Ronny Mauricio (Tom Priddy/MiLB.com)

An impressive season for Ronny Mauricio just got historic.

The 18-year-old shortstop etched his name in record books on Tuesday with a third-inning single, his 112th base hit of 2019. The knock thrust Mauricio past J.C. Rodriguez (111, 2016) to set a new Columbia Fireflies single-season record.

While this is just the fourth season of Fireflies baseball, Mauricio’s performance is extremely notable when considering his youth and the date on which the mark was achieved. The youngest regular in the league, he still has 25 team games remaining. Rodriguez — whose .236 average in 2016 pales in comparison to Mauricio’s .284 — set the initial record in Columbia’s season finale.

Mauricio has turned heads and opened eyes throughout his first year in full-season ball. Already a player to watch heading into to the season, he was named as the organization’s top prospect on both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America’s midseason rankings and pushed into both publications’ national top 100 lists. Baseball Prospectus offered the following summation in June:

There’s real-deal, first-division-regular ability here. He shows an advanced feel for the bat beyond his years and has the athleticism and aptitude to adjust for increased power. The bat profiles as a masher that will play at any position, with an aggressive eye being the one knock. He shows the feel and actions to stick at shortstop, but his filled-out frame will ultimately make that decision. The ability to stay at short would be an org’s dream considering the bat’s potential, but a move to third would give an org a corner masher with at least an above-average glove and plus arm.

With the hit record out of the way, I would not rule out a well-deserved promotion to High-A St. Lucie for the final three-to-four weeks of the season. Either way, it’s exciting to see Mauricio’s success in 2019, and we’ll look forward to him using this year as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.