The Great Mets Slugger Juan Soto
Top 16 RBIs-Per-At-Bat Hitters in Metsville:
- thru Tuesday (Monday for the minors guys)
Hugh Jackman in Les Miz sang “Bring Him Home.”
These guys are doing just that. Bringing lots of guys home, in fact.
Pete Alonso: 112 RBIs in 534 ABs.
Juan Soto: 91 RBIs in 487 ABs. More recent launches than Elon Musk.
Ryan Clifford: 83 RBIs in 422 ABs. 41 RBIs in his last 47 games. Hot.
Brandon Nimmo: 78 RBIs in 495 ABs.
Francisco Lindor: 77 RBIs in 559 ABs.
Jacob Reimer: 74 RBIs in 409 ABs. Hot of late. Very hot.
Chris Suero: 66 RBIs in 346 ABs. Wow. He steals a lot, too. (31)
Carson Benge: 62 RBIs in 372 ABs.
Randy Guzman: 53 RBIs in 223 ABs. (A 143 RBI pace over 600 ABs)
Mark Vientos: 53 RBIs in 355 ABs. Out of his coma, now an RBI aroma.
Ronald Hernandez: 52 RBIs in 328 ABs. (I bet this one surprised you).
AJ Ewing: 52 RBIs in 436 ABs. Oh, and 68 steals, too. He’s good, right?
Jeff McNeil: 50 RBIs in 333 ABs. Quietly accumulated. I’m impressed.
Kevin Parada: 50 RBIs in 303 ABs for the reborn catcher.
Yonaton Henriquez: 50 RBIs in 356 ABs. Remember the name. 33 SBs.
John Bay: 23 RBIs in 70 ABs. Wow. A Hack Wilson pace.
(Cedric Mullens has 57 RBIs in 399 ABs, but only 8 for the Mets so far)
THAT’S A LOT OF RUNS BATTED IN.
NICE JOB, FELLAS.
VIENTOS LISTENED?
No one listens to me. Just ask my wife.
Half – kidding aside, I was writing repeatedly that the Mark Vientos needed to be more aggressive on the first pitch. Whether he listened to me or not, he listened to somebody.
His first pitch swing percentage for the season now is 32.6%. When I wrote on the subject several times earlier this year, for the season to date, he was at 31%.
While that change may not seem like a big difference, to go up 1.6% this late in the season likely means that since the last time I pleaded in an article that he get more aggressive, he’s probably been swinging at roughly 40% of first pitches.
And we can all see the fine results. Keep it up. It REALLY works.
SENGA AND SENGER SENT DOWN
Such is life.
Senger has made far more $$ this year than he might have expected, while gaining invaluable experience.
Senga has time to right his ship in Syracuse, because his ship ain’t right.
Best fortunes to both.
Called up? Wander and Alvarez.
JONAH IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE
We all know the biblical story of Jonah being swallowed by the whale. The whale here is the pennant race that Jonah Tong just stepped into.
The Mets are seeking to fend off the Cincinnati Reds Legs for that all-important wild Card slot.
Jonah gets to face this Red Whale with his harpoon fastball.
METS WIN FRI. NIGHT, 5-4, TAKING PRESSURE OFF OF TONG & SPROAT.
EDWIN LOADS BAGS, NONE OUT, IN 9TH, AND DOES A HOUDINI ESCAPE.
LUISANGEL ACUNA MADE GREAT PLAY TO GET THE FINAL OUT.
ON AUGUST 14, I WROTE THIS ABOUT MCLEAN, TONG, & SPROAT
(I GUESS THINGS THEREAFTER GOT “DIRE”).
READ ON…
“The Mets got fortunate in 1966. They got the great Tom Seaver in the January 1966 draft. Back then, baseball was different. No highly paid players. No free agency.
When a guy was ready, he was ready. Period. Ed Kranepool had 300 PAs before he turned 19.
Seaver in 1966 was signed, and then assigned straight to AAA, where he went 12-12, with a nice 3.13 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, and almost a K per inning. Nice. Impressive, even, to do that well at the top minor leaguer level straight out of Fresno.
In March 1967, he was deemed ready by the reigning powers, and so he was. He won NL rookie of the year. He made $13,500 that year, by the way.
Yes…the Franchise had just 1 year in the minors before his HOF career began.
Baseball these days is just so very friggin’ different.
Starting veteran pitchers are paid by multiple Brinks truck deliveries, whether they pitch much or not, and there IS free agency, so, like a commodity, key prospect pitcher call-ups have to be oh-so-carefully managed so as to not negatively impact a franchise’s value.
Free agency-focused proper call-up timing can reduce a team’s future salaries and luxury taxes by tens of millions these days, you see.
High finance. Feet dragging and rationalizations thus, easily and often, replace promotions.
Let me say this straight up:
If this were still 1967, in my humble opinion, Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean would have been pitching in the majors long ago.
Tong Terrific couldn’t even get promoted to AAA until this week…SMH…
In 2025 parlance, it is called “product management”, you see.
Tong, excluding his first two Siberian starts of 2025 in AA, has had a 1.12 ERA; allowed 4 hits per 9 innings; and struck out roughly 15 per 9 innings. Best Mets minor league pitching performance ever.
- “NOPE, NOT QUITE READY FOR AAA”, they’ve effectively told us.
