Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, June 20-26

The Mets went an even .500 this week, winning the final game of last weekend’s four-game series against the Marlins at Citi Field, then continuing their lengthy losing streak at Minute Maid Park by dropping two to the Astros, and then taking two out of three from the Marlins in Miami. The week ended on a sour note with the Mets being held in check by a left-handed pitcher once again, which resulted in a walk-off loss. This week saw the return of Dominic Smith to the big league club and James McCann from the injured list, but a balky hamstring kept Jeff McNeil sidelined for most of the week. Over their six games this week, the Mets put up a mediocre 91 wRC+ as a team, which ranks 24th in baseball over that span. Brandon Nimmo is the standout position player performer this week, heating up after a bit of a cold spell, and Pete Alonso has stayed hot. But other than that, there are not a whole lot of positives to speak of this week.

We’ll start with Brandon Nimmo since he is one of the few Mets who is hot right now. The Mets’ leadoff hitter earns a fireball for his .423/.429/.654 batting line this week over 28 plate appearances, which amounts to a blistering 202 wRC+ to lead the team. In Monday’s shutout victory, Nimmo went 3-for-5 with two walks and two runs scored. Nimmo also was one of the main contributors in both games over the weekend, going 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI on Saturday and going 2-for-4 with a home run in yesterday’s loss. Nimmo’s eleven hits for the week lead the team by far and he also leads the team in runs scored this week with five.

Also earning a fireball is Pete Alonso, who continues to rake. Although he collected just six hits to Nimmo’s eleven, four of them were for extra bases and three of them were home runs, making him the only Met to hit multiple long balls this week. Two of those home runs came in Saturday’s game, in which he and Nimmo propelled Chris Bassitt and the Mets to victory. With his three home runs this week, he surpassed the 20 home run mark and now has 22 bombs, which is tied for the second-most in baseball. Unsurprisingly, he also leads the team in RBIs for the week with six. His 69 (nice) RBIs still lead the league. Overall, despite a broken bat over his thigh during the Marlins series, he posted a 194 wRC+ in 24 plate appearances for the week.

The runner-up in hits this week is Francisco Lindor who had another solid week, posting his second consecutive up arrow in this week’s meter. Lindor put up a 125 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances this week. He trails only Nimmo for the team lead in hits with seven and three of those were for extra bases. Lindor was the engine for the Mets’ offense in Friday night’s victory, hitting a home run in the first inning and then lacing a key bases-clearing double in the sixth inning to provide crucial insurance. His four RBIs that night represent the entirety of his run production for the week, but that was still enough for him to be third on the team in RBIs, which probably says more about the rest of the offense than it does about Lindor, but despite some streakiness, the Mets’ star shortstop has put together quite the first half.

The only other Met with a somewhat positive week to speak of is Starling Marte, who posted a decidedly meh but not terrible 85 wRC+ this week. Marte collected five hits, two walks, and one RBI in 26 plate appearances. His four runs scored this week are second only to Nimmo for the team lead. Marte continues to do a good job at getting on base alongside Nimmo at the top of the Mets’ order to set things up for Lindor and Alonso, but what has been lacking is the stolen base numbers he is known for; he has swiped only eight bags this season.

Unfortunately reader, it gets grim from here. A bright spot is that this week did mark the return of James McCann to the lineup, which came at the expense of Patrick Mazeika’s roster spot. Mazeika went hitless in three plate appearances before being sent down. McCann had one hit and run scored in his eight plate appearances since being activated and left quite a few runners on base in the process. Tomás Nido did not fare any better, also only logging one hit and a run scored in his ten plate appearances this week; he also walked once. The Mets continue to get next to nothing offensively from the catching position, but the pitching staff is probably grateful to have McCann back.

Dominic Smith also made his return to the lineup this week, getting called up from Triple-A when the Mets went down to 13 pitchers on the pitching staff. Things have gone pretty well for Dom thus far in a small sample. He collected three hits, including one extra base hit, in his first eight appearances back in the big leagues. He also scored a run.

And here’s where things start to look really bleak. Nobody else hit this week. That includes the normally reliable Mark Canha, who earns his first down arrow in recent memory. The Mets’ left fielder is officially slumping, posting an ugly 18 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances this week. He managed just two hits and two walks over that span. The only reason why he manages to avoid the poop emoji is because he somehow did collect three RBIs. One of his walks came with the bases loaded in Monday’s victory and he hit a go-ahead solo homer in Friday’s win; he also had an RBI groundout in Saturday’s victory. But the overall numbers for Canha still leave much to be desired.

Similarly, Eduardo Escobar has shown some signs of breaking out of his slump, but has mostly been a hole in the middle of the Mets’ lineup still. He is another guy who might be in consideration for a poop emoji given his 34 wRC+ over 23 plate appearances this week. But somehow he is second only to Alonso for the team lead in RBIs with five. He collected three RBIs in Monday’s shutout victory and hit a solo homer in Tuesday’s loss. He also had an RBI single in the fourth inning of Saturday’s win. Still, it’s not really enough to declare him out of his slump yet.

Normally J.D. Davis would be someone who could spell Escobar on occasion, but he is not faring much better. He had just one hit in 17 plate appearances this week. However, he did lead the team in walks with three, so that pushes him up to a merely bad rather than awful 57 wRC+ for the week. Davis also scored two runs this week. Now that Dominic Smith is back, Davis may see more competition for at-bats in the coming weeks.

Luis Guillorme has played every day in the absence of Jeff McNeil, who is dealing with a tweaked hamstring that has not required the injured list, but resulted in him having just two plate appearances this week, in which he had a hit and a run scored. Guillrome’s offensive production has fallen off massively in the past couple of weeks. In 22 plate appearances this week, he collected five hits—just one of them for extra bases—good for a 43 wRC+. He didn’t drive in any runs, but he did score once in Monday’s victory. One thing that can always be said about Guillorme though is that even when he is not hitting, he is still arguably the best defensive infielder in baseball and he showed that again this week. McNeil is due back in the lineup any day now, but Guillorme’s versatility will continue to earn him weekly at-bats.

Nick Plummer is still on the active roster as the Mets’ fourth outfielder as they await the return of Travis Jankowski, but he did not have any plate appearances this week.