Infielder Luis Guillorme played 35 games for the Mets this year in two stints, before being optioned back to Las Vegas on August 13. The young prospect did not have a big impact on the team, especially at the plate, with a slash line of .209/.284/.239, dangerously close to the “Reyes line.” The slick-fielding infielder did not make many misplays in the field for the Mets, (just one error), but the case can be made that management misplayed his role with the team.
As mentioned, Guillorme has excellent defensive skills, MLB Pipeline this year rated him as the best fielding shortstop among prospects, and he is also very good at second base. Yet with the Mets this year he did not play a single inning at shortstop. Amed Rosario got the bulk of the time at short, as was deserved. But whenever he got an off day or was replaced late in a game, it was always Jose Reyes, a worse fielder and batter than Guillorme, who played short. That does not make sense.
What position did Guillorme play the most this year? Oddly enough it was pinch hitter. He pinch hit in 15 games, and only once did he remain in the game after hitting. He got only three hits and no walks in his 15 pinch hit appearances, so he did not contribute much in that role.
He played 14 games, or parts of games, at third base. Much of that play was when starting third baseman Todd Frazier was on the DL. Guillorme was used at second base eight times, and he was a pinch runner just once, on May 11, in his very first appearance of the season.
Guillorme may not be a Lou Brock on the basepaths, but he has decent speed, he did rack up 18 SB in 2015 at Savannah in A ball. Yet on a team with notoriously slow runners such as Wilmer Flores, and Jay Bruce, among others, Guillorme had just the one pinch running episode in the roughly three months he was with the team.
Guillorme was almost never used in a role that was tailor-made for him, specifically as a late inning defensive replacement in a close game when the Mets were leading. He tended to be used more in a mop-up role, for example in the horrendous 25-4 loss to Washington on July 31 he replaced Asdrubal Cabrera late in the game. He also replaced Cabrera late on June 18 against Colorado, this time the Mets were far ahead and won 12-2. But he does not appear he was used at all as a defensive replacement in those games where Jacob deGrom pitched so well but ended up with a no-decision or a loss.
So, to sum up, Guillorme was not used at all this year at his best position, shortstop, was basically not used much as a late inning defense to preserve a lead, and was only used once as a pinch runner when he was one of the faster players on a team deficient in speed. He was used the most as a pinch hitter, a role he was not suited for considering his lack of power.
In the grand scheme of things how the last man on the bench was deployed did not mean all that much, the Mets were destined to lose a lot of games during the stretch Guillorme was with the team no matter how he was used. But I do think he could have been used more effectively.
poorly written . not a future star
b,
Maybe I should look through some of your old posts so I can get some tips on how to improve my poor writing.
The only misplay with Guilorme was that he was on the Major league roster in the first place.
Im guessing you didn’t actually watch him play, because he didn’t show one ounce of defensive skill in his stints. He couldn’t handle 3b at all, and was just passable at 2b. I shudder to imagine him at SS
Louis is battling to be a Major leaguer. He needs lot’s of upper level ab;s—he is not a major league hitter.
He doesn;t have a hit tool or talent beyond contact and zone control—I am a big fan of the possibility that an A+ to AAA guy with those traits can develop as a hitter…but there is a big piece that he lacks—an attack and “power” peice that can only come from ab’s. It’s a “Nimmo Thing”, except that Nimmo has that tool already built in—power that was always there but not always in games.
There are talented players who can become hitters at the MLB Level–Rosario. Louis needs AB’s…… and he is very low on the “Hit Tool” scale versus the two guys I’ve mentioned. I used them as examples because it provides a Framing.
Good field not hit guys are the 1990s, no longer have a place in MLB.
LG gave the team a slap hitter who can get on base. He never got a chance getting cold on the bench so he was never able to display his skills.
In addition although I never saw Gouilorme skills at short, I do believe the reports that he is an excellent fielder. So back in June when Amed Rosario looked lost at the plate, I was in favor of Rosario playing in the desert for four weeks to hone his skills. Gouilorme could have filled in. We’ll never know now.
