Rojas hits third homer in three games for Syracuse

Jefferson Rojas could be ready to make the position his own by the middle of next year, so the team will stick with Marcus Semien, Brett Baty and maybe a little bit of Ronny Mauricio, if he’s still around. Starting Baty against righties and Semien against lefties is one option. However, Stearns labeled Semien the starter for now.

Rojas came over from the Cubs at the trade deadline for Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor. The 21-year-old was tremendous for Double-A Binghamton, slashing .280/.336/.593 with nine home runs, 29 RBI, and three steals in 29 games. In his time with the Mets, he has started 10 games at third base, eight games at shortstop, and six games at second base, so the Mets are going continue to move him around to see where his easiest path is to big league at-bats.

Rojas has been one of the better prospects in Chicago’s system for the last few years, which makes him an interesting pickup for the Mets as they jettisoned a pair of impending free agents. The 21-year-old middle infielder has batted .270/.339/.461 with 15 homers and 17 steals over 91 games in Double-A this season.

This is a big one. Chicago came into the trade deadline desperately seeking starting pitching help and they’ve seemingly came away with Holmes in addition to veteran Kevin Gausman. They paid a steep price to land the impending free agent as Rojas is one of their better infield prospects. The emergence of Pedro Ramírez as an everyday option at the highest level seems to be what made him expendable. Holmes looked sharp in a pair of recent minor league rehab outings and should step into Chicago’s new-look rotation by mid-August, if not sooner. Taylor feels like a throw-in, but he’s been sizzling-hot at the dish lately and provides the Cubs with a lefty-mashing bench option for the home stretch.