The New York Mets have picked things up on offense as of late, but more improvement is needed if they are to become a championship-caliber club.
The Mets' offense got a little healthier on their western road trip, despite their blip on Tuesday night returning home against the Nats. Pete Alonso is so hot, I honestly wonder why teams are throwing strikes to the Mets one truly dangerous slugger. Brandon Nimmo has an OBP of .456 and a fabulous OPS+ of 167. At least right now, Nimmo is playing like the star he is being paid to be. Jeff McNeil is back to being the pest to opposing pitchers we all know and love. Francisco Lindor has been a bit up and down, but he's driving in runs and is the only real home run threat in the lineup besides Alonso. Daniel Vogelbach is getting on base as expected, slashing .256/.407/.372. We'd all love to see some more power from the big guy but, frankly, the biggest problem is the huge black hole in the lineup behind him. Not much point in getting on base so often if nobody can drive you in.
And therein lies the ongoing problem. The bottom 3 spots in the Mets' batting order are still remarkably unproductive. Mark Canha is at least showing some signs of coming around. His slash line of .240/.337/.400 isn't what you would like from a corner outfielder on a contending team, but it does add up to an OPS+ of 106, a bit above league average. Everyone else populating the bottom of the order is below average, some almost comically so.
The veteran holdovers, Tomás Nido and Eduardo Escobar, have failed to produce much of anything. Nido's OPS+ sits at -20, while Escobar is at least in positive digits with his puny 31 OPS+. Their performance through the Mets' first 24 games has taken a lot of the pressure off youngsters Brett Baty and Francisco Álvarez. Both have gotten off to predictably slow starts after their respective promotions. However, they're both still getting their share of playing time because their numbers are better than their veteran competition.
Brett Baty is slashing .250/.280/.292 through 25 plate appearances. His AVG and OBP are both about 100 points higher than Escobar's. Baty has shown a fairly mature approach at the plate, striking out only 8 times while walking once. It took Baty until Tuesday night to contribute his first extra-base hit, a double, but he's hit some balls hard. Escobar, meanwhile, has looked lost at the plate, although he did go 4-16 on the recent road trip with a homer against the Giants. Baty still looks like a much better bet to contribute going forward, but it would be great if Eduardo could bounce back enough to justify a bench role.
Francisco Álvarez has struggled more than Baty with the Mets. He's only hitting .167/.167/.267 through his first 30 PA, with 0 BBs and 11 Ks. Francisco has looked like he's trying too hard at the plate, with an overaggressive approach that MLB pitchers are exploiting. Things have gotten a bit better, however. In his last 4 games, Álvarez has gone 4-15 with his first HR of the season. He'll likely get the bulk of the playing time unless Nido starts hitting. Tomás's offensive production has been downright offensive in the early going. Nido has 5 singles and 2 walks to show for 44 plate appearances, striking out 13 times. Buck Showalter isn't going to be tempted to give Nido the bulk of the starts while he's hitting like that.
Of course, as I write this post on Wednesday afternoon, the announced lineup has Baty and Álvarez sitting in favor of Escobar and Nido. Nido is likely in because Kodai Sanga is starting, while Baty is sitting against the leftie starter MacKenzie Gore. I'm genuinely curious about how much of a platoon Buck Showalter sticks with at 3B if Eduardo doesn't start hitting. Escobar is slashing .161/.188/.290 against southpaws over 32 PA, while Baty has gone 1-6 against lefties so far. Batting as a right-hander against lefties is traditionally Escobar's strong side, but not as of yet in 2023. Nothing has really clicked for Eduardo so far in this young season.
I had a hard time getting past the first line in this post after following four offensive games in a row, not four games in a row with offense.
ReplyDeleteThey are playing the second worse team in baseball.
This shouldn't be that hard.
In fairness, it was written before last night's game and was about the road trip in general. I did spend much of the article discussing some of the ongoing problems.
ReplyDeleteI won’t judge Alvarez negatively based on 30 sporadic at bats. Play him, sit Nido.
ReplyDelete