If not for the fact that Wilmer Flores would have nowhere to play, the Mets would have probably called him up by now. Over the last 10 games, Flores is batting .400 with two homers and 10 RBI. He now leads the PCL with 54 RBI.

Flores started off the season slow, but he has his batting average over .300 and slugging over .500 now.

Flores’ bat is ready for the big city lights, but his glove puts the Mets in a predicament. Flores has spent the majority of the season playing second base, but second base is currently occupied by Daniel Murphy. Flores no longer has the range to play shortstop, or we wouldn’t be having this discussion, as he clearly would be playing there for the Mets now if he could. Third base is also locked up by some guy named David Wright.

That leaves first base.

We know that the Mets say they still view Ike Davis as part of their future at first base, but we have a proven hitting machine sitting in Triple-A right now, so why would the Mets continue to this charade?  We saw the team played Lucas Duda at first base last night, and it seems Jordany Valdespin continues to play himself down the depth chart, so it is possible that we could see Flores very soon.

Playing Flores at first base would allow him to be comfortable defensively and get his much-needed bat in the lineup for the Mets. Let’s face it, it’s probably the only position that Flores will be able to play at the major league level. Many scouts question his range at second base, but the same thing was said about Murphy when the Mets moved him over.

Murphy may never win a Gold Glove at second, but he’s been sufficient. If the Mets put Flores at first, he might actually be a plus defender at the position, which sounds great  when you take his bat into account.

Wilmer Flores may never live up to any Miguel Cabrera comparisons, but he is ready to make an impact at the major league level. But until the Mets are ready to make Flores an everyday player, he should remain in Las Vegas. The worst thing for this kid’s development would be to call him up to Flushing and have him ride the bench like Juan Lagares has done in the past, and Josh Satin is doing now.

Wilmer Flores’ Stats