March 18, 2021
Last week, I posted my predictions on how well the Mets
pitchers would fare in 2021 on the way to a 93 win campaign. For one of the few times in my almost 60
years of following this team I am reasonably optimistic that we have assembled
a group of hitters that can compete with anyone. I believe the Mets are capable of scoring
between 825-850 runs this season. Here
are my predictions for our 2021 lineup.
Brandon Nimmo leading off. I would be surprised if he starts more than
120 games this year, especially with Kevin Pillar as an adequate backup who
would most likely start against most lefties.
Nimmo will likely continue to get on base at a .400 clip while batting
around .270 with 15 home-runs and 60 RBIs.
Pillar will complement Nimmo with 12 HRs and 45 RBIs.
Jeff McNeil is the ideal number two hitter who can be
expected to get on base and serve as a table-setter for the rest of the lineup.
I have ambivalent feelings toward McNeil.
I’m afraid that Rojas will bat him lower in the lineup which will make
him less effective. If left in the two
hole I expect Jeff will produce a BA of around .320 with 22 HRs and 75 RBIs.
Francisco Lindor is the fellow I want batting third. If Nimmo and McNeil produce as expected,
Lindor should have one heck of a year. His BA around .290 with 32 HRs and 110
RBIs. Could be a candidate for MVP.
Pete Alonso is my clean-up guy. Last year he had a terrible spring and it
carried forward into the season. He
looks like a different player this year – more confident and more focused. I expect a .260 BA with 42 HRs and 120 RBIs.
Michael Conforto batting fifth. He has quietly become one of the better
players in the game and I hope he is signed to a long-term contract soon. I see Conforto building on a successful 2020
season. Project a .315 BA with 32 Hrs
and 95 RBIs.
JD Davis would bat sixth.
To be honest, I have no idea what to expect from Davis. Will his bat compensate for his weak
defense? I see him sharing third base
with Luis Guillorme. My projections for
Davis are a rather pedestrian .250 BA with 16 HRS and 55 RBIs.
Dom Smith is my number hitter although he might wind up
batting anywhere between four and six on any given day. His bat will be productive and his BA will be
around .300 with 25 HRS and 90 RBIs.
James McCann/ Tomas Nido will be the number eight batters
in this powerful lineup. I expect
McCann to catch about 75% of the games with Nido the other 25%. My projection is they combine for 25 HRS and
80 RBIs. Their numbers suffer due to the
absence of a DH and batting in front weak hitting pitchers.
This is a very powerful lineup bolstered by a strong
bench that could reasonably project us to average 5.25 runs per game. All this assumes we remain healthy as a
team. There will be players lost to
injuries during the season. However, I
believe we have enough depth to survive.
It’s going to be interesting to see how close my
projections cone to reality.
Ray
3 comments:
Ray this could be the best hitting Mets team ever. Time will tell.
There are years in the Mets' long history where any one of McNeil or Alonso or Conforto or Nimmo or Lindor or Smith or McCann might have been their best hitter. This team has all 7 of them.
also interesting how we bookended our articles today, without planning it, me on pitchers, you on hitters.
One other thing to add - they back up hitters will be much better than those of recent seasons.
This is the Mets we're talking about. hope (and hype) runs eternal
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