Pere, I would have liked to see Guillorme play at least some at short, especially since Jose Reyes was the option used after Rosario.
On a real MLB team, Reyes is cut and Guillorme gets those at bats for evaluation purposes. On the Mess, we’re still waiting for Reyes’ potential.
Reyes back in the line up tonight at 3rd. It never ends
You’re either blind or oblivious if you haven’t figured out who Guillorme is. I don’t understand people who need to watch 1000s of PA to make a decision on a guy.
I don’t think this is fair.
I think the jury is very much out on Guillorme. His results in MLB are not good but who’s ever wowed people when they post a .219 BABIP? I don’t need to see 1000s of PA but can I see more than 74? I’d like to see him given a chance to start on a consistent basis, too.
” I don’t need to see 1000s of PA but can I see more than 74? I’d like to see him given a chance to start on a consistent basis, too”
I also don’t understand why judgement has to be from MLB action. The minors exists for a reason and they are a good proxy of what to expect.
Yep and he’s posted good OBPs in three of his last four years in the minors.
McNeil had a better season than Guillorme did and I don’t begrudge the Mets giving McNeil the first shot. But I’d play Guillorme over Jack Reinheimer and Jose Reyes.
+1
Choosing to play Guillorme vs another player is a different argument. None of Guillorme, Reyes, nor Reinheimer deserve to be in the major leagues. It’s a waste to give any of them ABs so it doesn’t matter to me which one you want to play.
My problem is when people say we need to play those guys more to “evaluate” when it’s already plainly evident who they are.
Guillorme’s BB% and ISO is in line with his minor league production. AVG is the least translatable skill to the majors.
We know the type of player that Guillorme is going to be, almost no power and a guy who needs to get on base to be a major leaguer. But a Guillorme who posts a .340 OBP is a useful guy.
It’s not a waste to me to find out if he could put up better numbers now with regular playing time in the middle of the diamond.
Ignoring the fact that there’s about a 0.001% of that happening, give him 60 points on his AVG, OBP, SLG, and i still don’t think he’s useful.
FWIW, to date in his MLB career, Guillorme is 14-67. To get him 60 points on each of his triple slash categories would have required 4 more singles than what he actually did. That would have meant a .281 BABIP, which is still a below-average mark. I don’t know what the odds on that happening are. But it’s somewhere in double digits (25%? 10%? 70%?) not one one-thousandth of one percent.
The big questions are how good he is defensively and if he can manage more than an .030 ISO against MLB pitchers — not what his BABIP is in a 67-AB sample of sporadic playing time. Wally Backman put up an .065 ISO in 1986 and posted a 3.1 fWAR. And that was with a walk rate less than what Guillorme has now and with a BSR component less than what Guillorme has. Backman had for him a strong defensive year (he was 11th among MLB 2B with at least 400 PA) and he had his second-best BABIP season in the majors.
You talk all the time about evaluations being able to be made based on minor league playing time. Well, the evaluations of his minor league defense have been nothing but raves. Do you want to dismiss those based on what we saw when he was playing out of position at 3B in the majors?
I think he’ll hit singles. I think he’ll walk. I think he’ll field well. Can he hit for minimally acceptable MLB power? That I remain unconvinced. I could see him being like Cesar Hernandez, who to date has a .363 OBP and a .366 SLG and a 2.2 fWAR. I could also see him like Austin Barnes, who has a .340 OBP and a .247 SLG and a 0.2 fWAR. If he’s going to be like Hernandez, he’ll get there with a higher AVG and a lower ISO but whatever.
In his last three minor league seasons where he played at least 100 games, Backman had lower SLG than OBP marks and his MLB career he had a .349/.339 lifetime mark. I don’t see an MLB SLG that close to his MLB OBP as an unreasonable bar for Guillorme to reach.
I don’t think the Mets consider Guillome a ML player or a serious prospect.
Nobody considered McNeil a real prospect and look at his early results once ownership finally relented.
Both Guillorme and Smith were mistreated this year. Give them time to play their own game, learn and adjust without relegating them to the bench or minors, or forcing them into a mold they don’t fit (e.g. making Smith hit for power and play the outfield).