The Mets had their first three-game losing streak of the season this week, as they dropped the first two games at Fenway before salvaging the series finale, in which the anemic offense finally broke out for five runs. Things then turned around for the Mets at home, as they tend to do, as they took two out of three from the Dodgers at Citi Field. But the Mets’ victories are still mostly happening on the back of their pitching. The top of the Mets’ order on which they are so heavily reliant is struggling—so much so that Juan Soto has been dropped from second to third in the batting order behind a hot Starling Marte. Brett Baty continues to look good with the bat as well, but otherwise things are pretty meh for the Mets offensively right now. Their numbers with runners in scoring position continue to be abysmal; see Friday night’s game in which they rendered an exciting ninth inning rally anticlimactic due to their repeated inability to score the ghost runner in extras.
Brandon Nimmo has been dealing with a stiff neck and had to miss a few games, but he went 0-for-10 this week first with four strikeouts and a double play. Not ideal!
José Azócar doesn’t get a grade this week because he only appeared in one game (as a pinch runner in Friday’s marathon game) and did not have a plate appearance. He was designated for assignment on Saturday in favor of Jared Young, who was putting up fantastic numbers in Triple-A. Young is hitless in his first four plate appearances, but he did get hit by a pitch and score a run.
Pete Alonso is still not himself, but his week ended on a high note at least. In yesterday’s game, he finally snapped the longest home run drought of his career with a clutch shot that helped the Mets win the rubber game of the Dodgers series. It was the only extra base hit Alonso had this week of his five knocks, but hopefully that will change in the coming weeks. Alonso walked twice, drove in three runs, and scored two runs this week, putting up a 73 wRC+.
It was not a good week at all for Juan Soto, but he avoids the poop emoji because his two-run double on Saturday was the most important hit in that game. Somehow, Soto’s four RBIs are the second-most on the team, which says more about how the Mets have been hitting than it does about Soto. Soto also walked three times and stole two bases, but the 23 wRC+ for the week sure is ugly.
The Mets’ best hitter right now is somehow Brett Baty because you can’t predict baseball. Baty put up a 172 wRC+ in 22 plate appearances this week and leads the team in both hits (7) and RBIs (6). Baty racked up three of those RBIs in series finale in Boston to help salvage that series for the Mets. His homer got the Mets on the board in Friday’s game and he followed that up with a 3-for-3 performance on Saturday in which he drove in a pair.
Baty is also much better defensively at third base than Mark Vientos, who has shown flashes, but has yet to really put it all together this season. Thus, Vientos has seen his playing time decline some and has taken some more DH at-bats. This week, he notched two hits and walked twice in 17 plate appearances—good for an 89 wRC+ for the week.
Tyrone Taylor matches Baty’s team-leading seven hits, but they were all singles so his wRC+ is less eye-popping at 104 for the week. Nonetheless, Taylor is contributing on both sides of the ball with outfield assists and two RBIs and a run scored. Of course, no hit was bigger than his game-tying RBI single in the ninth inning on Friday night that forced that game into extra innings.
Jeff McNeil provided the other big hit in that ninth inning rally on Saturday—a two-run triple that got the Mets within a run. Overall, McNeil posted a 98 wRC+ in 19 plate appearances this week. That triple represents the extent of McNeil’s run production this week, but in addition to his three hits, he also walked three times.
Other than Baty, Starling Marte is the only other Met one could consider hot right now. He put up a team-leading 186 wRC+ in 16 plate appearances this week. Marte had five hits this week—all singles, including a bunt single. He also walked twice and scored two runs.
Francisco Lindor is still sort of slumping, but he had a bit of a better week this week. After a few Mets barely missed clearing the Green Monster in Boston, Lindor finally cleared it in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s victory. That was one of only four hits Lindor managed this week, but two of those were for extra bases. Despite hitting just .182 for the week, Lindor did lead the team in walks and stole four bases.
Our two poop emoji recipients from last week Francisco Alvarez and Luisangel Acuña did not do much better this week and continue to struggle. Alvarez had just two hits (a single and a double) and a walk in 14 plate appearances. Acuña logged three singles in 11 plate appearances this week. He also stole a base and scored a run.
Luis Torrens, meanwhile, is outperforming Alvarez and in the green for the second straight week. He collected four hits—three singles and a double—in 12 plate appearances this week. His double got the Mets’ rally started in Wednesday’s game, though he was eventually thrown out at the plate trying to score. He has returned the favor to others though, making the tag on the key putout of Mookie Betts at the plate in the first inning of yesterday’s game. Torrens also walked once and scored three runs this week.