YEAH...BUT CAN THEY HIT?
No pictures today, folks, just some cold, hard facts.
The Mets, through Friday's game that dropped them to 5-9 for the season, were hitting .255 overall, but just .220/.305.303 with runners in scoring position, and just 34 RISP RBIs in 132 RISP at bats. 34 RISP RBIs over 14 games is 2.42 RISP runs driven in per game.
Forget the pen, that RISP deficiency is the biggest reason for a 5-9 start. Mr. Wacha had his Jake deGrom moment on Friday night, having the temerity to allow an early 3 run homer and expecting this team to hit in the clutch and overcome a JV team - but the RISP hitting was AWOL.
Over the past 10 years, the Mets have been characterized by consistent hitting weakness and related RISP weakness.
In 2011, the year that Jose Reyes won the batting crown, they hit .264, and were close to that with RISP at .261. In 1,503 at bats with RISP, they knocked in 552 runs.
552 RISP runs driven in equals 3.41 per game, a full run over 2020's rate through the first 14 games.
An extra run per game in 2020 would sure help, huh?
In 2019, the year of Pete and Jeff, they hit .255 with a .263 average with RISP, and a fine 515 RBIs in 1,325 RISP at bats.
In 2012-18, it was mostly hitting drought time, except for the last 2 months of magic 2015. In that 7 year span, the team averaged just .243 and a similar .245/.335/.391 with an average of 1,250 at bats and 450 RBIs with RISP.
Simply put, this team over time has not hit well, and (to my surprise) hits roughly the same with RISP than without. Over the past 10 years, it felt like they hit worse with RISP, but it was actually that they hit as poorly with RISP as they did overall.
If they can close that 35 point gap in RISP in 2020 (.220) up to its current overall .255 average, this team can hit a whole lot better. If it can figure out a way to hit as well as the 2011 team (.264 overall, .261 RISP), they'll no doubt be recovering rapidly from the 5-9 season start.
HIT OR GO HOME.
2 comments:
Someone said last night on MLB that the Mets were leading the league in OBP.
I thought Moneyball works?
They also lead in OFF base %...the percentage of guys on base getting off the field to go to the dugout or to their position after failing to score.
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