A quick review of how the Mets’ position players fared over the past week.
The Mets lost two out of three to the Twins to start the week which was their first series loss since the opening series in Houston. But they bounced back in a big way to sweep the Cardinals at Citi Field—their first four-game sweep of the Cardinals since 1986.
It’s a very mixed bag for the position players this week. There is a lot of poop on this meter. But there are some fireballs too. The good news is that Pete Alonso remains unstoppable and Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Mark Vientos are all heating up. The bad news is that the bottom half of the order still mostly looks abysmal and Brandon Nimmo is kind of lost right now. But the big boppers in the lineup are bopping and that has given the Mets enough offense to win most of the time.
Pete Alonso gets a fireball penciled in every week until further notice. This week, he once again leads the team with a 262 wRC+ in 30 plate appearances. He is tied for the team lead in hits with ten and over half of those went for extra bases, including two home runs. His six RBIs are the second-most on the team. Alonso had multi-hit games in each of the games in the Twins series. It’s simply impossible to get the Polar Bear out right now.
Francisco Lindor matches Alonso with ten hits this week and leads the team with five runs scored. He is now in the green for the second straight week; that “slow start” didn’t last very long. Lindor provided the most exciting hit of all this week—a walk-off home run in Friday night’s game, which was the 250th home run of his career and his first Mets walk-off home run. Overall, he posted a 158 wRC+ for the week in 33 plate appearances. That’ll play.
Juan Soto is also in the green for the second straight week and he says he is finally starting to feel right at the plate. Soto had a season-high three RBIs in Sunday’s victory that sealed the sweep. He led the team with eight RBIs in total this week. He collected seven hits, scored four runs, and walked three times. He put up a solid 140 wRC+ for the week.
Also encouraging are the turnarounds we’ve seen from Brett Baty and Mark Vientos in the past week, who posted a 161 and a 168 wRC+, respectively. They had five hits apiece over this seven-game stretch. In Vientos’ case, two of those five hits were home runs. He scored four runs and drove in three runs. Baty walked twice, scored two runs, and drove in a run this week. Vientos exited Saturday’s game early with groin discomfort and was out of the lineup yesterday, but he suspected it was cramping and the Mets are not terribly concerned about it.
Luisangel Acuña had a breakout week this week with a 200 wRC+ in 19 plate appearances. He amassed seven hits—four singles and three doubles—scored four runs, drove in a run, and walked twice. He also stole three bases this week, which leads the team. He has all but solidified his place on the roster when Jeff McNeil returns.
The Mets will have an interesting choice to make when McNeil does come back and that choice will likely depend on how much they believe in their center field options in the absence of Jose Siri, who is on the injured list with a fractured tibia. José Azócar was recalled to take Siri’s roster spot and has gone 1 for 3 so far. Up until this week it seemed obvious that Baty would be sent down when McNeil returns, but the Mets could opt to send down Azocar instead if they think McNeil or Acuña can play center field in a pinch to back up Tyrone Taylor, who has a 93 wRC+ in 21 plate appearances this week. Taylor has five hits, four runs scored, and two RBIs this week. He will be the starting center fielder most days while Siri is sidelined.
The decision at catcher with Francisco Alvarez’s return imminent is much more straightforward. Hayden Senger will be sent back down to Triple-A after doing a fantastic job filling in as the backup. He performed well as a receiver and hit more than anyone expected him to. This week he is hitless, but he only had five plate appearances. Unfortunately, Luis Torrens has cooled off in a big way after his very hot start, posting a -2 wRC+ in 21 plate appearances. He has two hits this week—both doubles—and an RBI. It seems Alvarez’s return is coming at just the right time, but Torrens deserves a massive amount of credit for the job he has done as the everyday catcher, despite the fall from fireball to poop emoji status this week.
Torrens isn’t alone in poop emoji territory. Brandon Nimmo put up a -4 wRC+ this week in 28 plate appearances—the worst mark of all the regulars this week. Nimmo had just four hits this week—all singles. He scored a run, drove in a run, and walked once this week. But his biggest contribution this week was defensively, when he robbed Jordan Walker of a home run to end the sixth inning yesterday.
The Mets are getting next to no production out of the Starling Marte/Jesse Winker DH platoon at the moment. They each posted an identical 15 wRC+ this week. They also each logged two hits and a run scored for the week. Winker also walked once and drove in two runs, but that’s not enough to save him from the dreaded poop emoji.