Wilmer Flores was activated off the disabled list in time for the 51’s 12-10 victory last night against the Reno Aces. He had been sidelined since July 13th with an ankle injury. It was unfortunate timing for the infielder; the injury not only prevented him from missing some time with Vegas, but he also had to sit out from the Triple-A All-Star game.
The ten days of rest he experienced didn’t seem to have an effect on his play, as he went 1-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored for Wally Backman‘s first place club. Those two rib-eye steaks have increased Flores’ RBI lead to three over Nick Buss of the Albuquerque Isotopes.
Despite extreme roster turnover at virtually every position on the diamond from moves made by the big league club, Backman has been able to steer the 51s to a 54-47 record, giving them a 0.5 game lead over the Tucson Padres in the PCL Southern Division. While the path between Triple-A and the bigs have been a revolving door on numerous occasions, the one constant in the lineup has been Flores.
With each month, he continues to perform better at the plate, being an important piece to the middle of Backman’s lineup. The second baseman (and sometimes first baseman, lately) is hitting .320/.355/.525 with 12 home runs, 33 doubles, and 77 RBIs in 375 at-bats for Las Vegas. As I said before, his performance has improved with each passing month; he’s watched it climb from .269 in April all the way to his current .383 mark in July. April has been the only month he hasn’t hit .300.
It’s clear to see Flores could be called up at any time to make his MLB debut. Right now, Daniel Murphy is blocking him from getting playing time at second base. While he has played first base lately, the platoon of Ike Davis and Josh Satin also makes that route difficult to get some playing time. We’ll see how the organization approaches this situation moving forward. One thing that’s for sure is that with Flores hitting like he has been, he is certainly pushing the issue.
Prior to getting injured Flores was stationed at 1B & his 1st game back was…again at 1B. I think its very telling that the Mets are starting to give Wilmer extended time at 1B.
Some might bring up Valdespin@2B as a reason but thats not the case since Flores started to receive time at 1B prior to Valdys demotion and right around the time Collins announced the Jewish connection(Ike & Satin) platooning at 1B. Also the fact that Backman could play Valdespin in the OF.
And Im not going to fool myself into thinking Satin is an everyday 1B at best he is a super utility guy and bench bat. Not a starter.
Ike was once so promising but I truly believe Alderson and this new approach screwed him up.
LET THE FLORES REIGN BEGIN!!!
I agree with you; I don’t think Valdespin coming to Vegas will force Flores out of that position…he’s not in the good graces of the organization right now.
I hope we’ll Flores soon; I wonder if they’ll end up sending Satin down and put Wilmer into a platoon at first with Ike, since it seems like they’re at least committed to him at the moment. I’m excited to see what he can do!
The next few weeks will be interesting because not only do the Mets have to maybe find room for Flores, they also have to deal with Duda and Tejada finishing their rehab assignments. Tejada is not staying in AAA because Q is clearly wearing down and there is no true backup SS on the team. I’m guessing Brown goes down and could the Turner era come to an end because Satin can do all the things he does.
Another great point… Some decisions will have to be made sooner rather than later, and they definitely aren’t easy ones.