The Mets are in no rush to call up Ronny Mauricio and the bigger picture could be why

The handling of their top prospects has been something New York Mets fans haven’t enjoyed about this ball club over the last two years. In need of an offensive boost in 2022, they waited to promote Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and finally Francisco Alvarez. This season began with all three in the minor leagues.  The reloaded farm system now has even more players we’ll be begging to see in the show within the next year. One was already here.

Calls for the Mets to promote Ronny Mauricio got loud this year. Understandably so, the offense was full of slumpers while he tore up Triple-A pitchers. We did the same sort of begging last year for the already graduated Baby Mets. We didn’t want the team to make the same mistake of holding back Mauricio.

Now that the team is on autopilot for the rest of the year when it comes to the standings, the need to call up Mauricio has changed. It would be nice to get him up in the major leagues to see what he can do. It also won’t fit into the team’s approach of looking long-term.

The purpose of calling up NY Mets prospect Ronny Mauricio has changed

As Tim Healey of Newsday noted, the Mets don’t even view Mauricio as MLB-ready.

The Mets have plenty of open space now for Mauricio to make his MLB debut, get his feet wet, and face some big league pitching. They’ve opted to keep players like Danny Mendick and DJ Stewart in the majors. Jonathan Arauz was promoted to help round out the roster instead of Mauricio who would have made a lot of sense under different circumstances.

Calling up Mauricio now, in a lost season, doesn’t do much. The good is they get to test out his performance against major leaguers which should be contemplated. The bad is he wouldn’t play quite as much as he can down in Triple-A. Syracuse is their testing ground for Mauricio to improve his defense at new positions. The pressure is off doing so in the minors where scrutiny isn't as heavy.

Above everything else, calling Mauricio up now just means they risk losing him in free agency a little sooner. It’s a big picture decision. This is where their eyes have gazed and probably one of the reasons why he's still in Triple-A.

The Mets seem undecided as to whether or not he’s a part of their future. That’s fine. They have time to decide. He has the opportunity to prove himself worthy. The addition of several infielders at this year’s trade deadline with Luisangel Acuna being the most notable now adds to Mauricio’s ultimate fate.

The club hasn't gone on pause but they aren't smashing every button on the controller either. It would be nice to get a better idea of what Mauricio can do in the majors, however, there are more pros to keeping him down on the farm at least a little longer. If he does poorly, it spoils the anticipation and could hurt any trade value. Doing well makes the front office look bad for not calling him up sooner. Fans don't care about this secondary reason, but they do and they're the ones making these choices. We'll have to accept this for now.

As if this wasn't enough, winning the Rookie of the Year Award has added benefits. Teams are now awarded an extra draft pick if a player on their team wins the honor. At the very least, we should expect the Mets to keep him Rookie of the Year eligible for next year by limiting his number of at-bats.

We’ve waited long enough for Mauricio. A little longer can't hurt us anymore than the rest of the team has.