Paul Articulates – Approach the plate with the right approach

You may have noticed my frustration with the fact that none of the Mets starting pitchers have been able to deliver quality starts with any consistency.  As of Saturday night, the starting rotation was 4-10 with a 4.45 ERA.  They had gone 26 games without throwing a pitch in the seventh inning.  Suddenly, Jose Quintana comes out Sunday and gives them eight full innings with only one earned run on 99 pitches.  What a great, quality start!

His reward, of course, was his lineup going 0-13 with runners in scoring position (RISP) so he left the game with no decision.  This continued a trend where over the last 7 games the Mets have gone 8-58 (.138) with runners in scoring position which led to a 2-5 record.  

A lack of hitting with RISP has been a curse on the Mets for as long as I can remember.  Except for their exceptional season in 2022 when they just found ways to win, the team just struggles mightily when runners reach second or third.  How many times do you see a runner on second or third with no out and then the next two batters either hit a meek pop-up in the infield or strike out?  Francisco Lindor, the recognized team leader who does so many things to help the team position itself to win is notorious for those uneventful at-bats when a hit is needed.  During this recent streak, he was 0-8.

So is this some type of curse, or are the Mets just practicing some poor tactics at the plate in these clutch situations?  It is most likely the latter, as all of us superstitious fans are still wearing the same socks from the last time a late-game clutch hit was delivered.

I love to talk about the mental side of sports, because I find it fascinating how much state of mind can affect physical performance.  Hitting with RISP is one of the classic cases.  In close games, the competitive balance is on the line when there are runners in scoring position, which puts pressure on both the pitcher and the batter (and the fielders for that matter).  

In the mind game of baseball, the batter should realize that the pitcher’s stress increases significantly with every ball and decreases with every strike.  So early in the count, the hitter should have a very narrow window to trigger his swing.  Pitchers that nibble get behind in the count, so pretty soon they are likely to throw something in that window. 

But I see something different in the approach with Mets hitters – they seem to either anxiously leap on an early pitch, popping it up, or they stand frozen as if they are pre-determined not to swing.  Both approaches have a low probability of a successful at-bat.  Since it happens so often, it has to be how they are instructed, not a coincidence of multiple individual failures.  They are up there thinking instead of reacting, which is bad practice against major league pitchers.

So the recommendation from my armchair is for the hitters to step to the plate full of confidence, knowing that the pitcher is under pressure, and to look for the ball in that small window where they can put a barrel on it.  Don’t worry about whether you can deliver; look forward to when you can deliver.  

I remember how I approached it back in my coaching days with young players.  When one of those game-deciding situations would come up, I would call time, call the batter over and say, “I wish I were you.  This place will go crazy when you get this hit.”  It is all in the mind.  Confidence leads to success, fear leads to failure.  The Mets’ hitters need to stop trying so hard to do something special and embrace the joy of just hitting the ball.  The rest will take care of itself.