In 1967, he would already have been in the Mets rotation.
Sproat? Last 39 innings, 5 earned runs in 6 starts in AAA.
- “NOPE, NOT QUITE READY FOR THE MAJORS”, they’ve basically told us.
McLean? 109 innings, 120 hits, 8-5, 2.46.
- “NOPE, NOT QUITE READY FOR THE MAJORS”, they’ve basically told us.
(Desperate times have forced the Mets’ hand, tho’. With Montas pitching so poorly, McLean was needed, and will make his Mets debut on Saturday.
Simply put:
They have not been telling us the truth.
They are perhaps fibbing to us a wee tad, in fact, due to modern day baseball’s high finance considerations which they want the casual fan, the 90% majority of Mets fans, to not focus on or grasp.The truth is, these are 3 pitchers who “need” to be delayed to extend their time until free agency.
Unless circumstances in Queens become dire.
(It got dire enough to summon McLean now).”
26 comments:
Old Henny Youngman joke...
"my wife and I were happy for 20 years... then we met"
What stood out the most for me on the RBI list was the amount by Ryan Clifford. Maybe we should stop bitching about his BA all the time
Do you know what Zack Mack's middle name is?
Jackson
So...
ZACK JACK MACK
Great game last nite....after Diaz locked it down of course as we're in heart attack time now as it took me 30 min. to catch my breath. O.K. lets take the next 2 games and on to Philly! Why did I pick the Mets all those years ago and oh and by the way the Jets AND Giants? I guess I have a real strong heart so I'll take that as a good thing. I've reached that age where I remember the answer Casey gave to a reporter when asked "how does it feel to be 80 years old" and he replied "great really most people my age are dead"
Ha!
Then remember Clifford had to hit in a pitcher’s park in Binghamton. On the other side, he was part of a rocking offensive team
I would have turned Diaz off and later on, checked the results. Miracle seasons do have miracle moments. That was one.
I was also very surprised by the amount of RBI's for Clifford. I just comment on Reese's article that he was nowhere near ready for 2026. Still strikes out a ton but he is developing. Still very young so I can see him in AAA again next year.
I would be thrilled with one of two
TAKE THE SERIES
Clifford is now up to 86 RBIs in 125 games, a very solid rate, and since the start of June, his K rate has improved. Good.
If Pete leaves, Clifford could be ready by June 2026 IMO. I still think McNeil and Vientos could man first base until Clifford is ready.
The down side is I am Stijl not sure Clifford will hit MLB pitching better than Kirk Nieuwenhuis did.
Also, he cannot hit lefties. I would seriously hire journeyman lefty pitchers to pitch to a bunch of these guys, including him, for a month before spring training, to close that gap. Repetition, repetition, brings improvement.
On the attack!
Jett has a .284 OBP in 20 AAA games. He could be ready for 2026 if he gets 20 more AAA and 20 AFL games. If not, Acuna remains ahead of him. I think Ewing is ahead of Jett, too, but that is just my opinion.
I like to praise players that are constantly trying to improve themselves. We have some good ones on this team. Diaz is not one of them. He has not fixed his arm-side misses, and has done nothing to hold runners on. As soon as he is old and doesn't possess the dominant fastball/slider combo anymore, he will be useless.
Ewing is a very fast climber. He has not hit any real adversity yet. Jett has (injuries). Jett will be ready faster.
Paul, a good debate. Ewing has had a sensational year, I will leave it at that. Almost like a young Trea Turner.
Here is an amazing Ewing stat: he (a lefty hitter) is hitting .322 vs. righties….and .322 vs. lefties.
Davey Johnson dead at 82.
Tom,
I do not know how much faith to put in Baseball America's player ranking articles, but I was disappointed in their 2025 top DSL player rankings.
They have the Mets Eilian Pena as # 25, but with the following statement, "Overall Pena projects as an ok prospect, but one without a plus tool he can ride to the big leagues".
I personally thought he would have been ranked much higher. I suspect he will prove BA wrong in 2026.
Paul!!! A fresh opinion in a blurry eyes fan base… watch it buddy, you will get scorn.
He was very nice and respectful to me when we met in camp. Another hero gone
D J, at that young age, projecting anything accurately is a crap shoot. The pitchers in the DSL suck, overall, to be blunt. Next year in the FCL will show if the Mets have a soon-coming superstar in Pena, or not.
Cristian Arguelles of the DSL Rockies I know nothing about, except this:
.422/.528/.652 in 52 DSL games, with just 25 Ks. It was his second DSL campaign and he is 18, but they sure are killer #s.
FWIW, the Mets rank Elian as their #10 prospect. It seems the #1 ranked DSL guy, Joshuar Gonzalez, is the Giants’ #2 prospect. But the two players’ DSL #s were fairly similar this year. I can’t say more, because I don’t know more. But…after his 3 for 45 season start, Pena tore it up the rest of the way.
18 HR already for Colton Montgomery?! Holy smokes that’s incredible
Yep. Like I said, I wasn’t even aware he was in the big leagues. Then I see CWS is scoring a lot, so I look and he is averaging a HR every 10 ABs. Wow.
Clifford 2 hits today, 27th HR, 89 RBIs. Hmmm….
Randy Guzman 4 RBIs. Now with 57 RBIs in 252 ABs. Impressive.
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