Mets Player Performance Meter: Position players, August 28-September 3

The Mets went .500 this week against two contending teams, dropping two out of three to the Rangers before taking two of three from the Mariners over the weekend. The offense as a unit was solid, putting up a 124 wRC+ over the six-game span. The standout performers include DJ Stewart, who has stayed hot, Brandon Nimmo, who turned things around in a big way from last week, and Ronny Mauricio, who has impressed since his major league debut this week.

We’ll start with Ronny Mauricio, who was called up when rosters expanded on Friday. He had quite the impressive debut, hitting a ball 117.3 mph off the bat for a double for his first major league hit. In all, he has collected five hits in his first eleven plate appearances with the Mets—good for a 181 wRC+. He also stole two bases and has played a slick second base as well.

The Baby Mets are now all together on the big league club, as Brett Baty also returned from his stint in the minors on Friday. He was less successful, getting just two hits in eight plate appearances since being called back up. When Baty and Mauricio were called up, Danny Mendick, who notched one single in four plate appearances this week, was optioned to Triple-A.

Baty’s case as the every day third baseman is being affected by the fact that Mark Vientos is really hot right now; Vientos put up a 243 wRC+ in 14 plate appearances this week. Vientos went 2-for-3 with a home run in Saturday’s back-and-forth affair against the Mariners. Overall, he collected five hits, two of which were long balls, scored three runs, drove in two runs, and walked once.

To round out our Baby Mets portion of this meter, we’ll turn to Francisco Alvarez, who continues to struggle. Alvarez had two hits and two walks this week in 17 plate appearances—good for an ugly 14 wRC+. But one of those hits was of the RBI variety in yesterday’s game that put the Mets up 2-0. Omar Narváez, now getting a greater share of the catching duties, did not fare much better this week with a 40 wRC+ in 12 plate appearances. He had two hits and two runs scored; he did not drive in any runs this week.

The Mets leader in RBIs this week is none other than DJ Stewart, whose legend continues to grow. Stewart drove in a whopping eight runs this week, which is twice as many as anybody else. That’s probably because he went deep four times, which is also twice as many as anybody else. Stewart’s big moment this week was obviously his performance in Wednesday’s game, in which he provided the extra inning, walk-off victory via a hit by pitch and also hit two home runs in the game. All told, he had a 243 wRC+ in 21 plate appearances this week. That’ll certainly play.

Pete Alonso also had a game in which he hit two long balls, which came in yesterday’s 6-3 victory. In doing so, he reached 41 home runs and 100 RBIs on the season. The only other big leaguers with at least three 40-homer campaigns over their first five seasons are Ralph Kiner, Eddie Mathews, Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard. That’s pretty good company. Overall, Alonso put up a 130 wRC+ for the week over 26 plate appearances, collecting six hits, four runs scored, four RBIs, and three walks.

The team leader in hits this week is Jeff McNeil with nine. It’s McNeil’s second strong week in a row; he posted a 160 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances. With Mauricio manning second base, McNeil has spent more time in the outfield with Mark Canha traded away and Starling Marte still on the injured list. McNeil had a good day yesterday, going 2-for-4 with a home run. He also hit a game-tying triple in the eighth inning of Saturday’s game. Overall, McNeil scored three runs and drove in two runs.

Brandon Nimmo was not far behind McNeil with eight hits this week and he rounds out our trio of fireball recipients with his 203 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances. Nimmo has had quite the trajectory these past few weeks, ping-ponging between fireball and poop emoji and back again. Of his eight hits, half went for extra bases, including two home runs—one in Monday’s game and a game-tying shot in Friday’s close victory. Nimmo also walked three times, which is tied with Alonso for the team lead, drove in four runs, and scored two runs.

It wasn’t a good week overall for Francisco Lindor, who put up a 23 wRC+ in 26 plate appearances this week. But, on Saturday he hit his 25th home run of the season, making him the first Met to put together a 25-25 season since Carlos Beltrán. Oh, and he’s still making highlight reel plays in the field to boot.

Daniel Vogelbach has cooled off since last week, posting an unremarkable but still solid 98 wRC+ in 19 plate appearances this week. He had three hits, one of which was a solo home run in Wednesday’s extra-inning victory that got the Mets on the board. He walked twice, scored two runs, and drove in two runs this week.

With how well DJ Stewart has done and McNeil’s move to the outfield to make way for Mauricio, Rafael Ortega has seen his playing time dip some, but he is still producing when he is out there. This week he logged two hits and a walk in seven plate appearances. Jonathan Araúz has played less also; he went hitless in four plate appearances. Tim Locastro continues his work as a pinch runner and late-inning defensive replacement. He notched one hit in three plate appearances across four games this week.