Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, June 5-11

I feel like a broken record saying this, but for the second straight week these meters underscore how the Mets have been unable to get everything going at the same time. For all their woes offensively early in games this season, the Mets scored first often this week, but the pitching staff failed to protect those leads. The Mets were swept by the Braves in backbreaking fashion, with Atlanta coming from behind in each of the three games. The only game in which the offense was truly shut down completely was yesterday’s game, in which Mitch Keller threw seven strong innings. As a result, this meter looks a lot better, but the Mets still went 1-5 this week.

We’ll start with the players that have notably not improved since last week: Mark Vientos and Daniel Vogelbach. Both earned poop emojis this week. Vientos is now getting an extended opportunity with Pete Alonso hitting the injured list after getting struck in the wrist by a Charlie Morton pitch. Previously, one could maybe chalk up Vientos’ struggles in part to lack of consistent playing time, but that is no longer the case now. Vientos had just one hit—an RBI single in Friday’s game that got the Mets on the board before that game went south quickly—in eleven plate appearances this week. Vogelbach went hitless in his eight plate appearances this week, reaching base just once via a walk.

Omar Narváez also sadly earns a poop emoji in his first week back from the injured list. In addition to being a clear downgrade defensively from Francisco Álvarez (and probably Tomás Nido too, who cleared waivers and is at Triple-A Syracuse), he didn’t distinguish himself with the bat this week. He collected two hits—both singles—in eleven plate appearances this week, good for an even 0 wRC+. He did score two runs, however.

Luckily, Francisco Álvarez is back to his home run hitting ways after a very rough week last week and goes from poop emoji territory back into the green, posting a 174 wRC+ in 23 plate appearances this week. He collected five hits this week and a whopping four of those five were home runs. He is tied for the team lead in both runs scored (5) and RBIs (6) this week. It’s not his fault the Mets keep losing all the games he homers in.

The other Met with six RBIs this week is Tommy Pham, who has put together his second strong week in a row. Pham has the second most hits on the team team this week with six and all but one of those went for extra bases—good for a 154 wRC+ in 22 plate appearances. Pham had a particularly big day in Wednesday’s loss, in which he hit a home run and drove in three runs. He also walked once, scored four runs, and stole a base this week.

Francisco Lindor is the only Met to steal multiple bases this week, swiping two bags in total. He also put up a 167 wRC+ in 24 plate appearances, which is second only to Álvarez for the team lead. He also leads the team in fWAR (0.4) this week and walked four times, which ties him for second most on team. It was a much-needed bounce back week for the Mets’ shortstop, whose two-run homer put the Mets ahead on Tuesday before the sixth inning unraveled on them. Lindor drove in three runs in total this week and scored four.

Eduardo Escobar notched two hits, walked once, and scored a run in seven plate appearances this week. He is another player who may see increased playing time in Pete Alonso’s absence. To take Alonso’s spot on the roster, Luis Guillorme was called up from Triple A. He was brought in for Francisco Lindor in Friday’s lopsided loss and had an RBI double as part of the Mets’ too little, too late five-run ninth inning, which represented the extent of his production this week in seven plate appearances.

Brett Baty didn’t exactly light the world on fire this week, but he’s trending in the right direction after last week’s disastrous performance. He had only four hits—all singles—in 21 plate appearances this week, but he also walked four times to log a 94 wRC+ for the week. He drove in two runs this week—one in Thursday’s backbreaking loss, which put the Mets ahead 6-3 at the time and another that got the scoring started for the Mets in Wednesday’s game. Baty also scored two runs and stole a base.

Brandon Nimmo similarly went from poop to “meh” this week, which isn’t a huge improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. His biggest highlight this week was arguably in the field, when he saved at least one run on a leaping grab with the bases loaded in third inning of Saturday’s game—the Mets’ only victory this week—preserving what was a skinny one-run lead at the time. In very Nimmoesque fashion, he led the team in walks this week with five, putting up a .357 on-base percentage despite a .182 batting average in 28 plate appearances this week. His five RBIs were second most on the team this week. Four of those five RBIs came on a grand slam he hit in the second inning of Thursday’s game off Spencer Strider which put the Mets up big at the time. We can just pretend the game ended after that.

Though he posted an unremarkable 92 wRC+ in 27 plate appearances this week, Jeff McNeil matches Álvarez for the team lead in runs scored with five. Of his five hits this week, two of them were for extra bases, including his third home run of the year, which snapped a scoreless tie in the fourth inning of yesterday’s pitcher’s duel. That home run represents his only run batted in of the week.

Mark Canha has come back down to earth a bit after a raging hot week last week. He put up a 101 wRC+ in 16 plate appearances this week. Canha’s biggest day with the bat came in the Mets’ only victory of the week on Saturday, in which he went 2-for-4 with two doubles and drove in three of the Mets’ five runs. Those two doubles were Canha’s only extra base hits this week and those three RBIs were his only RBIs for the week as well.

Starling Marte is actually the team leader in hits this week with seven, as his season’s resurgence continues. However, what has not returned is his power; all seven of his hits were singles—good for just a 90 wRC+ for the week. He also only drove in one run despite those seven hits. Marte also scored three runs and stole a base this week.