10/6/20

John From Albany - Top 6 Mets Defensive Plays from the 60 2020 games.

 


Coming into the year we talked about how the Mets defense was not the best.


Per the NY Daily News:  “For the third straight year, the Mets finished in the bottom five in the league in Defensive Runs Saved (-93; 29th) and bottom 10 in Ultimate Zone Rating (-12.8; 24th) in 2019, per Fangraphs. The Amazin’s -93 DRS were second only to the Orioles’ -105.“


How did they do this year? According to Baseball Reference, the Mets did not finish in the bottom 5 in the majors in Defensive Runs Saved.  Yes, 6 teams were worse – Washington -46; Toronto -38; Philadelphia -33; LA Angels -26; Oakland -20; Milwaukee -17; and then the Mets at -16.


I think two big reason for the improvement was the arrival of Andres Gimenez and increased play of Luis Guillorme. 


It seemed like every time they played, they made the highlight reel with their defense. 





If one is doing a list of the best defensive plays in 2020, they have to be included.  The hard part is picking which play or plays to include and which to leave out. 


#6:  Andres Gimenez leaping catch 6th inning, 7/31/20, off the bat of Marcel Ozuna with 2 outs and runner on 2nd  in the game the Mets ended up losing to the Braves 11-10.




#5: Luis Guillorme tremendous diving stop and throw off the ground, 9th inning, 9/9/20, no outs, runner on first base, Mets up 7-6 over the Orioles in probably the game of the year.



#4: Same game, 9/9/20, Jeff McNeil’s tremendous catch against the wall with one out in the 6th with the Mets down at the time 6-3.



#3: J.D. Davis, 8/5/20, 4th inning against the Nationals, diving stop at 3rd, throw from his knees. Mets win 3-1 over Washington.



#2: 8/29/20: Mets Team defense shines – Billy Hamilton to Amed Rosario (Gary says Robinson Cano made the relay throw but watch carefully it was Rosario).  Heck Faith and Fear in Flushing: even saw it the same way – “Brett Gardner, hit a long drive to center that almost went out but came back to Billy Hamilton, who threw the ball in to Amed Rosario, who threw home to get [Clint] Frazier by the slimmest of margins and keep the score 1-0.”  Mets end up losing to the Yankees 2-1.



And the #1 Play of the year – Michael Conforto’s incredible catch in the 6th inning, two outs, bases loaded, saving 3 runs and the game on what was probably the 2020 Game of the year – September 9, 2020. Mets come back down 5-1 and 6-3 to win 7-6.



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4 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Great stuff. Remember Ozzie Smith? For him, the spectacular was the norm. I look forward to Gimenez, and even Guillorme, having many chances to make the spectacular be the norm for them in 2021.

October 6, 2020 at 9:36 AM
John From Albany said...

Gimenez and Guillorme are tremendous defenders - great defense is their norm. The plays by Davis, McNeil, and Conforto - tremendous efforts.

October 6, 2020 at 10:54 AM
Mike Freire said...

This organization has ignored basic fundamentals for a long time, to include team defense.

***Interestingly enough, other organizations (Tampa, Atlanta, St Louis) seem to make fundamentals their FOCUS. Lo and behold, those teams have long track records of success, despite spending less then the Mets have. Fundamentals are they key, especially the last few years when your ballpark and your roster are tailored towards your pitching staff (which would benefit from good defense.....it's mind boggling, actually).

I have a lot of respect for Sandy, but he didn't exactly make defense a priority when he was our GM in the past. Hopefully, with an emphasis on doing better with the "little things" (i.e. Cohen is supposed to be very detail oriented and open to taking advantages where possible), defense gets more attention in 2021 and beyond.

With that said, Gimenez is my short stop and Rosario needs to figure out his next position with the Mets, or he gets traded for help elsewhere on the roster.

October 6, 2020 at 12:14 PM
John From Albany said...

Well said Mike. If you ever feel the urge to come back and post something about Sandy or anything else - feel free. The door is always open.

I have been thinking about re-running your great series on Baseball Analytics. You did a great job on those.

October 6, 2020 at 5:40 PM

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