Reese Kaplan -- Hot Start Helped by Unsung Heroes

Before the season started the most optimistic of Mets fans were salivating over an offense that included the likes of Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Jay Bruce, Adrian Gonzalez and Todd Frazier.  Surely you had five batters there capable of putting up 30/100 type seasons and that would propel the Mets from obscurity into contention.

Well, as we’re all well aware the club has ended the month of April with a surprising 17-9 record, yet the output from this modern day quintet of a murderer’s row has been pretty much non-existent.  Todd Frazier has been a pleasant surprise, hitting 4 HRs, driving in 17 and batting (for him) a surprisingly strong .256 batting average.  From there it’s a downhill slide.  Conforto has been particularly poor with just a single home run, 6 RBIs and a .222 AVG.  (He gets something of a pass having been rushed back and not preparing with a traditional spring training due to injury).  Cespedes is on a record setting pace of striking out and Bruce has only recently started to come to life. Adrian Gonzalez has until recently been flirting with the Mendoza line. 

Then it must be the stellar starting pitching on which the team was built that’s kept the Mets atop the division, right?

Ummm, no.

Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard are doing what they’re expected to do.  deGrom is 3-0 with a 2.06 ERA and really should have another couple of victories if not for the gasoline provided by the bullpen.  Syndergaard is 2-1 with a 3.10 ERA.  People would sign up for a full season of that type of productivity. 

After that, however, it gets much less impressive.  Zack Wheeler was retrieved from AAA shortly after starting there and he’s been a work in progress.  He is 2-1 with a 4.09 ERA with about a strikeout per inning pitched.  The walks are down (for him) and he is indeed looking like a back end starter.

Matt Harvey has been banished from the rotation due to ineffectiveness.  Steven Matz is hanging on by a thread.  He’s 1-2 with a 4.98 ERA despite striking people out at a prodigious rate but he recently admitted he’s lost confidence out there. 

Then there’s Jason Vargas.  To be fair, he didn’t have much of a chance at preparing for the season after suffering the fracture in his non-pitching hand, but given how poorly the club’s starters have fared he was rushed back and it showed.  The 9 earned runs given up resulted in an ERA over 22.00.  Ugh.

So are they doing it with mirrors?  Well, there are a number of unsung heroes whose performances have far exceeded early season expectations.

Let’s start with the backup outfielders.  Juan Lagares, after a very poor spring showing off his allegedly revamped swing, is actually leading the team in hitting right now.  He’s batting a robust .342 while playing sporadically.  He’s probably get more time on the field if not for the exploits of his teammate Brandon Nimmo who bats lefthanded and is hitting .313 himself.  More importantly, Nimmo is getting on base to the tune of a .488 OBP. 

Asdrubal Cabrera was another person for whom expectations where fairly modest.  He has had two good seasons for the Mets but many wondered whether his attitude, health and declining defense made it a wise investment to pick up his option.  No one is wondering now.  He’s hitting .340 with 5 HRs and 17 RBIs while leading the team in ABs.  Yeah, that’s $8.5 million well spent indeed.

On the pitching side of the ledger two names clearly stand out.  Paul Sewald had been an absolute monster in the minors but was pretty lackluster as he was clearly overused in 2017.  This season he’s showing that the minor league numbers were indeed no fluke and his new off-speed pitch is setting up his fastball.  All he’s done so far is deliver a 1.98 ERA over 13 games with 17 Ks in 13 IP. 

You could, however, make the argument that Robert Gsellman’s success is even more surprising.  Granted, he looked terrific when pressed into starting duty in 2016 , going 4-2 with a 2.42 ERA and a respectable WHIP of 1.28.  Last season he took a major step backwards before his now infamous declaration about not caring when he got sent down to AAA.  The results were ugly – 8-6 and a 5.19 ERA with batters hitting .280 against him.  This year is actually quite similar to 2016 with a 3-0 record and a 1.80 ERA.  The WHIP is again down to 1.27 and batters are hitting a more acceptable .232 against him. 

An honorable mention should go to bullpen mate Seth Lugo.  He’s not been quite as good at a 3.77 ERA and a 1-0 record.  Batters are hitting .245 against him.  He’s showing quality but not at the stellar levels of Gsellman or Sewald. 

The conclusion, of course, is that once the fearsome fivesome of batters gets it into gear then this hot start should be sustainable.  Matz and Vargas have nowhere to go but up.  If you get some improvement from Amed Rosario and a return of Kevin Plawecki then the offense shouldn’t be a problem.