Reese Kaplan -- The Team Needed That Monday Night Slugfest

After another fine start by Griffin Canning and an unforeseen offensive explosion by Brandon Nimmo and company, the Mets had their first laugher of the year when they trounced the Nationals by a score of 19-5.  Yes, the biggest news of the day was slumping Nimmo’s 9 RBI day, but dig a little deeper and you will see some other tidbits worth exploring.

The first thing that hit me was the continuing rebirth of Mark Vientos.  He had another multi-hit game, drove in runs and looked more like the kind of formidable slugger that fans embraced in the latter part of 2024 up to and including the October post season.  Now Vientos is solidly over the Mendoza line with his batting average and it would appear that an icy first few weeks of April will become a distant frosty memory. 

Another aspect of this game that stood out was Jeff McNeil taking his turn at center field.  His experience there is actually far less extensive than that of Luisangel Acuna, but it did give a chance for the two of them to appear in the lineup simultaneously.  Given McNeil being a left handed hitter helps transform him into more of a front runner to get preferred treatment as a Jose Siri replacement.  

The good side of this strategy is that it enables Acuna to play nearly every day which was not in the cards had the Mets stuck to an every day center field role assigned exclusively to Tyrone Taylor.

Speaking of Acuna, he too had a multi hit game which now has his batting average at .288 which is pretty impressive after getting on base three times.  What’s even more notable is his 6 stolen bases in 66 ABs.  Extrapolate that output over the course of a full season and you’re looking at over 50 SBs from a guy who can also swing the bat. 

The irony is that in this offensive brow beating the Mets gave the Nationals was that the would-be captain Francisco Lindor was the only member of the Mets who left the game without a base hit to his credit.  Then again, after his 0-fer, he still has a .304 batting average so no one was terribly upset he didn’t get to participate in the festivities with the stick.

The one “oops” on David Stearns’ record was his decision to promote non-roster player Jose Urena to take the place of A.J. Minter.  That choice was met with quite a bit of head scratching and the rationale that what Urena had done in the past was more important than the little bit he’d done in Syracuse in the present.  His Mets debut was not exactly what he or Stearns or Carlos Mendoza or Jeremy Hefner had in mind.  Yes, he has a starting pitcher’s arm capable of going multiple innings.  

However, during his bruised and bloodied three inning performance Monday night he gave up five runs.  Granted, when you have knocked in 19 runs, it’s OK to swallow this kind of performance and using Urena as a batting practice pitcher enabled the Mets to preserve the wear and tear on the bullpen which has been getting mighty worn of late.  

Whether or not Urena is one and done with a reliever being summoned to help replace Minter more appropriately, of whether Jose Butto is skating on thinning ice and he will be the next out the door is still a great unknown.

It was good to have a game with some celebratory efforts from the hitters and the shutout performance by the starting pitcher were both long overdue.