Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, September 3-9

The Mets won both their series this week, largely thanks to the performance of their young players. Even though this week’s meter has a somewhat all or nothing quality to it, it’s been a week that has to make anyone feel at least a little optimistic about this team’s future.

Check out those fireballs. The Mets had five players with a wRC+ over 200 for the week and four of them were young guys. Let’s start with the biggest breakout of them all. Dominic Smith is making the most of his limited playing time to prove to the Mets he belongs here. He holds a 214 wRC+ in ten plate appearances this week. His three hits include a game-tying home run in Friday night’s game. During the same game, he also displayed his defensive talents, making fantastic scoop with the glove.

Jeff McNeil was on the other end of that sparkling defensive play on Friday and he, too, has been on fire with the bat this week. He continues to collect two hits seemingly every day and unsurprisingly, he leads the team in hits this week with ten. He also scored six runs, which is tied for the team lead for the week. He posted a 201 wRC+.

Amed Rosario continues to look fantastic with the bat lately and this past week has been his hottest week yet. He carries a 206 wRC+ this week in 25 plate appearances with nine hits—four of them for extra bases—two walks, five runs scored, and a stolen base. He is embracing his new leadoff role and a .480 on-base percentage will certainly play in the leadoff spot.

Likewise, despite being dropped in the batting order, Brandon Nimmo continues to rake. He leads the team in wRC+ this week with a blistering 256. He accrued 0.5 fWAR this week, which also leads the team. In usual Nimmo fashion, he also leads the team in walks with five. His pinch-hit three-run homer led the Mets to victory in Jacob deGrom’s most recent start on Monday night. This is all not mentioning the fact that the Mets faced a lot of left-handed pitching this week and that did not seem to stop Nimmo, who holds a very solid 117 wRC+ off lefties this season. His overall 150 wRC+ on the season leads the National League.

Michael Conforto also somewhat quietly posted his second good week in a row. He leads the team in both home runs and RBIs this week with three and eight, respectively. He put up a 128 wRC+ for the week over 27 plate appearances.

Jay Bruce is the one veteran player in the fireball club this week. His 225 wRC+ this week is second only to Nimmo for the team lead. Bruce smacked two home runs this week and was the only Met besides Conforto to have a multi-home run week. He had six hits in total and drove in four. His six runs scored are tied with McNeil for the team lead. Encouragingly, he is also walking more and striking out less. He drew four walks this week, second only to Nimmo for the team lead.

There is, uh, a rather large gap in performance between the above group and the rest of the team, hence the large number of fireballs and down arrows with not much in between. The one player to have a pretty good week, as opposed to a great one or a poor one, was Tomas Nido, whose services are required to replace Devin Mesoraco, who is dealing with a bulging disc in his neck. He had one hit in his four plate appearances this week—a bases clearing double that opened the scoring for the Mets on Saturday.

With Mesoraco technically not on the disabled list with rosters expanded, the Mets are currently carrying four catchers on their roster. Jose Lobaton has been brought back to act as the third-string catcher with Mesoraco still sidelined, but has yet to have a plate appearance. Meanwhile, the Mets’ starting catcher Kevin Plawecki had a mediocre week at the plate, posting a 69 wRC+ in 17 plate appearances. He had two hits, a walk, and a run scored.

The Mets did plenty of scoring on Saturday after Nido’s double. Todd Frazier had a four RBI day when, hitting a three-run homer and a sacrifice fly. Unfortunately, that was pretty much Frazier’s only highlight for the week. Overall, Frazier posted just a 73 wRC+ on the week with three hits, a walk, and three runs scored. His four RBIs on Saturday were his only runs driven in for the week.

Inexplicably, despite struggling for the better part of a month now, Austin Jackson continues to see regular playing time in center field. He holds a 9 wRC+ in 17 plate appearances this week with three hits and two RBIs.

The duo of Jose Reyes and Jack Reinheimer are hitless this week, each across six plate appearances. Jack Reinheimer drew one walk. Reyes is back to almost a full win under replacement for the season.

Wilmer Flores’ struggles continue as well. He put up just a 48 wRC+ in fifteen plate appearances this week, which is troubling, especially with the Mets facing so much left-handed pitching. He’s inexplicably not hit lefties this year the way he has in his career to this point. He has four hits this week, all of them singles, two RBIs, and two runs scored. With so many first base options in the organization and Jeff McNeil tearing the cover off the ball at second base, Flores is back to being a part time player.