Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, September 24-30

This is it, folks: the final set of meters for 2018! The Mets went out on a high note this year, winning their final two series. However, this was mostly thanks to the pitching, as the offense looked pretty hapless at times, especially in the final two games of the season. Hopefully this served as a reminder that despite the great strides some of the young position players have made in the second half, the Mets will need to add a solid bat or two in the offseason to be competitive in 2019.

Let’s start with the best thing about this meter: David Wright’s name is on it. I gave him a fireball because I can. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with my agent. The fact that he was even able to stand on a baseball field and take somewhat competitive at-bats was a victory deserving of a fireball. David Wright had three plate appearances between a pinch hitting appearance on Friday night and two plate appearances in his farewell game on Saturday. He reached base once—in his first appearance on Saturday—on a walk in which he worked a full count. In his pinch hitting appearance on Friday, he hit a sharp grounder to third and in his second plate appearance on Saturday he popped out to foul territory on the first base side to the accursed Peter O’Brien.

Much of the focus this week has rightly been on David Wright calling it a career, but Jose Reyes’ tenure as a Met has likely come to an end as well. In his final week as a Met, Reyes got one hit in his eight plate appearances. That hit came on Saturday, ahead of David Wright’s first plate appearance, when Reyes laced a double and momentarily ignited memories of old. Unlike old times, however, he did not come around to score. He was pinch hit for partway through Sunday’s game to more subdued fanfare.

Brandon Nimmo capped off his season doing what Brandon Nimmo does best: getting on base. He leads the team in walks with seven, on-base percentage at .611, and wRC+ with a 215 for the week. He also had four hits in his 18 plate appearances and scored one run. Unfortunately, Nimmo’s season ended with a strained hamstring he sustained running to first base on Saturday, meaning that his season was cut short by one game. But he has a nice long offseason ahead of him to rest that hamstring and get ready for next year, when he will be hopefully penciled into the starting outfield.

Jack Reinheimer had four plate appearances this week, three of them coming in Saturday’s extra-inning affair after he came into the game to replace the injured Nimmo. He reached base in all three of those plate appearances, with a hit and two walks. He also stole a base. The inept Met offense proved incapable of driving him in the first two times he reached base, but it did seem that he had his finest hour as a Met in the penultimate game of the season in front of a sellout crowd.

Like Nimmo, Michael Conforto stayed hot until the finish line as well. He posted a 146 wRC+ over 26 plate appearances the final week of the season with six hits—half of them for extra bases—four walks, a home run, two RBIs, four runs scored, and a stolen base. With his blistering second half, Conforto has raised his wRC+ on the season to a perfectly good 120.

Jeff McNeil also had six hits in the final week of the season, which ties him with Conforto for the team lead. But unlike Conforto, only one of his hits went for extra bases and he only walked once this week. So, despite a respectable .240 batting average for the week, his wRC+ stands at a mediocre 54 for the last week of the season. Nonetheless, this does not take away from the fact that McNeil batted .329 with a 137 wRC+ and put up 2.6 fWAR in his first 63 games as a Met, all but cementing his status as the starting second basemen for next season.

After struggling last week, Dominic Smith finished out his season on a high note. He put up a 138 wRC+ in his final 16 plate appearances with five hits, including a home run, two RBIs, and a run scored. It’s been an up-and-down stint in the majors for Smith this year, but he finished strong.

That is more than can be said for most of the Mets regulars, who did not exactly finish out their seasons on the right foot. Jay Bruce, who had been tearing it up since coming off the disabled list, posted a 55 wRC+ in the last week of the season. He had 3 hits—all singles—and four walks in 22 plate appearances. He scored one run and drove in one.

Amed Rosario also had just three singles in his final 24 plate appearances of 2018. He also walked four times, drove in a run, and stole two bases. This is all good for a paltry 3 wRC+ for the week, despite an overall very positive second half for the young shortstop.

Todd Frazier also had a somewhat mediocre week to close out the season. He’s been in a prolonged slump for the entire month of September, over which he put up just a 70 wRC+. This week he collected two hits and four walks, good for a 79 wRC+. That said, his one RBI this week was an important one; it was the sole run the Mets scored in the final game of the season to help Noah Syndergaard on his way to a complete game victory.

Despite his walk-off single in the bottom of the thirteenth on Saturday, Austin Jackson’s performance down the stretch has left a lot to be desired as well. On the week he holds a 37 wRC+ in 17 plate appearances. He had three hits, drove in one run, and walked once.

Devin Mesoraco finished his Mets tenure on a high note. He had just one hit in his six plate appearances this week, but it was a key three-run homer in Thursday’s 4-1 victory over the Braves.

Kevin Plawecki hit a homer in that game as well—a solo shot that put the Mets on the board. However, like Mesoraco, that was Plawecki’s only hit this week, but in almost twice as many plate appearances. He holds a 10 wRC+ for the week.

Tomas Nido went hitless over his seven plate appearances this week, drawing one walk and collecting one RBI. Jose Lobaton also went hitless in two plate appearances. With Mesoraco’s departure and Plawecki and Nido not exactly finishing out the season with a bang, the Mets’ need to address the catching situation in the offseason seems rather acute.