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MLB: Luis Guillorme, a very valuable player for the New York Mets | baseball 123

Harold Capote Fernandez

If getting on base is the name of the game, and the best hitters are the ones who get on base most often, then Luis Guillorme is currently the best hitter in the National League.

The New York Mets infielder, who has been sparsely used during his 5-year career, has the highest on-base percentage of any player on the Old Circuit with at least 100 plate appearances.

What’s more, he’s ahead of potential Hall of Famers like Paul Goldschmidt and Manny Machado. The Venezuelan arrives at the Metropolitan tour of the West Coast with a .455 percentage, while Goldschmidt has .429 and Machado .422.

Both Goldschmidt and Machado have made twice as many plate appearances as the Creole, but that’s not Guillorme’s fault. All a hitter can do is maximize the at-bats given to him, which is what he did for the entire month of May, amassing a great batting line of .414 batting average, .477 OBP and 517 slugging in 66 appearances last month.

Batting average and on-base percentage underpinned the MLB in May, and was the 10th-highest batting average any Met has ever had in a single month. With that performance, manager Buck Showalter has had to keep him in the lineup, starting 12 of the last 20 games and each of the last 5.

Guillorme’s offensive improvement is of such magnitude that so far in 2022 he has scored .360 points, 98 more than the lifetime average that he accumulates between 2018 and 2021.

The 27-year-old from Caracas has always been an obsessively patient hitter, and now that the hits are starting to come in, it seems no pitcher can keep him off the bases. For the third straight season, Guillorme walks in more than 14% of his plate appearances.

Likewise, while the rest of the league’s shovelers hit 47.4% of the pitches they see, he only swings at 39.4%. In addition, this season has seen 31 pitches that Baseball-Savant defines as “waste pitches,” meaning pitches that are out of the strike zone and typically intended to set up a subsequent pitch or cause a batter to swing at something you have no chance of contacting.

Of those 31 shipments, Guillorme has swung to zero. Baseball-Savant estimates his discipline at the plate has been worth three runs for the Mets.

Photo: Baseball Svant

Another of his defining qualities is not being the kind of self-excluded hitter. But when he trades the bat for the glove, he’s a master at turning batted balls into outs.

His teammates have referred to him as a “wizard” on the field, and after some especially flashy displays in Monday’s game, Showalter praised him for “giving a clinic” at second base. Alternating between second base, third base and shortstop, Guillorme is one of 42 outfielders this year who has made 1 or more outs above average (minimum 100 attempts).

The Creole has the ability not to make many mistakes in any facet of the game. In the simplest possible terms, a good offense plus a solid defense means a player will rank very well for Earnings Over Replacement.

As of Thursday morning, Guillorme has been worth 1.2 WAR according to FanGraphs. Of the other 27 NL position players who have reached that threshold, he has the fewest plate appearances, so he is literally making the most of his limited playing time.

Showalter is adamant that he doesn’t consider any of his players part-timers, both because it gives them ample opportunity to get into the game and because of the mental stigma that comes with being labeled a reserve. Coincidence or not, Guillorme has really taken off in his first year playing for Showalter.

If there is something to criticize, it is that 25 of his 31 hits are singles. But the Mets, a team happily basking in the arms of Pete Alonso’s Popeye and the power resurgences of Francisco Lindor and Starling Marte, don’t need Guillorme dismantling the ball. Getting to base front is completely fine.

So far, no one in the NL is doing a better job than Guillorme, a man who went from bench adornment under Mickey Callaway to fan favorite in the Luis Rojas era to a legitimate first-team piece. Showalter Mets team.

The Venezuelan might not be a kind of Tony Gwynn all season, but that doesn’t detract from what he’s done. If anything, his incredible story is a microcosm of the Mets’ season. They’re kicking everyone’s teeth, but they’re doing it with stars like Alonso and Lindor, as well as cult heroes like Guillorme, Nick Plummer and Drew Smith.

Last season, a 15-15 record in June precipitated the team’s brutal setback. At the end of the month, the situation will have to be reassessed, but people like Guillorme will do everything possible to leave the bitter taste of 2021 in the past.

Fuente: nydaliynews.com

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