Mets: Luis Guillorme has a chance to be a useful bat off the bench in 2020

Slick-fielding New York Mets infielder Luis Guillorme has a chance to become more than a defensive replacement in 2020.

Finding a roster spot on Opening Day for the New York Mets may be a challenge for infielder Luis Guillorme. The addition of a 26th man could help his chances, but a few more dominoes may need to first fall before he becomes a bigger consideration.

Guaranteed bench spots will go to Jake Marisnick, Jed Lowrie, Dominic Smith, and whoever the heck becomes their backup catcher. Depending on the health of Yoenis Cespedes either he or J.D. Davis will also watch the first game of the year from the dugout.

This gives the Mets five bench players. As everyone knows, there’s a good chance at least one—if not more—of those men listed above are traded before the season begins. They would love dump Lowrie’s salary somewhere and Smith remains the organization’s best trade chip.

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This works out well for Guillorme. Even though he could have some competition for the final bench spot, he’s one of those guys the team is very familiar with. It also helps that he hit quite well later in the season in 2019.

A knock against Guillorme has been his inefficiency at the plate while thriving with good glove work. While in part true, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

In the past two seasons at Triple-A, Guillorme finished with a batting average above .300 and OBPs of .380 and .412 respectively. He can handle himself at the plate down in the minors. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t brought it with him in limited opportunities to the majors.

Guillorme did manage to slash .246/.324/.361 in 70 plate appearances for the 2019 Mets. While these numbers don’t exactly scream for attention, they aren’t so bad for a bench player with versatility on defense.

We won’t see much power out of Guillorme—it has never been his forte. However, the Mets may be able to rely on him for some big pinch-hits or at least good at-bats. I would trust him to lay down a sacrifice bunt or draw a walk. When all the team needs is a rally to continue, he could be an answer.

It’s far too soon to expect anything more than quality out of Guillorme in 2020. If you remember, there was a point in 2019 when Tomas Nido was hitting well. The light-hitting backup catcher eventually got exposed and his offensive numbers dipped down before the year was through.

Unlike Nido, Guillorme has hit really well throughout his minor league career. He’s patient, too. This is one quality I feel greatly benefits minor league players. It’s an element some players just never seem to learn and it delays their progress. Amed Rosario is a great example of this. As good as he is, making the pitcher work isn’t one of his strong suits.

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The 2020 season won’t include many rookies vying for bigger roles on the Mets roster. Guillorme is one of the exceptions.