#15 T.J. Rivera
Ht: 6’1″ Wt: 205 Level: AAA & MLB
B/T: R/R Age: 10/27/88 (28) Age Dif: 0.6 (AAA) & -1.2 (MLB)
Acquired: Signed as undrafted amateur free agent in 2011
Last year: 37
2016 MiLB Statistics: 105 G, 442 PA, 405 AB, 67 R, 143 H, 31 2B, 3B, 11 HR, 85 RBI, .353/.393/.516
2016 MLB Statistics: 33 G, 113 PA, 105 AB, 10 R, 35 H, 4 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 16 RBI, .333/.345/.476
Hearkening back to September, the Mets were really unresolved at the second base position. Neil Walker had season ending back surgery. Wilmer Flores suffered a season ending wrist injury in a home plate collision with A.J. Pierzynski. The once hot hitting Kelly Johnson cooled off. That left a vacancy at second base. On September 13th, Terry Collins gave Rivera his chance, and Rivera took complete advantage of the opportunity.
Before delving into the scouting of the player, the main reason Rivera took advantage of the opportunity is because Rivera is a hard working player that does just about anything he can do to become a better player. Early on in his professional career, he went out there, and he just hit. He hit enough that not only did the Mets decide to keep him around to see how he would develop, but they also asked him to learn shortstop.
In his minor league career, Rivera has played all four infield positions, and during the 2016 when Ty Kelly was called-up over him, he began learning left field. Overall, Rivera was will to put in the time and effort to do whatever it took to get to the majors. Accordingly, it should come as no surprise he took full advantage in what was really a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Superlatives aside, Rivera has real talent offensively. Rivera has a quick, compact, line drive swing. He’s an aggressive hitter that has gap-to-gap power. Basically put, Rivera is a contact hitter that does not strike out often. In his minor league career, Rivera has only struck out in 12.5% of his plate appearances. Now, a big reason why he doesn’t strike out often is he is aggressive at the plate. When he sees a pitch he likes, he is going to swing at it and look to drive it somewhere. His approach and his ability at the plate led to Rivera winning the Pacific League batting crown in 2016.
The converse of Rivera’s aggressiveness at the plate is he does not walk frequently. While he has a rather low strikeout rate, he has an unacceptably low walk rate. In his 2,648 plate appearances in the minor leagues, Rivera has only walked 151 times (5.7%). For those wondering what took so long for the Mets to call Rivera up to the major leagues, that’s your reason. In order for him to overcome this type of walk rate, he is going to either show power like Jay Bruce or have an extremely high batting average like Ichiro Suzuki.
In the other aspects of the game, Rivera does nothing outstanding, but he’s not going to hurt you. Defensively, he can handle second and third. He has just enough range for second and just enough of an arm to justify him playing either position. With his experience at short or first, he should not harm you if he is called to play there for either a couple of innings or for one game. With that said, he ideally shouldn’t be playing either position for extended stretches. Fortunately, with the Mets depth at those positions, it should never be an option.
With all things considered, the one thing we can say about Rivera is he is a major league utility player. He’s a versatile player who can play all four infield positions as well as left field. At the plate, he is going to put the ball in play. When the chips are down, he is going to come out fighting and do everything he can to help his team win. Remember, he was the player who had the fifth inning leadoff double off Madison Bumgarner in the Wild Card Game.
2017 Outlook:
Due to the injury histories of Lucas Duda, Neil Walker, David Wright, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Jose Reyes, we can all be assured that Rivera is going to see some playing time with the Mets in the 2017 season. The only question is when.
At the moment, it appears the final spot on the Opening Day bench is between him, Kelly, and Matt Reynolds. Due to Kelly’s switch hitting ability and Collins’ general fondness of him, it is likely Kelly grabs that last spot. That leaves Rivera likely being the Opening Day third baseman for the Las Vegas 51s. Once a player heads to the disabled list, or Kelly proves to be ineffective, Rivera should be the first position player called-up during the 2017 season.
2017 MMN TOP 100 PROSPECTS
Wonderful job Mets Daddy of giving a real analysis of the situation Rivera finds himself. Rivera reminds me of Omar Infante: Not outstanding at anything, but had a good career being versatile, being smart, and staying within himself offensively.
If Rivera could in fact handle SS, he would be solid. He would hit .280ish and just make the routine plays but without power or speed. Unfortunately, as a second baseman, a bit more power or speed is expected.
If I were the Mets, I’d hang onto him to be an offensive weapon off the bench as a utility player. Matt Reynolds looks great, but is a luxury on this 40 man roster. And for those that think Rivera should be the starting second baseman, his defense alone betrays him much less his .778 average on line drives which is difficult to expect again.
Checking this out now and he’s been a real great part of our offense with all the injuries. He’s a replacement level starter, a guy that can provide offense in spurts but probably best suited at a PH, occasional starter on off days for regulars. He could be a really good Met and a fan favorite.