Mets option Ronny Mauricio to Triple-A Syracuse as Tommy Pham joins roster

Tommy Pham’s quick rise from Single-A St. Lucie to the Mets’ active roster came at Ronny Mauricio’s expense, a clear sign that New York wanted veteran certainty over keeping a top prospect in Queens for another turn. The Mets selected Pham’s contract and optioned Mauricio to Triple-A Syracuse on April 13, a move logged both by MLB and the Syracuse Mets as the club tried to break a five-game losing streak and steady an offense that had sputtered early.

Pham, 38, had signed a minor league contract with the Mets on March 27 and spent his ramp-up stint at St. Lucie going 2-for-12 with a double and an RBI. That line was modest, but it was enough for the Mets to bring him north as they headed into a series with the Dodgers in Los Angeles. In the short term, the club chose the veteran bat and the familiarity that comes with a player who has been through the grind of a pennant race.

Mauricio’s demotion is more complicated than a simple shuffle. He returned to the majors on April 6 and immediately delivered one of the season’s most memorable moments the next night, lining a pinch-hit RBI single in the 10th inning against the Diamondbacks at Citi Field for the first walk-off hit of his career. That kind of impact only sharpened the sense that Mauricio belongs in the picture. It also underscored how crowded the Mets’ infield and roster structure remain, with every spot carrying immediate consequences.

The assignment back to Syracuse does not erase Mauricio’s progress, but it does push him back toward the everyday work he still needs after a long recovery from the right ACL tear he suffered in Dominican Winter League play on Dec. 10, 2023. That injury cost him most of 2024, and after he was reinstated from the injured list in May 2025, the Mets sent him to Syracuse to keep building back toward regular big-league action.

For Mauricio, this is less a dead end than another checkpoint. His walk-off hit showed he can still swing a game in Queens. Syracuse now becomes the place where he has to show he can stay on the field, keep taking consistent at-bats and make the Mets view him as more than a short-term answer when the next opening appears.