Omar Quintanilla was officially added to the roster yesterday to take Ruben Tejada‘s spot, who landed on the 15-day DL with a strained right quad. Q’s departure left a void on Wally Backman‘s roster that needed to be filled. The Mets filled it with minor leaguer Rylan Sandoval, who will make the jump from Advanced-A St. Lucie to Triple-A with the Las Vegas 51s.
A native of Hayward, California, Sandoval was selected in the 30th round of the 2007 MLB first-year player draft out of Chabot College, located in his hometown. The middle infielder spent some time in Double-A Binghamton last season (73 ABs and 25 games), but that is his only experience above Advanced-A. He’s hitting .273/.350/.343 with one homer and 14 RBIs in 143 ABs for St. Lucie this season.
Congratulations to Rylan on skipping a level with this promotion!
I must say though, you think Josh Rodriguez is scratching his head in New Hampshire right before the B-Mets take on the Fisher Cats? Obviously, Sandoval has more upside when it comes to age (he’s 25, compared to Rodriguez at 28), but J-Rod has been tearing up opposing pitching of late, riding a current 16-game hitting streak for a triple slash of .311/.442/.461.
I’m not saying he could be a long-term solution for the Mets in the big leagues, but he’s certainly deserving of a promotion, and I’m sure this news stings right about now.
I would’ve thought Rodriguez or Reynolds.
Josh Rodriguez is not good in the field. He is a weak defender and that is the main reason he is still stuck in AA with little chance to ever become a MLer. I’m sure that us why Wally took Sandoval over him for his infield. Wally was a good offensive guy but defense up the middle is important to him now as a manager.