Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, May 8-14

The Mets’ offense continues to inconsistent, but things are trending in the right direction for some players who had been struggling. The Mets managed to eke out a couple of close victories on Wednesday and Friday thanks to some timely hitting, but finally broke out yesterday for an eight-run fifth inning against the Nationals, which felt long overdue. While there are still no fireballs this week, there are fewer poop emojis than last week. Baby steps, right?

We’ll start with the one injury update on the position player side, which is that catcher Tomás Nido was placed on the injured list on Wednesday with Dry Eye Syndrome. Nido’s struggles and streak of poop emojis are well-documented, but hopefully this means there is a concrete explanation for them at least. While Nido is sidelined, Michael Pérez has been called up from Triple-A Syracuse to serve as the backup catcher. Pérez caught Saturday’s suspended game and the resumption of that game yesterday and had a big day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double and a run scored, getting his 2023 campaign with the Mets off to a hot start.

In the meantime, Francisco Álvarez continues to serve as the everyday catcher and in Nido’s absence, caught Kodai Senga for the first time this week. With the bat, Álvarez is in the green for the second straight week, posting a 123 wRC+ in 20 plate appearances. He collected only four hits, but two of them were home runs—both coming in Tuesday’s loss against the Reds.

Pete Alonso also hit a solo shot in Tuesday’s loss—one of two home runs he hit this week. Besides Álvarez, Alonso is the only Met to go deep multiple times this week. His other home run was a game-tying solo homer in Wednesday’s victory. After a short lull, Alonso is back atop the MLB leaderboard in home runs with 13 on the season. Though he hit just .211 this week in 27 plate appearances, Alonso posted a .444 on-base percentage and a 177 wRC+ thanks to his seven walks, which are more than twice as many as any other Met this week.

Brandon Nimmo had what was probably the most important hit in the Reds series, lacing a go-ahead RBI single in the fourth which turned out to be the difference in the game. Nimmo leads the team in hits this week with nine. He also walked twice—good for a 143 wRC+ across 28 plate appearances. He was the only other Met besides Alonso with five or more plate appearances this week to post an on-base percentage over .400 and continues to be the Mets’ most consistent hitter.

Speaking of big hits, though Francisco Lindor’s 77 wRC+ in 28 plate appearances this week is nothing to write home about, he had perhaps the most clutch hit for the Mets all week. After working the count full with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth inning on Friday night, Lindor laced a bases-clearing hit that ended up being the game winner. It was one of seven hits for Lindor in total this week, including a home run in Tuesday’s loss. Lindor leads the team this week with six RBIs.

A very welcome sight: the Met with the second-most hits on the team this week is Starling Marte, who is finally showing signs of life. It’s true that all eight of Marte’s hits were singles and there were a couple of infield hits in there; he is still not hitting for any power. But a 91 wRC+ in 24 plate appearances is still a huge improvement over the numbers we have been seeing from him. Hopefully this is a turning point in the season for him and he will get moved back up in the batting order again soon.

In the meantime, Jeff McNeil has been hitting higher in the order occasionally, but he had the worst week at the plate of any Mets regular, posting a gaudy -23 wRC+ in 28 plate appearances this week. He collected four hits—all singles—and one RBI. That performance gets him tagged with a poop emoji this week.

McNeil was not the only one to struggle at the plate this week. Tommy Pham went hitless this week, but only had eight plate appearances. He did walk twice and score a run. Pham had been getting more opportunities with Marte and Canha struggling, but if those two can turn things around, any negative impact from Pham slumping would be reduced.

Speaking of Mark Canha turning things around, he put up a 140 wRC+ in 15 plate appearances this week, sparked by a 3-for-4 performance in yesterday’s big victory. He collected five hits in total, three of which went for extra bases. He scored two runs and drove in two runs.

While Marte and Canha are perhaps beginning to heat up, Brett Baty has cooled off. He collected just two hits and walked three times in 24 plate appearances this week—an ugly 26 wRC+. Baty scored three runs and drove in a run this week. Hopefully this is just a little slump that he will break out of soon. Meanwhile, Eduardo Escobar has found a way to contribute in limited playing time. He has two hits in three plate appearances this week.

Daniel Vogelbach is in the red for the first time in awhile. He hit .214/.313/.214 with a 62 wRC+ in 16 plate appearances this week. He collected three hits—all singles—walked twice, and scored a run.

Luis Guillorme collected two hits this week in nine plate appearances, both of them in Wednesday’s game—a single and a double. Guillorme was the one who scored what ended up being the winning run on Wednesday, driven in by Brandon Nimmo. He also walked once this week and continues to make a positive impact defensively whenever he plays. It’s a nice bounce back for him after a poop emoji last week.