The New York Mets‘ season didn’t quite go as planned, but at least there were some positive developments. In the starting rotation, David Peterson emerged from the alternate training site, skipped Triple-A altogether and posted a 3.44 in ten games (nine starts) and 49.2 frames.
Rookie shortstop Andres Gimenez also made his debut and added a speed/defense element to the Mets that they didn’t have before. Jacob deGrom, Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo performed at their expected levels (well, Conforto was even better) and Edwin Diaz returned to his dominant ways.
However, in one of the most surprising developments of the 2020 shortened season, at least for the New York Mets, was the emergence of Luis Guillorme as a good offensive player.
For years, even coming from the Mets’ system, Guillorme was viewed as a glove-first, no-bat infielder with a utilityman ceiling. However, look at the numbers he put this year: .333/.426/.439 with a .381 wOBA and a 144 wRC+ in 30 games and 68 plate appearances.
Is the Mets’ infielder for real?
You should note, before we dig deeper into his future role, that he isn’t that good. Luck had something to do with that line, as he posted an unsustainable .463 BABIP. But he did increase his average exit velocity (from 87.0 mph last year to 89.8 this season) and hard-hit rate (from 26.5 to 31.7.) He improved as a hitter, maybe not the point to be an above-average regular down the road, but he is nevertheless a very useful piece.
Due to his offensive and defensive contributions, Guillorme can be an excellent piece for the Mets in the future. As of now, there are several infielders blocking his path towards regular playing time, such as Jeff McNeil, Amed Rosario, Gimenez and Robinson Cano. But there are plenty of teams out there who would take a slick-fielding shortstop capable of taking a base (14.0 BB%) and hitting for average.
But let’s admire the fact that, in half of the games of the regular season than other stars, he accumulated more fWAR (0.7) than JD Davis, Pete Alonso, Amed Rosario and Wilson Ramos, just to name a few.