Mets Player Performance Meter: Hitters, August 29-September 4

As the Mets continued to gain ground in the Wild Card race over the past week, their hitters continued to fare pretty well. A couple of hot hitters lost a little bit of their heat, but a couple of ice-cold hitters managed to put up good numbers. And the team hit plenty of home runs, which makes us very happy here.

This week’s meter does not include the Mets’ Labor Day win over the Reds, which will be included in next week’s edition.

Player	8/22-28	8/29-9/4	Comment
Jay Bruce, OF			Well, hello, Jay Bruce. After a miserable stretch to begin his Mets tenure, the outfielder hit a couple of home runs with an excellent .400/.429/.750 line and a 211 wRC+.
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS			You’d never know that Cabrera is battling a lingering knee injury. He followed up one of his best weeks ever with another one. He hit .333/.391/.810 with three home runs and a 217 wRC+.
Yoenis Cespedes, OF			Cespedes had been out-of-this-world good for a while but hit one home run and had just a .733 OPS for this week.
Michael Conforto, OF	--		After raking in his second stint in Triple-A Las Vegas, Conforto was among the Mets’ first wave of September call-ups. In nine trips to the plate, he hit really well. It’d be great if he could keep hitting when he gets opportunities.
Travis d’Arnaud, C			For the majority of August, d’Arnaud hit well, and the last couple days of the month and the beginning of September were no different. He wasn’t great at a 109 wRC+, but he was pretty good.
Alejandro De Aza, OF			De Aza has rebounded really nicely in the second half, but he didn’t help his line much in 13 plate appearances this week.
Lucas Duda, 1B			Duda’s still not close to returning, but there’s at least a glimmer of hope, as he started taking soft toss the other day and might progress to full batting practice.
Wilmer Flores, IF			We’re trying to be a bit more flexible with earning fireballs these days, but that means Flores and his perfectly-decent week—.250/.333/.458—lose that status a little more quickly, too.
Curtis Granderson, OF			For a while now, it seemed like Curtis Granderson just had to be better than he’d played this season. Last week, he finally was, with three home runs of his own and a .286/.407/.762, 192 wRC+ performance in 27 plate appearances.
Kelly Johnson, IF			Johnson has been nothing short of excellent with the Mets this year, but he struggled last week and had just a 43 wRC+.
Ty Kelly, IF	--		The meter can be harsh, as is the case here for Kelly’s week. He went 0-for-1.
Juan Lagares, CF			There hasn’t been much in the way of updates on Lagares’s recovery from thumb surgery lately. Maybe he ends up on the 60-day DL before the season is over.
James Loney, 1B			Those of you who have been asking for an image that’s worse than the down arrow would surely want to apply that to this week: .125/.222/.188. At least a couple of his outs on Sunday night were hit hard, I guess?
Jose Reyes, IF			Reyes had been hitting really well since coming off the disabled list and managed an average-ish .323 OBP this week but still struggled overall at the plate.
Rene Rivera, C			There have been some weeks in which Rivera has been a better hitter than Travis d’Arnaud. This wasn’t one of them.
Justin Ruggiano, OF			Ruggiano quickly went from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL, effectively ending his season.
Neil Walker, 2B			Speaking of seasons coming to an end, Walker needs back surgery and is out for the rest of the year.