With Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes joining David Wright and Lucas Duda on the disabled list, the Mets needed to go to AAA to find a utility infielder. For some reason or another they chose Ty Kelly.
Kelly has been a nice story this year. He dominated AAA forcing the Mets to finally give him the major league shot the Orioles, Mariners, Blue Jays, and Cardinals declined to give him. He had gone from a career minor leaguer to a player who has finally gotten his shot to be a major leaguer at 27 years old. On June 8th, he even hit his first career home run off future Pirates ace James Taillon. Kelly’s story has been one of perseverance and one of triumph. However, that terrific story does not make Kelly a major leaguer.
In 14 games, Kelly was over-matched hitting .148/.207/.259 with that one home run being his only extra base hit. He has showed why four other organizations passed over him time and again. He has shown why the Mets buried him on the depth chart after his 14 game stint. Given his performance, it makes you question why he is back with the Mets, especially with the team having presumably better options down in the minors.
If you are going to stick with the 40 man roster, Eric Campbell would have been a better choice. He is a career .221/.310/.312 hitter, and he hit .159/.270/.222 this year. He had some flashes this year with a five game stretch that saw him hit .273/.467/.273 while playing well defensively at first and third base. On different occasions over the course of his career, he has come up with key pinch hits. Since his demotion, he has hit .314/.407/.459 in AAA, which shows that he has the ability to get on base, and anyone can hit in the Pacific Coast League. Regardless of your position on Campbell, he is a better player than Kelly.
However, Campbell has been given numerous chances to stick with the Mets, and he still hasn’t. It has gotten to the point that the Mets now favor Kelly over him. The Mets have moved on from him. With that in mind, it might be time to consider someone other than Campbell and Kelly.
Again, the Mets should give T.J. Rivera consideration. He was a Pacific Coast League All-Star, and he is hitting .343/.388/.497 in 90 games. He has more defensive versatility than Kelly and Campbell as he plays all four infield positions, and he can also play left field. He may not be a plus defender at any of those positions, but neither are Kelly or Campbell. He may be a 27 year old rookie, but so was the older Kelly when he was called-up with year. Overall, the only difference between Rivera and Kelly is that Kelly got his shot; a shot in which Kelly has mostly failed.
Admittedly, a pennant race is not the best time to give someone like Rivera a shot to prove he is capable of playing in the majors. Then again, a pennant race is an even worse time to keep sending out a player like Kelly who has shown he struggles at the major league level. If you are going to pass on Campbell, who has shown some ability to play at the major league level, the Mets should have called-up Rivera who provides the team more versatility despite not being a switch hitter like Kelly.
Sooner or later, you’d have to imagine Rivera will get his fairy tale shot like Kelly did. He might even do more with the chance than Kelly has. It would be in the Mets best interests to find out.
Another article on the love affair with the Rivera.
Not really a love affair, more about the fact that he’s a better 25th man option than Kelly (for the second time).
I think as fans we focus on the offensive stats because we can not get a feel for any of the other 4 tools. There is no question that Rivera can hit , but his average is in line with other AAAA layer on the Las Vegas roster.
Clearly the FO does not feel that the other 4 skills are good enough to bump someone from the 40 man roster to make room for him. While we may have seem Campbell and Kelly and believe that they should be bumped off the 40 man to make room, I have a feeling that SA has a better eye for talent and that Wally Backman has confirmed that opinion.
Actually Backman recommended Rivera be the call up.
Kelly is there because of some saber nerd. You think the fan base in Vegas was happy they signed him? In 2015 at AAA he batted .226 and slugged .296, pretty pathetic. But look at all the walks! There you go, some genius thought if the guy could hit they would have a stud on their hands with all those walks. At 9 games out it is time to find out what they have.
It’s a RH OF option…
You don’t think he was a better option than Justin Ruggiano? And don’t tell me about the CF thing because now that he’s gone what did they do?
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How many at bats did Kelly have before he was sent back down. I think 27 to 30. The premise of this article is he failed. That would be the equivalent of you writing half of an article and letting me judge you work on that half. Sorry. I would love to see Rivera called up like the rest of you but Kelly and Rivera are both the same type of player.
Ty Kelly is still on the 25 man roster.
Was Kelly called up to be a utility IF or also to play in the OF? In his earlier stint he played IF, but in his first game this time he played LF. I´d love to see TJ Rivera get a chance, but I´m not going to lose sleep over this decision…