Wilmer Flores

Wilmer Alejandro Flores Garcia
(Catire)

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 3", Weight 175 lb.

Debut August 6, 2013

Born August 6, 1991 in Valencia, Carabobo Venezuela

Biographical Information[edit]

Wilmer Flores reached the major leagues in 2013.

Flores was signed by scout Roberto Alfonzo and international scouting director Ismael Cruz for the New York Mets on his 16th birthday for a $700,000 singing bonus. He made his pro debut in 2008, playing for the Kingsport Mets (.310/.352/.490), Brooklyn Cyclones (8 for 30, BB, 2B) and the Savannah Sand Gnats (2 for 5). He led Appalachian League shortstops in assits (185), double plays (46) and putouts (86, tied with Juan Silverio). The young Venezuelan was the hardest batter in the league to strike out (1 K per 8.75 AB). He was named the Appy League All-Star shortstop. Baseball America rated him as the #2 prospect in the circuit, right behind Tim Beckham.

In 2009, Wilmer fell to .264/.305/.332 for Savannah but improved his fielding percentage at short to .974 while being the youngest player on his team. He led South Atlantic League shortstops in fielding percentage. He started at second base and hit 8th for the World in the 2009 Futures Game (Alcides Escobar was at short). Flores grounded out against both Kyle Drabek and Mat Latos before being replaced by fellow teenager Starlin Castro. Baseball America named him the SAL's #10 prospect, right ahead of Rudy Owens and Tony Sanchez.

The Mets called up Wilmer on his 22nd birthday, August 6, 2013, when 3B David Wright was placed on the disabled list. Taking the captain's place in the line-up, Flores went 0 for 4 in his debut against the Colorado Rockies that day, but followed up with two hits, including a double, and 3 RBIs to be the hitting star in a 5-0 win the next day, that also was Matt Harvey's first major league shutout. He hit a single to center off Jhoulys Chacin in the 1st inning and came around to score his first run when Omar Quintanilla drove him in, then in the 8th hit a bases-loaded double down the left field line off reliever Manuel Corpas that broke the game open.

On May 16, 2015, he did something unprecedented in National League history, when he hit a grand slam from the 9th slot in the line-up in a 14-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the first time a starting position player had hit a grand slam in a National League ballpark while batting ninth in the order. The strategy was successful all around, as pitcher Jacob deGrom, who hit 8th, had three hits, including one just before Wilmer's slam. On May 25 and 26, he had the game-winning hit in two consecutive games against the Philadelphia Phillies. In the first game, he hit a three-run homer off Justin De Fratus in the 7th inning to give the Mets a 6-3 win, and the next day his single off Elvis Araujo with two outs in the bottom of the 10th drove in Juan Lagares with the winning run in a 5-4 victory. On July 29th, he made news around the country when a rumor began circulating that he and P Zack Wheeler had just been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in return for OF Carlos Gomez; he was playing in a home game against the San Diego Padres at the time, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation as he came to bat in the 7th, and he then broke out in tears on the field in the 8th, distraught at leaving a team that he seen grow into a contender. It turned out that the trade was only a rumor, though, and that he was still a member of the Mets at the end of the day. The speculation had been fueled by the fact that New York had acquired two infielders, Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, a few days earlier, making Wilmer's role with the team going forward unclear. In any case, he stayed with the Mets, and on July 31st hit a walk-off homer against Felipe Rivero of the Washington Nationals to give the Mets a 2-1 win and prove once again that the best trades are often the ones you don't make. On August 24th, he hit two homers as part of a team-record 8 homers and 14 extra-base hits by the Mets in a 15-7 win over the Phillies; the two long balls gave him 14 for the season. He finished the year at .263 with 16 homers and 59 RBIs. He played every day in the postseason, after Ruben Tejada had suffered a broken leg in the Division Series. He hit .300 in that series and .286 against the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS, but was limited to 1 hit in 17 at-bats as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Mets in five games in the 2015 World Series.

In November of 2015, playing winter ball for the Bravos de Margarita in the Venezuelan League, he broke his ankle when he was hit by a pitch in his debut game. The injury was originally diagnosed as a bruise, and he returned to action after a few days, but the truth came out as it failed to heal as a bruise should have. He had a career game for the Mets on July 3, 2016 as he went 6 for 6 with two homers in a 14-3 romp over the Chicago Cubs. He was only the second player in Mets history to have a six-hit game, following Edgardo Alfonzo who did it in 1999. He finished the year at .267 with 16 homers and 49 RBIs for an OPS+ of 111. He played two more seasons for the Mets in 2017 and 2018, and he both of them he posted an OPS+ over 100 in over 100 games. He moved around a lot defensively those two years, starting games at first, second and third base while also being one of the team's top pinch-hitters when not in the starting line-up, hitting .271 and .267 with 18 and 11 overs, and more than 50 RBIs both years. Yet, for all this, he remained largely undervalued.

He left the Mets as a free agent after the 2018 season but in spite of his good production the previous three years, was only able to sign a one-year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were looking at him strictly as a utility player. This, in 2019, in spite of once again posting excellent numbers - a .317 average and an OPS+ of 118 - he was limited to just 89 games and did not have a regular position. The lack of playing time was responsible for his hitting just 9 homers, the only time he would fail to reach double figures in nine seasons between 2015 and 2023.

His big break came in 2020 when he signed with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants may also have looked at him as a utility player at first, but he hit so well that they could not keep him out of the starting line-up. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he appeared in 55 of the team's 60 games, and his main position was as the designated hitter. This may have been a surprise for those who still thought of him as the scrawny middle infielder he had been when he had first come up, but he had now been a steady run producer for years, and he responded by hitting .268 with 12 homers and 32 RBIs, numbers that may not look so impressive until one remembers they were put up in what amounted to 40% of a normal season. His OPS+ was 124 and he led the team in homers while finishing second in RBIs. When the Giants surprised the baseball world by winning 107 games and a division title in 2021, he was one of a number of unheralded players who had solid years, hitting .262 with 18 homers and 53 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 111. He was not listed as a regular that year, as he alternated between the three bases. He returned to the postseason for the first time since 2015 but went just 1 for 12 in the clash of the titans between the Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Division Series.

In 2022, he set a career high with 155 games in spite of still not having a regular position, and his batting average fell to .229, the lowest since his late-season call-up in 2013, but he still slugged 19 homers and drove in 71 runs, and generally did enough to maintain his OPS+ over 100, at 101. In 2023, he began to make first base his permanent home and broke the 20-homer mark for the first time, finishing with 23 in 126 games, while hitting .284 and driving in 60 runs. His OPS+ reached 137, which was a career high. He then had by far his worst season in 2024, when he battled tendinitis in his right knee, which landed on the injured list a couple of times and ended his season early. He was limited to just 71 games of hitting .206 with 4 homers and an OPS+ of 72. He was now 32 and there was some fear that this was the start of a sharp decline.

Back in good health in 2025, Wilmer quickly laid aside any fears that he was no longer a productive player with a great first two months that helped the Giants stary in the thick of things in a very competitive NL West. On May 16th, he had a career game in a 9-1 win over The Athletics - the first three-homer game of his career. He also drove in eight runs, as one of the homer was a three-run shot and another a grand slam off J.P. Sears. The RBIs gave him 41 for the season, and tied him with Aaron Judge for the major league lead.

His younger brother, who is also called Wilmer Flores, is a top pitching prospect in the Detroit Tigers system.

Notable Achievements[edit]

20-Home Runs Seasons: 1 (2023)

Sources[edit]

2010 Mets Media Guide
2009-2010 Baseball Almanacs
2009 Futures Game

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Wilmer Flores

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