Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, May 30-June 5

These 2022 Mets? They simply don’t have any quit in ‘em. After a very convincing sweep of the Nationals to begin the week, the Mets opened up their tough June stretch against some of the top teams in baseball with a four-game series against the Dodgers. After the Mets’ offense was stymied in the first two games of the series, resulting in two losses, the Mets clawed their way back to split the series with the Dodgers, coming from behind in both games. Pete Alonso continued his dominance at Dodger Stadium, but the Mets have seen contributions up and down the lineup this week with very few exceptions. The Mets’ 131 wRC+ as a team this week is tied with the Braves for the second-best mark in the National League. In addition to the fact the Mets now hold the best record in the National League, their 116 wRC+ now matches the Dodgers for the best team wRC+ in the NL.

Let’s start with Pete Alonso, who is the standout performer with the bat this week and the sole fireball recipient. His 202 wRC+ for the week leads the team among players with ten or more plate apperances. Alonso also leads the team in walks (4) and runs scored (7) and shares the team lead in RBIs (8). The Polar Bear launched two home runs and drove in five runs in Saturday’s game alone and he was of course a key contributor to yesterday’s thrilling extra-inning victory with a game-tying double. Alonso’s 54 RBIs for the season lead all of baseball and this week he became the fastest Met to 50 RBIs in a season in franchise history. If it wasn’t for the fact that a few other players in the National League (Betts, Goldschmidt, Machado) are also having monster years, one could argue that Alonso is an MVP candidate at this stage. Either way, he is certainly playing MVP-caliber baseball and is almost a lock to make the All-Star Team unless something completely unforeseen happens.

Also continuing an All-Star level of performance is Francisco Lindor, whose double to lead off the eighth inning yesterday got the Mets’ comeback started. This came after a bit of a scare when Lindor accidentally slammed his finger in a hotel door, but luckily that only sidelined him for one game (Thursday). But, Lindor was right in the middle of the Mets’ routs of the Nationals on Monday and Tuesday. The Mets’ shortstop ranks second on the team in both hits (8) and RBIs (7) this week and posted a 121 wRC+ overall in 28 plate appearances. He also has the Mets’ only stolen base for the week. Lindor leads National League shortstops with 2.3 fWAR so far this season.

For the one game Lindor had to miss due to the finger-slamming incident, Luis Guillorme got the start at shortstop and while he was held in check like the rest of the Mets’ offense on Thursday (although he was responsible for one of the Mets’ three hits that day), he has played himself into the everyday lineup with his sustained strong production. While Brandon Nimmo was out with a sore wrist, Guillorme even served as the team’s leadoff hitter. Guillorme has been good for going on a month now and this week was no exception. He collected six hits and a team-leading five walks this week, good for a 123 wRC+. He also scored five runs and drove in three runs this week. Especially with Dominic Smith currently in the minor leagues, it’s hard to argue Guillorme should not continue to play almost every day.

Speaking of Brandon Nimmo’s sore wrist, it may have been affecting him even after he returned to the lineup because he had his first truly poor week of the season. The exception to this was Saturday’s game, in which Nimmo went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored. But that was the extent of his production over 23 plate appearances—an ugly 12 wRC+ for the week and a poop emoji.

Luckily for the Mets, Nimmo is just about the only one truly slumping this week. The only other mediocre performance for the week to speak of is that of Jeff McNeil, who cooled off significantly from his raging hot week last week. Although his line is not as ugly as Nimmo’s, he still holds an underwhelming 69 wRC+ this week in 20 plate appearances. He did collect five hits—all singles—and score two runs. But something that is somewhat concerning is that he did strike out in a quarter of his plate appearances this week. We saw a sharp increase in McNeil Helmet Slams this week to a level we probably haven’t seen since last season. That climaxed on Saturday when he struck out for the third time in the game and did an extra vigorous McNeil Helmet Slam, after which he was removed from the game and he was not in the starting lineup yesterday. It’s unclear whether that move was punitive from Buck Showalter, but either way, giving McNeil a day off was probably needed. Hopefully he’ll heat up again next week.

Meanwhile, others have more than made up for the cold streaks of Nimmo and McNeil, who have both been banged up to a certain extent lately. Tomás Nido, for example, had a hell of a week. Nido logged a four-hit game in Wednesday’s sweep of the Nationals, driving in three of the Mets’ five runs in that contest. And of course Nido’s RBI single in the Mets’ eighth inning rally proved to be massive yesterday when the Dodgers ended up tying the game in the ninth before the Mets won in extra innings. Overall, Nido collected seven hits and walked twice in 19 plate appearances this week, good for a 177 wRC+. Patrick Mazeika, meanwhile, had one hit, a walk, and a run scored in seven plate appearances this week, so he did not contribute much, but with the way Nido has been hitting, Mazeika’s cold streak did not matter all that much.

Of course it was J.D. Davis who provided the game-winning RBI hit in the tenth inning of yesterday’s game, capping off another good week for him at the plate. Davis posted a 151 wRC+ over 22 plate appearances this week. Like Nido, Davis also had a good day on Wednesday, going 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. Overall this week, Davis collected seven hits, two walks, three runs scored, and one absolutely incredible postgame interview with Steve Gelbs.

Like Davis, Starling Marte also gets a second-straight up arrow this week. Marte started the week strong, going 3-for-4 with a home run, four RBIs, and two runs scored in Monday’s series opener against the Nationals and he didn’t let up from there. Marte was the only Met to match Pete Alonso’s run production for the week, driving in eight runs. Marte hit three home runs and scored six runs this week, second only to Alonso in both of those categories. He was also second on the team in hits with eight. Overall, he posted a 157 wRC+ for the week.

The team leader in hits this week is Mark Canha with a whopping nine hits in 26 plate appearances. Four of those hits came in the Mets’ rousing 10-0 victory over the Nationals on Tuesday. He scored six runs, which matches Marte for the second-most on the team. He also walked once and drove in two runs this week, posting a 148 wRC+. Canha continues to spray the ball all over the field, making consistent contact, all while playing solid outfield defense for the Mets. His .297 batting average for the season would be a career high if it holds up.

After Canha was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning of yesterday’s game, Eduardo Escobar came to the plate with the go-ahead run on third and one out and had one of the best at-bats a Met has had all season. After fouling off five consecutive pitches from Brusdar Graterol, Escobar sent the tenth pitch of the at-bat deep to right field; he nearly missed a home run, but it was deep enough for the slow-footed Alonso to score the go-ahead run. Escobar had good games in both the Mets’ victories in the Dodgers series; on Saturday he went 2-for-4 with a home run. Besides Alonso and Marte, Escobar was the only other Met to hit multiple home runs this week. The other long ball was a two-run shot in Tuesday’s lopsided victory. Escobar’s 89 wRC+ for the week is rather unremarkable, but he put together his best at-bat of the week when it counted most.

Meanwhile, the legend of Nick Plummer continues. The hero from last week’s Phillies series kept right on rolling against the Nationals on Monday, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, four RBIs, and two runs scored. That was the extent of his production over eight plate appearances this week, but it was far more than enough.