Luis Robert Jr.’s rehab puts the Mets on a path to a temporary infield shuffle, and the most interesting piece of that puzzle is A.J. Ewing.
The obvious aim is to have Robert back in New York Mets games before the August 3 trade deadline. Last year, the Mets were tied to him all the way through deadline season in rumors, only for the Chicago White Sox to keep him and Cedric Mullins to land in Flushing instead.
But the bigger story right now is what Ewing has done while Robert has been out. He has handled center field so well that taking any playing time away from him would be a mistake for the Mets. If they want to keep showing other teams that Robert still has trade value, they also need to keep giving Ewing plenty of run.
The cleanest move is to let Ewing step away from his everyday center-field role for a few weeks and use him in a different spot alongside Francisco Lindor. That means a new temporary double-play pairing with Ewing at second base.
Francisco Lindor, meet your new double play partner for a few games
Ewing has experience there, too. He played 53 games at second base in the minors, including 26 in 2024, before the Mets gradually shifted him off the position and into center field.
That move has paid off. His speed fits center field, and he’s already looking like a plus defender with room to keep growing with the glove.
Second base, though, may not be the best use of him. He can certainly help there, but it feels like a better fit to have one of the team’s fastest players covering the most ground in center rather than using him at second, where the position often becomes a landing spot for shortstops who don’t field all that well.
Marcus Semien’s injury makes that alignment easier to pull off. If Semien were available, the Mets would be in a tougher spot.
They never showed much interest in benching him when he was healthy but struggling. For a couple of days in July, the question would have been whether they’d sit him and then flip the switch back on.
Without Semien, the Mets have already spent time looking at Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio at second. There isn’t much left to figure out with Baty there, and there’s little reason to expect an offensive turnaround. Mauricio, meanwhile, is becoming a harder player to buy into by the day; he still doesn’t look like he has major league pitching solved.
That makes July a strange month for New York. The main objective should be to win the trade deadline.
There will be time later to keep testing Baty and Mauricio after Robert is gone. For now, the better plan is straightforward: give Ewing some work next to Lindor.
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