One of the top international prospects signed in 2017, how has Ronny Mauricio done since then? Hint, we won’t be looking at the numbers too hard…
- Born: February 4, 2001
- B/T: Both/Right
- 6’3″, 166lb
- Drafted by the New York Mets in 2017 out of the Dominican Republic
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
The guy is 6’3″ and only weighs 166 pounds. When you are that tall, and that skinny, it’s not surprising the power isn’t present, nor is the Hard%. At this point, while waiting for this teen’s body to catch up to his growth spurt, we can just look for bat control. And a 17-year-old who only strikes out 16% of the time is pretty impressive.
Side note: Wouldn’t it be cool to have a player who had a strikeout rate equal to their age throughout their career? All through their 20s, it would be in the 20%-29% range, and he wouldn’t wash out until his mid-30s, as he would anyway. At age 17, Mauricio had a 16% K% rate. Soooo close.
Would be nice to see more walks than 5%, but that kind of respect will follow when the power shows up.
Mauricio is a switch hitter, so he should be able to defeat most of the platoon splits that other batters faced. So far he needs to work on hitting lefties better.
As befitting a switch hitter, the balls are fairly evenly spread out, with a few extra hit to right field.
Welcome to pro ball, 17-year-old Ronny. It’s hard isn’t it?
Welcome to A-ball, 18-year-old Ronny, nice to see you getting the hang of things.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #93 on their Top 400.
- BaseballHQ: #56 on their Top 100.
- Fangraphs: #35 on their Top 120.
- Fantasy Six Pack: #345 on their dynasty list.
- Prospects365: #41 on Ray Butler’s Top 200.
- Imaginary Brick Wall: #87 on the Top 487.
- Fantrax: #58 on the Top 250.
Warnings
Well, the power, for one thing. That will depend on his body growing to maturity, and until it does, we only take it on faith.
I presume the walks will follow the power, but we need to see that.
He’s only 18, so there’s risk.
Conclusion
He’s a scout darling, so we can’t look too much into the numbers. The scouts swear the power is coming, at at 6’3″, the frame is ready for it. This is a dynasty play: you might not benefit until four years go by, but by that time you’ll look like a genius.
Unless you don’t. Hey, there’s risk, but it’s a risk I would take. Think of Mauricio as a blue-chip stock during a market rout. Don’t look at your 401K in the short term. Peek at it four years from now and watch your smile grow wide.