Mets shortstop prospect Ronny Mauricio plays second base for Triple-A Syracuse

SAN FRANCISCO — Friday was a landmark day in the development of Mets shortstop prospect Ronny Mauricio for a simple reason: For the first time in nearly six years in the organization, he started a game somewhere other than shortstop. 

He played second base for Triple-A Syracuse, the start of a new stage of his growth that makes him more likely to be able to help the Mets in the majors. 

Blocked at his natural position, where the Mets have Francisco Lindor under contract through 2031, Mauricio learning a new spot — or spots — was inevitable. But through his solid season in Double-A last year, a hot spring training in major-league camp and an even hotter start to the minor-league season, the Mets waited. 

Their thinking: Don’t risk overwhelming Mauricio. The jump to Triple-A was enough of a challenge to begin the season. Once he proved he could handle that more advanced pitching — which he did with a .358/.411/.761 slash line through his first 18 games — the Mets decided to expand his defensive versatility. 

“We took the position of introducing things more in a pragmatic and singular way than giving him multiple things to think about at the same time,” general manager Billy Eppler told Newsday in a phone interview. “A new level, new pitching, new approaches to pitching because you’re seeing pitchers with more major-league experience. Let’s let him get comfortable with that first, then we can get to the next phase. Rather than focus on two things at the same time.” 

The next phase unofficially began in recent days when Mauricio worked out at second before games with Miguel Cairo, a 17-year major-league infielder in his first season as the Mets’ infield coordinator. Mauricio seemed like a natural, so they had him debut there Friday. 

Following a recent visit to watch Syracuse, Eppler said Mauricio’s shortstop defense “looked very strong” and “gave me comfort that he can be a shortstop.” He has the talent to handle several positions, according to the GM, but they’ll decide later which if any to tackle next. They want to stick with the one-thing-at-a-time approach. 

Even as an adept second baseman, Mauricio would be blocked by Jeff McNeil, yes. The more spots he can play, though, the more valuable he is to the Mets in the event of, say, an injury. 

Also, Mauricio, who turned 22 this month, dabbled at third base while playing in the Dominican Republic over the winter (and during spring training). 

“The plan is to move him around a little bit now. Talking to Billy, they think it’d be good for his availability for us to move around,” manager Buck Showalter said. “Whether it be short, second, third, outfield, first base — I know Cairo thinks he’s capable of doing any of those.” 

His bat, meanwhile, has not slowed down. In addition to the traditional numbers and the power coming along in a big way, Mauricio is walking more and striking out less — all while adjusting to the best pitching he’s ever seen. 

“I was very pleased with the decision-making in the batter’s box,” Eppler said. “That’s taken a positive step forward. Our philosophy being built around hitting the ball hard and swinging at pitches that you should swing at and taking pitches that you shouldn’t swing at, those process metrics are improving.” 

Extra bases 

To make roster room for pitcher Joey Lucchesi, who started against the Giants on Friday, the Mets demoted reliever John Curtiss to Syracuse. He had a 4.35 ERA in nine appearances (out of 20 games played by the team). “He’ll be back,” Showalter said. “It’ll be good for him to take a little breath. I know he wants to work on the changeup a little bit too. It’s hard to do it up here.” . . . Starling Marte (stiff neck) felt better Friday and Showalter said he “hopes” Marte will return to the lineup Saturday. That was a semantics upgrade from it being a mere possibility the day before . . . The Mets will need an additional starter Tuesday in place of the suspended Max Scherzer. Kodai Senga will get an extra day of rest, as planned, and pitch Wednesday against the Nationals.

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.