Welcome back, Ronny! Mauricio walks it off for Mets in first game, AB in the bigs this season

NEW YORK -- Early Tuesday afternoon, after Ronny Mauricio reported to Citi Field for his first day back in the big leagues, manager Carlos Mendoza ushered the 25-year-old into his office. There, Mendoza delivered an uncomfortable message.

Even though the Mets had recalled Mauricio to replace injured outfielder Juan Soto, Mendoza said, there was little playing time available for him. Mauricio was not going to receive regular starting opportunities. But he was here for a reason, most likely to serve as a late-game pinch-hitter or defensive replacement. Mauricio needed to be ready for those chances, however scattered they might prove to be.

Hours later, reliever Luke Weaver mused that “oftentimes, I feel like those moments tend to find you.” Sure enough, 10 innings into Mauricio’s return to the Majors, the light-hitting Tyrone Taylor’s spot in the batting order surfaced with a runner on third base and one out. Mendoza called on Mauricio, who responded with the first walk-off hit of his career in a 4-3 Mets win over the Diamondbacks.

“Baseball,” Mendoza said. “It’s crazy, right?”

That Mauricio even found himself in that spot was the product of not only Soto’s injury but of the back-breaking, ABS-aided hit that Huascar Brazobán allowed in the fifth to put the Mets behind; of the eighth-inning rally that prompted Taylor’s pinch-hit appearance; and of another strong bullpen performance that got the Mets to extra innings.

After Weaver retired the D-backs in order in the top of the 10th, Bo Bichette hit a sharp ground ball to advance the Mets’ automatic runner to third. That brought up Taylor’s spot and a date with destiny for Mauricio. As far back as the seventh inning, Mendoza had asked Mauricio to be ready. It wasn’t until the 10th that the right moment emerged. Making his first plate appearance since last September, Mauricio initially looked jumpy, swinging at two Paul Sewald fastballs above the strike zone to fall behind in the count.

On the 0-2 pitch, Sewald tried to elevate another four-seamer but missed badly, leaving it over the heart of the plate. Mauricio smashed it 107.1 mph over Corbin Carroll’s head, one-hopping it off the right-field wall as his teammates poured out of the dugout to celebrate.

“Incredible, honestly” was how Mauricio described the moment through interpreter Alan Suriel. “It was my first at-bat of the year, and to be able to see the ball go over his head, it’s really special.”

Mauricio became the fifth player in Mets history to record a walk-off hit in his first plate appearance of the season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and the first since Alberto Castillo in 1998. He also became just the second player league-wide to do it in the last nine years.

It was the exact type of moment Mets officials dreamed about when they signed a 16-year-old Mauricio to a $2.1 million contract back in 2017, breaking the franchise record for money given to an international amateur. For years, Mauricio slowly developed, posting tepid results but continuing to advance through the system in large part because of his prospect pedigree. Finally, in 2023, he broke out and made it all the way to the Majors, only to shred his right knee playing winter ball after the season. He wound up undergoing multiple surgeries that derailed him for much of 2024-25.

When the Mets optioned Mauricio back to Triple-A Syracuse to start this season, Mendoza told him simply to “keep going.”

“The messaging was, ‘You need to play,’” Mendoza said. “And he understood. It’s not an easy conversation today before the game, either, when he comes in here [and I have to tell] the guy that … the opportunity is not here yet, but you have to stay ready because it could happen fast. Sure enough, today, biggest at-bat in [the game]. I was just proud of him.”

Mauricio’s walk-off also provided the latest bit of evidence that this Mets team might be different from its most recent predecessors. Last year the Mets were 6-69 when trailing after seven innings. This year they are 2-2 in those spots. They are also 4-0 since losing Soto to a calf strain that will keep him out two to three weeks.

Despite Soto’s injury, Mauricio is likely to be back on the bench on Wednesday, when the Mets continue their three-game series against the D-backs. This time, though, Mendoza won’t need to meet with his newest player.

It’s obvious that his message was received.

“I was really appreciative of the conversation that we had,” Mauricio said. “He was very clear, very transparent. Obviously, we know what the situation is right now. So right now I’m just here to help the team out in any way possible, and I’ll be ready once my name is called.”