When Omar Quintanilla was officially added to the big league roster to take Ruben Tejada‘s place at shortstop, there was a hole created in Wally Backman‘s infield in Las Vegas. He needed another middle infielder to fill the void that Q just left. Instead of looking to Double-A Binghamton to promote someone like Josh Rodriguez to Vegas, the Mets instead promoted Rylan Sandoval from High-A St. Lucie.
The move made me scratch my head a little bit, especially since Sandoval wasn’t exactly tearing up the competition in the Florida State League. However, since his promotion, the infielder has performed rather well when he gets on the field.
With Tejada now in Vegas, the infield is crowded, so Sandoval has moved around the diamond a bit, playing some second and third base. Most recently, he’s been manning second while PCL All-Star Wilmer Flores has been playing first base more frequently.
Originally from Hayward, California, Sandoval was signed by the Mets in February of 2010 as a non-drafted free agent. He was assigned to play in the NYPL with the Brooklyn Cyclones, and performed well with a .330/.404/.546 line with nine home runs and 29 RBIs. From there, he earned some time with both Savannah and St. Lucie, but only hit .163 in 49 at-bats (19 games played). He remained with St. Lucie in 2011, and continued to struggle, hitting .224/.292/.351 in 313 at-bats.
He split his limited playing time (165 at-bats) between St. Lucie and Binghamton in 2012, hitting a combined .236. His start of 2013 was his best since his days as a Cyclone; he put together a .273/.350/.343 line in the FSL before getting the phone call to back his bags for Sin City.
I didn’t think it would be a great experience for Sandoval at Triple-A; heck, he was having a hard time hitting against High-A pitchers. Well, so far, I’m happy to say I was wrong. In 31 games played (91 at-bats), the infielder is hitting .330/.390/.505 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. Obviously, I know the PCL is a notorious hitter’s league, but this is quite a jump for him to make after a few seasons of enduring some hard times in Florida. I find it even more impressive because he’s not able to get in a groove at the plate by playing every single day. He’ll play a game, get a day off, or play a game, and get two or three days off before getting back on the field.
Throughout his minor league career, there has been one constant through all his statistics: a solid on-base percentage. Outside of a couple low ones in St. Lucie, Sandoval has consistently seen his OBP end up being over .300. His career OBP in the minors currently stands at .337. We all know how much Sandy Alderson likes it when players are able to get on base in more ways than just getting a base hit, so I would assume he’s scoring some brownie points with his approach.
What will the future hold for Sandoval? Who knows. One would imagine his future with the Mets in the major leagues will likely be minimal, but you never know what can happen. The true test will come when Wilmer Flores gets promoted, or some other event occurs that allows the 25-year-old a chance to play every day. For now, he’s just enjoying contributing to the bottom line after being promoted to Triple-A.