There’s nothing like facing a historically bad Rockies team in Coors Field to cure what ails you offensively. Pete Alonso is back to mashing dingers and carrying the team. Juan Soto is feeling it again, flipping water bottles in the dugout and doing his trademark shuffle at the plate. Jeff McNeil has found a groove. Francisco Lindor is not letting a broken toe ruin his week. Life is good for the Mets offense right now, which was the best in the National League over the past week in terms of fWAR, wRC+, and runs scored.
Ronny Mauricio played his first big league games since tearing his ACL this week, replacing Mark Vientos, who tweaked his hamstring stumbling out of the box during the Dodgers series. The highlight of Mauricio’s week was the absolute monster shot he hit at Coors Field on Saturday, which is the longest home run by a Met this season. Overall, Mauricio posted a 130 wRC+ in 21 plate appearances this week. He collected five hits, scored four runs, and stole two bases in his first week back in the big leagues.
Mauricio is sharing time with Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña on the infield, but both Baty and Acuña continue to struggle. Acuña went 1-for-6 this week with two runs scored. In 27 plate appearances, Baty put up a mediocre 44 wRC+. Baty had four hits and two walks and drove in three runs this week.
Luckily for them, their struggles have not been felt so acutely because almost everyone else is hitting. Pete Alonso in particular is back to mashing the baseball on a daily basis. Alonso of course reached a milestone this week, passing David Wright on the all-time franchise home run list. Alonso went deep a whopping five times this week and drove in fifteen runs. That’s right. Fifteen RBIs. The Polar Bear boasts an MLB-leading 61 RBIs for the season. He put up a blistering 298 wRC+ for the week, which of course leads the team. His 12 hits this week also lead the team. I think we need a new level of fireball to capture what Pete Alonso is doing this season—this week in particular.
Pete Alonso isn’t the only fireball gracing this meter. Jeff McNeil had possibly his best week of the season so far with a 192 wRC+ in 29 plate appearances. McNeil went deep twice and racked up four RBIs and three runs scored in Sunday’s lopsided victory. Overall, his eight hits are second only to Alonso for the team lead this week and over half of them went for extra bases. Other than Alonso, McNeil is the only Met to hit multiple home runs this week.
Coors Field was also very kind to Juan Soto who had two three-hit games during the Rockies series. He matches McNeil’s eight hits for the week and walked a team-leading eleven times—good for a 199 wRC+ and a well-earned fireball. Soto’s eight runs scored are second-most on the team and he also drove in three runs this week.
Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo have both spent some time hitting second above Juan Soto in the order and both have taken well to it, especially Marte. Marte put up a 178 wRC+ this week in 18 plate appearances. He amassed six hits and scored six runs, including one on a home run. Nimmo posted a 104 wRC+ this week in 35 plate appearances—pretty far off his fireball pace from last week, but still perfectly fine considering the production of the rest of the lineup. Of Nimmo’s seven hits, three went for extra bases, including a home run. Nimmo had a big game on Saturday with a key RBI single in the fifth that gave the Mets some insurance before they broke the game open in the later innings. In all, Nimmo scored four runs and drove in five runs this week.
A broken toe? That’s no problem for Francisco Lindor, who missed just one game before delivering a pinch hit go-ahead RBI double in the ninth inning of Friday’s game. Lindor followed that up with two stolen bases on Saturday, returning to his post at shortstop. Overall, Lindor put up a 131 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances this week. He scored four runs, drove in four runs, and led the team with three stolen bases.
It is nice to see a green arrow next to Francisco Alvarez’s name. The Mets’ catcher put up a 153 wRC+ in 22 plate appearances this week, punctuated by a home run in Sunday’s victory. True, the home run came when the Mets were already up big. But considering how rare a sight Francisco Alvarez home runs are these days, we’ll take it. Alvarez notched seven hits and drove in three runs this week overall. By contrast, Luis Torrens is in the red for the second straight week, going 1-for-10 this week. But that one hit was an RBI single.
Tyrone Taylor is also in the red for a second straight week with a 49 wRC+ in 25 plate appearances. Taylor getting exposed with near-everyday playing time underscores the Mets’ need for a center field bat at the trade deadline, but as long as everyone else is hitting, Taylor’s defense is worth his shortcomings offensively. Taylor logged three hits, three walks, and two RBIs this week.
Jared Young, meanwhile, is making the most of limited playing time. His solo homer in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game snapped a 1-1 tie and was his only hit this week, but it was a big one. He also walked once this week in seven plate appearances.