Put enough quality hitters together and you score a lot more runs.
Take Brooklyn, whose offense sputtered for much of 2022. But, with an enhanced lineup, the Cyclones scored 65 runs in an 8 game stretch through September 1.
Right now, they have a hot Matt Rudick leading off. They have Jose Perozaand his 30 game on base streak. 1B JT Schwartz is back from injury and hitting very well. William Lugo and Alex Ramirez gave Brooklyn an offensive boost once they were promoted. Catcher Jose Mena has been hot of late. Even struggling Jaylen Palmer and Sherveyn Newton have gotten hot of late.
Add it all together and an offense can explode. And a lot more games can be won.
What might cause the Mets offense to explode is a few more hot hitters, especially at catcher. But Canha, Lindor and Marte have given this team quite an offensive boost as compared to 2021. As a result, the Mets had scored just 19 fewer runs than in all of 2021, with 30 games to go.
More runs = more wins. Simple.
9 comments:
Well said.
Thanks. Lots of hitters makes it easier for all the hitters. So, if McCann ever decides to join in, it will help everyone else.
The key point hat Tom makes here is, "enough good hitters". You can't expect everyone to deliver all the time. Everyone has their slumps, but when there are enough talented hitters in the lineup, someone will deliver most of the time. Before the DH days, if you could go 6-7 deep, that was excellent. Right now with the DH, we're 7 deep on any given day. On good days, like last night, you get contributions from 8 and 9.
But I still think that McNeil should be higher in the order. If he bats 5, then he doesn't have to slow down behind Vogelbach, and you will have him in scoring position for the next few spots. Remember that the line moves only as fast as the slowest player on the basepaths.
You have heard me say multi times that McNeil should be batting no lower than fifth.
Right! McNeil has become an on-base machine, and should be hitting in front of RBI hitters, not the 8-9 guys.
I'd like to see him at #2 or 3, creating RBI opps for Lindor and Pete.
Paul it also reminds me of a bowling team I was on - when the two guys who were really good were on their game. I relaxed. If they were off, I pressed a bit, even telling myself not to. And I did not do as well. I think Mets hitters are somewhat affected similarly.
Man, I'd love McNeil moved up, except 1) he is thriving there, 2) Nimmo and Marte and Lindor feel like a legit 1-2-3, and 3) can't weaken the end of the line up too much by shifting him. The real solution is for McCann to "WAKE UP!" Nido, much to his credit, has been hitting somewhat better. That helps.
Then how about batting him 9th, where he'd be followed by Nimmo, Marte and Lindor?
I have used the idea of a "wrap around" leadoff hitter in games I have coached. However, the real leadoff hitter had a higher batting average than the "wrap-around" guy.
In the Mets case, I like the Nimmo-Marte-Lindor-Alonso combination that Buck has used most of the year. I just don't like that the guy with the #3 batting average in MLB is not hitting 5 and protecting Pete. Some of Pete's problems come from not seeing enough strikes. When the guy behind him is batting .319 and has 35 doubles, they have to throw Pete strikes.
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