8/20/20

Mets360 - Dominic Smith, Michael Conforto and other Mets Maulers


by Brian Joura

Topps’ 1967 baseball card set featured a subset with multiple players on a card with an alliteration theme based on the team’s name. There was “Cards Clubbers,” “Pitt Power” and “Twin Terrors.” For the Mets, it was “Mets Maulers” and it featured Ed Kranepool and Ron Swoboda. While they ended up as two of the best hitters on the ’67 team, few would call them maulers, as Swoboda had a 117 OPS+ and Kranepool had a 100 mark. But flash forward to 2020 and maulers would be a good adjective to describe the team’s hitters.

The Mets are second in the National League in team OPS with a .799 mark, just eight points behind the Phillies, who’ve played seven fewer games. For a franchise that historically has been much more about pitching than hitting, it’s nice to see such a good offensive team. To put this team .799 OPS mark in perspective, the 2018 Mets had just three players with at least 200 PA who bettered that mark. This year’s team could fill an entire lineup. And that’s with three guys in the Opening Day lineup really under-performing and a fourth who opted out of the season.

Let’s run a chart of the players with at least an .800 OPS so far this year:

PlayerPAAVGOBPSLGOPS+BABIP
Brandon Nimmo114.261.430.489157.306
Michael Conforto113.312.434.495160.397
Pete Alonso112.247.375.441128.316
J.D. Davis100.284.410.457143.354
Dominic Smith77.323.403.754214.333
Robinson Cano65.373.415.644191.383
Luis Guillorme33.464.515.571204.542
Tomas Nido26.292.346.583154.313

And now let’s look at all of these players individually:

Nimmo – As well as Nimmo’s been playing, he’s the one player on this list that might actually have room for improvement. Coming into this season, Nimmo had a lifetime .339 BABIP in 1,146 PA. Imagine what his stat line would look like if the hits were falling in at his career rate. In his last 11 games, Nimmo has a 1.109 OPS with a .313 BABIP. He’s cut down on his strikeouts, even with having a couple of called third strikes on pitches outside of the strike zone. And he’s done that while raising his BB% and posting a higher ISO than in his breakout 2018. Nimmo is a joy to watch, both for his effervescent smile and his terrific production.

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