Mets prospect Mauricio ‘getting close’ in return from injury

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Sunday afternoon at Clover Park, the Mets’ players of the present lost to the Astros, 5-0, in just another exhibition game. They totaled two hits, and Tylor Megill gave up four runs in five innings.

In the evening, the Mets’ players of the future squared off against their Nationals counterparts in West Palm Beach as part of the “Spring Breakout” event, MLB’s prospect showcase series.

Ronny Mauricio, a longtime top prospect who impressed in a brief stay in the majors in late 2023, did not participate in either game. Recovering from multiple knee surgeries that have sidelined him for more than 15 months, Mauricio won’t play at all during spring training, manager Carlos Mendoza said.

It’s not clear when he’ll take the field for a minor-league affiliate, either, never mind make it back to the majors.

“He’s getting close. When is that going to be? I’m not sure,” Mendoza said. “What I know is he continues to follow the program, continues to go through full activities. He’s responding well.”

Had he been healthy, Mauricio would have figured prominently into the Mets’ plans at third base, second base and DH over the past year-plus — and perhaps would have established himself as a legitimate major-leaguer by now.

But he has been plagued by a bad right knee, beginning in December 2023, when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament while playing in the Dominican Winter League. In August 2024, he needed a follow-up arthroscopic operation to remove scar tissue that had hindered his healing.

Even since then, however, Mauricio’s return to normalcy has been slow. At the time of the second surgery, the Mets hoped he would play in the Arizona Fall League. That never happened. Around then, Mendoza said, Mauricio encountered another round of inflammation in his knee.

At the start of spring training, Mendoza said Mauricio was on track to get into games by mid-March. He said Sunday that he “misspoke” then.

Mauricio in recent weeks has largely been on his own regimen as the rest of the team gets ready for the season. His most recent progress, he said, included fielding ground balls at a higher intensity — instead of softer ones batted right at him — and moving laterally, which represents a noteworthy test for his lower half.

His knee lately has been “perfect, honestly,” Mauricio said through an interpreter. Mendoza described it as “trending in the right direction.”

“We’ve been able to take it a little bit slower and a little bit smarter so it doesn’t flare up again,” Mauricio said.

Mendoza said: “We want to make sure we’re not missing anything here. We don’t want to push it too quickly, because he can defend. Even though he’s as big as he is, he can move around that infield. He came up as a shortstop, but this is a guy who can play anywhere in the infield. We feel comfortable that we’re going to get the player that we know he could be.”

Mauricio always has been known more for his bat, though.

“I don’t know that we have many people in all of professional baseball hit a ball much harder than he can when he really gets into it,” said Andy Green, senior vice president of player development. “So it’s a pretty good place to start: really athletic and can hit the ball really hard.”

Mendoza echoed: “The way he impacts the baseball is right there with some of the best in the game.”

Mets officials from various regimes have expressed similar sentiments since the organization signed Mauricio, then 16, to a $2.1 million bonus in 2017. He has ranked among the best in the farm system ever since.

He turns 24 next month and just wants to get back on the field.

“For me, a successful 2025 is to eventually get back to the player I was before the injury or better,” Mauricio said. “I know it’s going to be difficult to get back there, just because I haven’t played in so long. But it’s important to be able to come here and help the team.”

Notes & quotes: Reliever Tyler Zuber was OK, per Mendoza, after taking a hard-hit one-hopper off his right (throwing) elbow . . . Brandon Nimmo hit in a minor-league scrimmage and will DH Monday against the Rays, further evidence that he is fine at the plate amid right knee soreness . . . Reliever Ryan Lambert, an eighth-round draft pick last year and a potential fast riser to the majors, said his fastball reached 102 mph at Oklahoma — and believes he can do better. “I’m an adrenaline guy. I love big situations,” he said. “Who knows what I’ll touch here in the future?”