Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, July 14-23

The Mets dropped two out of three to the Dodgers in their first series of the second half before bouncing back to take two out of three from the White Sox. But then they once again lost two out of three to the Red Sox over the weekend, demonstrating once again that they are incapable of building any sort of momentum.

Heading into the break, the Mets had several players on fire with the bat—especially Francisco Lindor and Francisco Alvarez. Both of them, especially the former, have cooled off since, as has pretty much everyone else that was hot before the break. What’s more, the Mets are dealing with some injuries on the position player side at the moment and some familiar faces have been brought back up as replacements.

The first of these injuries is to Luis Guillorme, who injured his calf fielding a ball on Saturday in the resumption of Friday’s game. It seems as if he’ll be out for awhile. Danny Mendick has been recalled to take his place on the roster and has walked once and scored a run in his three plate appearances so far.

Starling Marte is the other player currently on the injured list dealing with migraines and amassed only seven plate appearances over the time covered by this meter. Mark Vientos is back up with the big league club and has three hits—all singles—in nine plate appearances so far. He has scored a run and driven in a run.

Tommy Pham is also battling injury right now, though he is not officially on the injured list. Pham had been one of the Mets’ most consistent hitters in the first half and remains one of their best chips at the deadline. Pham has hit just .167 since the break, but he has walked five times, which is second only to Lindor for the team lead, bolstering his wRC+ to a respectable 113. Pham has scored three runs, driven in a run, and stolen a base.

With Marte and Pham needing rest, Mark Canha has been playing every day of late. Canha came into the break hot, but has not had a great second half thus far, despite his three outfield assists in yesterday’s otherwise miserable game. He posted a dismal 38 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances since the break. He had just four hits—all singles—none of which were RBI hits. He also walked once and stole a base.

But out of everyone on the roster, Francisco Lindor’s stock has changed the most since the last meter. He went into the break raging hot, but has come out ice cold, slashing an alarming .094/.237/.125 so far in the second half—a 19 wRC+. His one saving grace is that he somehow leads the team in walks during this slump, but it was not enough to help him avoid the poop emoji. In total, Lindor has scored two runs, driven in two runs, and stolen two bases in these nine games since the break.

Francisco Alvarez has also cooled off since the break, but far less so than Lindor. Alvarez boasts a solid 123 wRC+ in the second half so far. He collected six hits and leads the team in RBIs with six. His biggest game so far in the second half was the series opener against the White Sox in which he went deep twice and drove in four runs. Alvarez now holds a 122 wRC+ for the season and has put up 2.2 fWAR as a rookie catcher, catapulting himself at least into the periphery of the NL Rookie of the Year discussion.

Because Alvarez has been so good, Omar Narváez has barely played, but he’s had a good start to his second half when he has gotten in lineup. In Thursday’s game, he hit his first home run as a Met. Overall, he collected three hits and walked twice over this nine-game span.

Daniel Vogelbach is yet another player who had a strong final week of the first half, but has cooled off a bit. His big home run helped lift the Mets to victory in the suspended game at Fenway on Friday/Saturday, but overall he put up a pedestrian 92 wRC+ in 15 plate appearances over this nine-game stretch. The home run represented his only run production for the week; he had two other hits—both singles.

Given the injuries on the roster, DJ Stewart has gotten an opportunity for some playing time in the outfield and has done okay with the bat, posting a 111 wRC+ in 11 plate appearances. He collected two hits—including a home run in Tuesday’s crazy game—and a walk. He even stole a base to boot!

Brett Baty went deep on back to back days during the White Sox series, but has otherwise struggled, posting a 53 wRC+ in 34 plate appearances in the second half thus far. Baty has also had a rough go of it in the field of late. But somehow his five RBIs are second only to Alvarez for the team lead. He also matches the team lead in runs scored with five.

The other Met with five runs scored so far in the second half is Brandon Nimmo, who is just about the only regular whose stats trended in a positive direction since the last meter. Nimmo sputtered heading into the break, but has posted a solid 112 wRC+ since. He also leads the team in hits with eight and a whopping five of those were for extra bases, including two home runs. His five RBIs in the second half match Baty for the second-most on the team.

Meanwhile, the quietly bad season by Jeff McNeil continues. McNeil did have the exciting Little League home run in the nightcap on Saturday that gave the Mets their short-lived lead in that contest, but overall he holds a 43 wRC+ in the second half so far. He collected seven hits, which is the second-most on the team, but that still only translates to a .200 batting average over 37 plate appearances. In total, he scored four runs, and drove in four runs in this nine-game span.

Pete Alonso also only had seven hits in 36 plate appearances, but because he walked more and more of those hits were for extra bases, that is good for a passable 86 wRC+ in the second half thus far. Notably though, none of those hits were home runs; Alonso has been riding a bit of a home run drought after his torrid pace early in the season. Alonso has scored four runs and driven in only two in the second half.