Mets360 - Wilson Ramos’ improved defense, top of the order struggles, Cano’s hot start

by Brian Joura 

Right before the start of the season, a story was posted here about the top 10 worries for the Mets. One of those was that Wilson Ramos would suffer another drop in SLG. 

Unfortunately, that one has turned out to be true here in the early going of 2020. After posting a .483 SLG in the three years before joining the Mets, Ramos notched a .416 mark last season. And right now he has a .214 mark. Ramos isn’t hitting at all, going 5-28, but he carries a woeful .036 ISO, one of three players with at least 5 PA on the club to not have a triple-digit ISO and easily the worst mark on the team.

Surprisingly, what’s keeping Ramos from getting more flack has been his defensive work here in the early going. There were offseason reports of how Ramos was going to adopt a one-knee-on-the-ground approach when no runners were on base in an effort to get the low strike called better. It’s beyond the scope of this piece to determine if that’s actually been helpful but it should be noted that Mets pitchers have done significantly better with Ramos behind the plate than with either Tomas Nido or Rene Rivera. Mets pitchers have a .710 OPS allowed with Ramos and a .797 OPS overall. And one of the non-Ramos starts was a game by Jacob deGrom. Pitchers have a 3.45 K/BB ratio with Ramos behind the plate and a 1.44 mark with Nido/Rivera.

Even Ramos’ throwing in the running game, which had to be one of the biggest disappointments about his defensive work last season, looks improved from a year ago. He’s already caught one guy stealing and thrown out another runner who tried to advance on a pitch in the dirt which was not technically a stolen base chance. His throws to the bases are on target and are not bouncing like they were in 2019.

As with all numbers after just nine games, we’re talking about tiny samples that can change drastically in just a few days. Regardless, it’s nice to see Ramos’ work with the pitchers here in the early going when there were definitely concerns about his defensive work. Hopefully, the hits will start falling in for him soon and perhaps his power will revert back to his pre-Mets days.

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