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

The Mets started the week heading into the All Star Break promisingly; they swept the (at the time) first place Diamondbacks and then won the first game of the Padres series in San Diego in extra innings. But the Mets’ winning streak ended at six games, as they lost both games over the weekend and dropped the series to the Padres, ending what could have been a thrilling week on a sour note. The Mets scored runs in bunches during their winning streak, but the bats went cold against Snell and Musgrove. The two Franciscos were the Mets hottest hitters last week with Mark Canha and Daniel Vogelbach putting together fine performances as well. Meanwhile, Tommy Pham has cooled off and Pete Alonso struggled heading into his appearance in the Home Run Derby and the All Star Game. On one hand, there are a lot of fireballs here and perhaps even more importantly, no poop emojis for the first time in a long while. But on the other hand, there is a lot of red here.

We’ll start with the good news, which is that the Francisco brothers are bashing as we head into the second half. Francisco Alvarez led the team with a 287 wRC+ in 25 plate appearances. He led the team in RBIs with eight and in home runs with four, including a 467-foot mammoth go-ahead shot in Tuesday’s victory, which he followed with a dramatic game-tying homer in the ninth inning in Wednesday’s comeback win. Alvarez also went 4-for-5 in Friday’s extra-inning win, collecting ten hits in total for the week. If this is any indication of what his second half will be like, Alvarez may have something to say about the NL Rookie of the Year race after all.

Francisco Lindor was also a huge part of Friday’s win, going 3-for-5 with a home run, three RBIs, and two stolen bases. But somehow that wasn’t even his most impressive single game performance last week. In Thursday’s shutout victory, Lindor went 5-for-5 and would have ended up with a cycle if he didn’t leg out two triples and settled for a double on one of those extra base hits instead. Lindor’s 11 hits last week led the team and he posted a blistering 270 wRC+ in 28 plate appearances. He also led the team in stolen bases (4) and fWAR (0.8). The one knock on Lindor’s week was the rough defensive game he had on Saturday—a rare occurrence for him.

Though he has not been starting consistently every day, Mark Canha had another good week last week, collecting two extra base hits, three walks, and three RBIs in 12 plate appearances. His strong performance in Sunday’s game was somewhat lost in an otherwise disappointing game for the Mets. But more importantly, it was Canha’s RBI triple in the ninth that was ultimately the difference in Wednesday’s game and that is what pushes him over the edge to earn a fireball to end his first half on a high note.

Daniel Vogelbach rounds out our fireball crew for last week week with a 209 wRC+ in 13 plate appearances. He racked up five hits, two walks, two runs scored, and three RBIs across the six games.

On the other extreme end of the spectrum, we have two players who went from raging hot to ice cold heading into the break. Most notably, Tommy Pham, who had been the Mets’ best hitter for a few weeks had a stinker of a week, putting up a ghastly 27 wRC+ in 27 plate appearances. He had just three hits—all singles—and walked three times. He also scored a run and stole a base.

Brandon Nimmo is the other player who cooled off considerably in the final week of the first half compared to the week before. Nimmo hit just .087 in 29 plate appearances last week, but avoids the poop emoji for his team-leading six walks, which bring his on-base percentage up a bad-but-not-absolutely-terrible .276. He only had one RBI this week but it was a crucial one that came on a go-ahead solo homer in Tuesday’s victory. Nimmo scored three runs in total last week.

Similarly, Pete Alonso’s two-run homer in Thursday’s game represented just about his only production of note last week. It was one of just two hits he had all week on top of two walks—good for an unfortunate 47 wRC+ for the week across 28 plate appearances. Still, 26 homers in the first half ain’t bad; it was enough to earn the Polar Bear the All-Star nod and ticket to the Home Run Derby.

The only thing that helps Jeff McNeil avoid a bad grade is that it was his double in the tenth inning on Friday’s game that helped lift the Mets to that thrilling victory. But his overall numbers from last week are quite pedestrian yet again—a 74 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances. He collected four hits last week and the one encouraging thing is that half of them were for extra bases; he is starting to lace some doubles now and again. He also walked three times, scored three runs, drove in two runs, and stole a base.

Starling Marte had a good week, putting up a 130 wRC+ across 21 plate appearances. His six hits trail only Alvarez and Lindor for the team lead. He was also the only Met besides Lindor to swipe multiple bags last week. His three-run homer on Tuesday got things started for the Mets and represents his only three RBIs for the week.

Brett Baty had a solid but unspectacular week with the bat last week, posting an 86 wRC+ in 15 plate appearances. He hit three singles, walked once, and scored two runs last week.

Luis Guillorme similarly collected three hits, but one of them was for extra bases—good for a 93 wRC+ in 11 plate appearances. He scored a run but didn’t drive in any runs last week.

Because it’s impossible to take Alvarez out of the lineup right now, Omar Narváez has barely played. He had just one plate appearance last week and did not reach base.

Last week DJ Stewart took the place of Danny Mendick as the final position player off the bench and had a sac fly in his first at-bat with the Mets on Tuesday. That was his only run batted in for the week, but he also hit a single, walked once, and scored two runs.