Luis Guillorme continues to be a very valuable part of the Mets’ roster

Mar 26, 2023 - 2:00 PM

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Luis Guillorme is very understandably known for his defensive work, but the glove shouldn’t overshadow the fact that he has turned into a complete major league player. The gifted infielder is coming off a season in which he hit .273/.351/.340 with a 106 wRC+ in 335 plate appearances and earned 1.3 fWAR, the best work he’s done at the major league level thus far in his career.

In the field, it was pretty surprising that Guillorme did not win the brand new Gold Glove Award for utility players last year. But anyone who watched the Mets knew that he was excellent defensively, particularly when playing second base. In total, he racked up 91 outs above average, which ranked him 47th in all of baseball last year despite the fact that he didn’t have nearly as much playing time as many of the players near the top of that board.

At the plate, Guillorme isn’t expected to win any awards, but that’s okay. Thanks in large part to the way he hit last year, he is now the owner of a career 101 wRC+. Having cut down on strikeouts in each of the past two seasons, he’s proven to be a tough at-bat for opposing pitchers. And while it’s always easy to use arbitrary endpoints to make a player look better, it’s probably worth comparing the offensive output of his first two brief stints in the big leagues with the numbers he’s put up since the start of the shortened 2020 season.

2018-19: .227/.303/.297, 1 HR, 70 wRC+
2020-22: .278./.367/.344, 3 HR, 109 wRC+

Still just 28 years old, Guillorme might not break out any more with the bat than he already has, but for a player with his kind of glove to be able to hold his own at the plate is incredibly valuable to the Mets.

This year, he’ll likely spend most of his time at second base, either on days that Jeff McNeil is playing a corner outfielder spot or simply getting a rest. And while Brett Baty is in Syracuse, he’ll surely see some time as a platoon partner for Eduardo Escobar at third base. And of course, he’s still capable of playing shortstop for any innings or days that Francisco Lindor might need rest.