As if it's not enough to have Amed Rosario at shortstop in New York for what the Mets feel will be a very long time, there's a lot more talent down on the farm. Some have seen time at second or third during the season, like Luis Guillorme has the last two seasons, to potentially figure out a way to get them to the big leagues without running square into that Rosario obstacle.
Some of the others are much farther away from Citi Field. But it's never too early to work on multiple positions, even if it's not because there's fear of a shortstop logjam.
Mets No. 3 prospect Andres Gimenez made his full-season debut this year and played all 88 games he saw defensively at shortstop. No. 18 prospect Gregory Guerrero, the nephew of Vladimir Guerrero, saw time on both sides of second base during his United States debut in the Gulf Coast League. Now at instructs, they will both continue to move around the infield.
"It's just for versatility and flexibility," Mets farm director Ian Levin said. "You never know what will come in the future. Also, getting exposure to other positions makes you better at your position. We get all of our middle infielders experience at second, short, even third."
Instructs, with its low-key atmosphere, allows for that kind of fluid movement even more so than the regular season, especially since the Mets aren't playing other organizations this fall. It's also a great way to get Gimenez, Guerrero and others together in one place to work with them en masse and allow them to push each other.
"That's the beauty of this time of year," Levin said. "We have a really strong crop of young middle infielders. They compete against each other in drills, collectively they make each other better. It's fun to watch them take ground balls."