018 schedule

Giving Nido a shot at this point may not make a lot of sense to most, but the Mets think it could help out. He’ll now get an opportunity to show that he could potentially have the necessary skills to play at the highest level. Even if he struggles, the experience that he could acquire could be invaluable in the long run.

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