Mets Player Performance Meter: Position Players, June 29-July 12

The Mets’ poor first half continued right into the All-Star break. They had a bad time north of the border, dropping two out of three to the Blue Jays before losing the first two games in Atlanta as well. They then rebounded a bit, scratching out a split with the Braves and beating the Royals—one of the only teams with a worse record than the Mets—two out of three before falling on their faces over the weekend and getting swept by the Red Sox. The Mets have been bad in the first half in just about

every facet of the game. Though heavily weighted by their early struggles, the Mets are 26th out of 30 teams in team wRC+ in the first half despite having one of the five best hitters on the league in their lineup most nights. Though the Mets’ pair of rookie outfielders have met or exceeded expectations, nearly everyone else on the position player side has fallen short due to underperformance, injury, or both.

Player	Last week	This week
Francisco Alvarez, C
Brett Baty, UTIL
Carson Benge, OF
Bo Bichette, 3B
A.J. Ewing, OF
Francisco Lindor, SS
Ronny Mauricio, INF
Jorge Polanco, DH
Zack Short, INF	—
Juan Soto, OF
Tyrone Taylor, OF	—
Luis Torrens, C
Mark Vientos, 1B/3B
Eric Wagaman, 1B/DH
Jared Young, 1B/DH

The biggest development on the position player side in the couple of weeks before the break is the long-awaited return of Jorge Polanco from the injured list. Polanco has been exclusively DHing and not playing the field in order to keep his Achilles bursitis at bay. Unfortunately, after a promising start, Polanco has sputtered to a 29 wRC+ in his first 18 appearances. He had just three hits and one extra base hit. He walked once, drove in a run, and scored a run. When Polanco was activated, Ronny Mauricio was sent down to Triple-A. Prior to being sent down, Mauricio had one hit and a run scored in eight plate appearances.

As one player returned from the injured list, another hit the injured list. After a dismal first half, things got even worse for Mark Vientos when he was hit on the hand with a Michael Wacha pitch, resulting in a fracture that will sideline him for quite a bit. This has resulted in a lot more playing time for Jared Young and Eric Wagaman. Young has been fine playing the lion’s share at first base, putting up a 103 wRC+ in 41 plate appearances. Of his eleven hits, three of them were doubles. He scored two runs, walked once, and drove in four runs. Wagaman has not fared as well, but as the righty in this pseudo platoon, he is not getting as many at-bats. He has just one hit and two walks in his last ten plate appearances. Zack Short took Mark Vientos’ spot on the roster and is providing defensive flexibility, but has gone hitless in his first seven plate appearances with a walk and two strikeouts.

As has been the case for the majority of the first half of the season, the Mets’ trio of outfielders have been their most consistently productive hitters. Elected to his first All-Star Game as a Met, Juan Soto posted a 153 wRC+ in 57 plate appearances over the past two weeks. His twelve RBIs were far and away the most on the team—more than twice as many as anybody else. The same goes for his thirteen walks. Three of those walks and three of those RBIs came in the series finale against the Braves in which Soto’s home run off Rasiel Iglesias in the top of the ninth gave the Mets the lead in a game they would go on to win in extra innings. It was one of four home runs for Soto over this 13-game span and in a season mostly devoid of great moments, one of the few highlights of the year. Soto’s defense, however, has been inconsistent. He made a highlight reel worthy catch in the Royals series to strand two runners, but then also dropped a routine fly ball on Friday night and his miscue in Toronto resulted in a Little League home run for George Springer.

A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge each knocked in five runs for the Mets over this 13-game stretch heading into the break and both of them are in the green for the second straight meter. Now entrenched in the leadoff spot, Ewing unsurprisingly led the team in runs scored with ten. Benge led the team in hits with 15 while Ewing was not far behind with 13. Ewing went deep an impressive three times in the past two weeks, hitting for more power than most expected. Benge led the team in past two weeks with four stolen bases. Benge put up a 136 wRC+ over 56 plate appearances while Ewing posted a 125 wRC+ in 53 plate appearances. In just half a season, both young outfielders have established themselves as a big part of the Mets’ future and legitimate Rookie of the Year candidates.

After looking like he was out of his long malaise, Bo Bichette has hit another brief slump right before the break, posting a mediocre 68 wRC+ in 46 plate appearances. Of his 11 hits, only one went for extra bases. He scored four runs, drove in five runs, and walked three times.

Francisco Lindor has been so-so with the bat lately, but he has been uncharacteristically horrendous defensively at shortstop. Though he drove in both runs in Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox, he then cost the Mets the game with an error on what should have been a game-ending double play. Instead, the Red Sox took the lead against Devin Williams in the ninth and won the game, spoiling what would have been Zack Thornton’s first big league win. Of Lindor’s ten hits in the past 13 games, four went for extra bases, including three home runs. He drove in five runs, scored seven runs, and walked four times.

Tyrone Taylor has had an unexpected power surge of late, going deep three times in just 23 plate appearances with a 209 wRC+. In fact, all but one of his six hits went for extra bases. Taylor scored five runs, drove in three runs, and walked twice. He has been mostly used against left-handed pitching, against which he fares far better than righties. Because of his usefulness as a defensive replacement and right-handed bat off the bench, he is a dark horse trade candidate.

Speaking of trade candidates, the Mets’ catchers both keep getting brought up as players teams are interested in. Francisco Alvarez put up a 105 wRC+ in 39 plate appearances in these past two weeks, racking up ten hits, including a double and a home run. That home run represented his only run scored, but he drove in four runs and walked twice. Luis Torrens drove in three runs, two of those being on a tenth inning double in the series finale against the Braves, helping to lead the Mets to a narrow victory. He scored five runs and walked three times, notching five hits in total.

After a rough couple of weeks, Brett Baty has clawed his way back to respectability with a 95 wRC+ in 51 plate appearances. With Marcus Semien on the injured list, Baty has been playing pretty much every day. His eight runs scored match Carson Benge for the second most on the team. He also matches Ewing’s 13 hits for the second most on the team. Five of those went for extra bases, including a home run. He drove in five runs and walked twice. Baty was also the only Met besides Benge to steal multiple bases during this 13-game span.