With the second half of the season about to begin, there are a few signs of promising development that could have positive impact on the Mets as they continue their pursuit to win the NL East (or at least achieve Wildcard recognition for the post-season).
Obviously, the home run swing of two-time derby winner Pete Alonso has folks drooling about what type of hitter he can be. No one forgets his 2019 Rookie of the Year season in which he hit 53 HRs and drove in 120 runs. 2020 was something of a write-off to many players given the duration of the season and the uncertainty behind the pandemic affecting the entire world. That brings us to 2021 where Alonso has been somewhat of an underachiever, posting a respectable but hardly eye popping 17 HRs and 49 RBIs.
Extrapolated over a full season the 34 HRs and 98 RBIs would be quite nice to have but fall more than 20% short of what he did as a rookie. The All Star Game exploits have people getting excited again now that he’s joined Ken Griffey, Jr. and Yoenis Cespedes as previous back-to-back crown winners.
Just before the break Jeff McNeil was beginning to look like the high quality contact hitter on which he’d built his career. While no one has a right to expect him to hit .318 each year, he’s done it for long enough in the majors that his current mark of .258 with just 3 HRs and 14 RBIs makes people wonder what has been going wrong.
He has a long and steep hill to climb, but fans were beginning to make happy noises about the type of rebound that appeared to be starting.
Even more significant to the Mets is the clutch performance of their very pricy shortstop, Francisco Lindor. He started off quite poorly for the Mets but lately was putting it together for a power stroke to accompany his contact and his fielding. The baserunning still isn’t there with just 8 SBs.
A .227 batting average isn’t going to make anyone swoon with pride, but it’s a great improvement over where he’s been. He’s up to 11 HRs which is again below norm for his career, but he’s hit them lately in clusters.
One player for whom I’ve been uber critical is center fielder Brandon Nimmo. Before he got hurt he was hitting well above .300 and stood far and above all other Mets batters. Since his return he’s kept up the same pace. There’s not much power being shown, but a .317 hitter is someone you pretty much want to pencil into the lineup every single day he’s healthy.
With the big three starting pitchers of Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker and Marcus Stroman generally competing among the best in the league, the Mets just got news that season-long injured Carlos Carrasco is about to take the mound for rehab pitching in the minors.
A lot of folks have been understandably upset that Lindor didn’t propel the team single handedly into the upper echelon of offensive weaponry. However, it was a two-part deal and thus far the Mets have not gotten a single inning of pitching. If he can deliver his career mark of a winning record with a 3.77 ERA, then the opposition will have yet another difficult opponent to try to beat when they face the Mets.
Others who have come back like Michael Conforto have yet to get completely on track, but he has demonstrated the ability to power the ballclub when his swing is right. The prospect of a near return of J.D. Davis will create an interesting lineup problem for manager Luis Rojas as no one knows exactly who he will replace out on the field. Dom Smith has not set the world on fire in left field and despite many positive moments Jonathan Villar is not All Star worthy either.
With the trading deadline rapidly approaching at the end of the month, it’s incumbent upon Interim GM Zack Scott to figure out who can be traded, demoted, released or benched to make room for better talent acquired from other teams. Obviously there is room for improvement (the recent reliever-centric loss to the Pirates one great example).
It’s not just hitting that ails this club. They will do some movement with major league talent departing or it will be minor league prospects heading out of town. The Wilpons were chronically afraid of change. Let’s see how Mr. Cohen treats this circumstance.
7 comments:
I am taking my crack at the topic of what will happen in the second half on this Thursday and Friday. I think very good things will happen, starting with the offense.
I did not include Almora in the Mets' second half in my articles. He had a good game for Syracuse yesterday, which jumped him above .200 in AAA. He is, however, 13 for 95 (majors and minors) with 3 RBIs this year. He will need a lot more nights like last night to factor back into the picture. My first OF call up at this point would be Khalil Lee (more on what he has been doing in AAA at 9:30 today)
The Mets have a real tough stretch coming up that includes a brutal trip to the West Coast.
Let's see where we stand after that.
The returning players not named Conforto have looked like they will give a real boost to the offense.
The pen seems tired, but the break should rejuvenate them, and the Top 3 in our rotation is as good as any in MLB.
With Davis' return, our lineup is solid.
My biggest concern is the back of the rotation, which now consists of the promising Megill and?????
The return of Carrasco, and possibly a trade acquisition (or Cole Hamels??) will be big factors
down the stretch.
One question: Who goes when Davis returns? Maybe McKinney, who has been helpful so far but needs playing time that he can only get upstate.
McKinney is out of options. He will need to pass through waivers to make it Upstate.
Jose Peraza has an option remaining. I think he will be sent down when JD comes back.
That would be a shame. As a PHer, his #s put Rusty and Eddie to shame.
In that role, his OBP is over.600!
With some big clutch hits. He should be a KEEPER, but we can't keep everyone.
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