Reese Kaplan -- The Mets Hitting Fans Are Equally Hostile Right Now

Earlier this week we examined the sizable group of Mets fans totally frustrated by the poor pitching that’s resulted from a multitude of injuries and poor performances from several of the folks forced into front line roles as a result of physical maladies rendering the expected starting rotation unable to perform.

Now it’s time to flip the script a bit and examine whether or not the hitting is the key to the problem with the ball club.  While no one is criticizing what Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and recently Juan Soto are doing to help the team win games, the fact is that the remainder of the lineup options have not been exactly formidable for opposing teams to control. 

Look down the list of batting averages on this team and it rapidly becomes clear that hitting the ball up the middle or between the outfielders is something that’s simply not happening with any regularity.  With Brandon Nimmo delivering a .255 batting average and Starling Marte at .252, these numbers suggest the players are performing well below their career norms. 

After that it descends pretty rapidly.  Jeff McNeil while rallying of late is at just .248. Brett Baty is at .233.  Ronny Mauricio is at .231 (and that’s after being hot lately).  Then there is recently returned Mark Vientos at just .224.  Tyrone Taylor is hitting .219.  Luis Torrens had a multihit game in Pittsburgh but is still under .220.  Hayden Senger is below the Mendoza line and Travis Jankowski has yet to get a hit. 

Are we seeing a pattern here?

The old failure to execute with Runners in Scoring Position (RISP) issue doesn’t need to be reiterated in any depth.  Suffice to remind you that the club is 27th in all of baseball in this critical performance metric.

So what does the club do to address the problem? 

Demotions have happened recently for Francisco Alvarez, Luisangel Acuna and Jared Young.  None of them were delivering as the club has hoped, but it would seem that the other folks tested in the batter’s box haven’t been any better.  There are no 40-man roster players in AAA worthy of consideration.  Some in the lower minors have looked promising, but at ages 20-22 are perhaps a bit green to expect them to transform the day-to-day offensive struggles.

The other option is to acquire players in trades rather than simply relying on the waiver wire for whomever has been DFA’d elsewhere.  What many people are unwilling to do is to consider sacrificing minor league prospects after the Javy Baez for Pete Crow-Armstrong deal a few years back.  

What they forget to point out is that Baez hit .299 after coming to the Mets in 2021 while Crow-Armstrong was not yet in the majors.  Now the Mets chose not to try to retain Baez so the interpretation has become a starting Chicago Cub for 2 months of Baez on the Mets.  Consequently many are reluctant to risk that route once again.

The other option is trading away know major league caliber players to bring in either the same or top level prospects from other teams.  Right now only Starling Marte and perhaps Jeff McNeil on the offensive side seem like potential trade bait.  You can’t trade folks currently injured like Jesse Winker.  

You do have a plethora of would-be young star players like Luisangel Acuna, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos.  Given the perception that the Mets are frustrated with the offensively and defensively lost Francisco Alvarez, he could hit this list as well, but the team isn’t really all that well covered in his absence. 

Then you have pitchers in the organization who could move in trades.  At the top you have currently injured Tylor Megill who is likely out of options by year end and has yet to establish himself as a dependable regular.  Then there is current major leaguer Blade Tidwell who hasn’t proven himself valuable.  Brandon Sproat is coming off a good game but at AAA has not performed as he had while zooming up the organizational ladder. 

Finally there are the more highly regarded minor leaguers who would tap into that Crow-Armstrong despair.  Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, Ryan Clifford and others would fall into this category.  Top pitching prospects like Jonah Tong and Nolan McLean would be here as well.

Now before you blindly condemn the possibility of including any of these folks in prospective trades, you have to consider what might be coming back.  You’re not going to land an All Star caliber player by offering Tyrone Taylor and Dicky Lovelady in exchange.  You have to give to get.

Of course, the issue at hand on big name prospect trades is whether or not the incoming player(s) are here as 2025-only rentals or if they are long term assets.  Remember, at one point people thought Rafael Montero was going to be phenomenal.  It turned out he’s a career 4.65 ERA pitcher and at age 34 he’s likely as good as he’s ever going to be.  Consequently sitting on a hot prospect can be just as foolish as trading one away.