Mets Player Performance Meter: Position Players, September 14-27

The Mets began the final two weeks of the season with four straight losses, in which they only scored more than one run in one of those four games. Things picked up a little bit after that, but the Mets only won one series in the final two weeks of 2026, playing spoilers to a Rangers team that would just miss the playoffs in a weak AL West. This was mostly a team just playing out the string, but the bright side is NL Rookie of the Year candidate Carson Benge finished the season hot, which may get

him a few extra votes.

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	—
Nick Morabito, OF
Christopher Morel, 1B/DH
Cristian Pache, OF		—
Marcus Semien, 2B
Juan Soto, OF
Luis Torrens, C
Mark Vientos, 1B/3B
Jared Young, 1B/DH

Since I mentioned Carson Benge, we’ll start with him. He was by far the Mets’ best hitter over the final two weeks of the season, putting up a blistering 201 wRC+ in 59 plate appearances and making another “splendiferous” catch in the outfield in the season’s final series in DC. He led the team in hits by a large margin with 21—six more than anybody else. He also led the team in runs scored with ten and RBIs with eight. He racked up six extra base hits, including three home runs. The final of those three home runs was his 20th, making him the first Mets rookie to have a 20-20 season. It’s possible that Benge still doesn’t end up beating out Sal Stewart’s sexy run production totals, but going 21-for-57 in the season’s final two weeks in a sprint to the finish certainly helped bolster his case.

When Jared Young’s very good 2026 season came to an extremely unfortunate end, Ronny Mauricio was called up to take his spot on the roster and had an incredible power surge to make his case to remain in the Mets’ future plans. In the Mets’ only victory against the Nationals in DC on Saturday, Mauricio went deep from both sides of the plate in his first multi-home run game of his career. Overall, Mauricio had four hits in 12 plate appearances, but three of those four hits were home runs. He drove in six runs and also walked twice.

The Mets’ other young player more on the fringes Nick Morabito also logged 12 plate appearances in the season’s final two weeks, but did not produce as many fireworks as Mauricio. He had three hits—two singles and a double—two runs scored and no RBIs. He also struck out six times and didn’t draw any walks, which is not a ratio you want to see. The future for both him and Mauricio on the team is uncertain, but unlike Morabito, Mauricio is out of options.

The future is also uncertain for both Mark Vientos and Brett Baty, who you could argue are borderline non-tender candidates in the offseason. However, the latter showed some spark in the form of a hot streak in the season’s final month that the former did not. Though Baty was not quite as red hot as in the first half of September, he is still one of the few Mets’ hitters to receive a positive grade for racking up ten hits in 38 plate appearances, including a home run—good for a very strong 147 wRC+ to finish out his season. Baty scored five runs, drove in six runs, and walked six times. He even expanded his repertoire to include the shortstop position in the season’s penultimate game, making his first career start there while Francisco Lindor served as the DH. Vientos’ season did not end on quite as high a note; he put up a 23 wRC+ in 25 plate appearances, notching just four hits—two singles and two doubles. He drove in two runs and walked once, while striking out seven times. While Baty made the case that he still belongs on the Mets’ roster next year, one can’t confidently say the same for Vientos based on his performance after returning from the injured list.

Francisco Lindor’s final two weeks were rather mediocre overall, but he did finally reach the milestone he had been chasing on the season’s final day, going deep for his 300th career home run. In doing so, he became the first shortstop in MLB history to hit 300 home runs and steal 200 bases. That home run was one of ten hits for Lindor over his final 63 plate appearances of 2026 and one of four extra-base hits. Lindor scored seven runs—second only to Benge for the team lead—and drove in two runs. He also walked seven times, which is the second-most on the team, but led the team in strikeouts with 14. Overall, he posted a 59 wRC+ in the second half of September.

By contrast, Juan Soto put up a much more solid 123 wRC+ in the final two weeks of the season. His eight RBIs match Benge for the team lead and his 15 hits are the second-most on the team. Soto also led the team in walks with nine and that is before including the five times he was walked intentionally, including three times in a single game during the Rangers series. Soto even stole a base for good measure, bring his total up to nine steals for the season—a far cry from last year’s total, but at least a good indicator that he is feeling healthy and hopefully ready to contribute a fully healthy season next year. Even though he played in only 111 games, the lowest of any full season in his career, he still amassed 3.0 bWAR in 2026.

The only other hitter to get a positive grade in the season’s final meter is A.J. Ewing, who joined his fellow Mets rookies in finishing strong with a 110 wRC+ in 51 plate appearances. Of course, his numbers aren’t as flashy as Benge’s, but 12-for-45 with six walks and two stolen bases is perfectly adequate production from a center fielder of his caliber defensively. Two of those 12 hits were home runs and Ewing scored five runs and drove in six runs.

Bo Bichette certainly didn’t end his season with a bang in a fashion that would make one confident he is opting out of his contract. He posted a rather pedestrian 84 wRC+ in 61 plate appearances in the last two weeks of the season. Of his 13 hits, only three went for extra bases, but he did go deep twice. He scored four suns, drove in five runs, and walked five times across these 13 games. Perhaps most notably, Bichette grounded into four double plays in the final two weeks of the season while nobody else in the team grounded into more than one; while this is small sample size theater like everything we do here with the meters, I can’t help but feel it is a microcosm of how this season has gone where so often Juan Soto gets on base ahead of Bichette—either because he gets a hit or because teams are pitching around him—and Bichette fails to deliver. Bichette has mentioned Andy Green as his favorite manager he’s ever played for in recent remarks, so the Mets installing him in the role permanently may sway Bichette to stay in New York rather than gamble on trying to get another big contract after an underwhelming season.

In the meantime, in his 2026 postmortem presser, David Stearns would not commit to Marcus Semien as the everyday second baseman next year and it’s easy to see why. Semien put up a 48 wRC+ in 46 plate appearances over the final two weeks of the season and ends his season with a 74 wRC+ overall for 2026. The Mets could have potentially lived with that if he was still playing Gold Glove caliber defense, but he also took a step (more like several steps, if we’re being honest) back defensively this year. Semien collected seven hits, three of which went for extra bases, including a home run. He scored five runs, drove in three runs, and walked four times. He also was caught stealing once.

Meanwhile, it was a rough week for the Mets’ catching tandem in more ways than one. Francisco Alvarez had an ugly game in the series opener in DC, grounding into a double play with the bases loaded in the first, making an errant throw in the second inning, and being behind the plate for three wild pitches in the third, two of which allowed a run to score. Overall, his numbers with the bat weren’t awful; he posted an 81 wRC+ in 37 plate appearances to finish out the season. He amassed nine hits, including two doubles and a home run. He scored six runs and drove in six runs, but he walked only once and struck out 11 times. Meanwhile, the numbers are garish for Luis Torrens, who finished the season 2-for-18 with a -28 wRC+. Torrens scored two runs, drove in a run, and walked just once while striking out seven times. I think it’s safe to say that the August power surge for Torrens petered out over these final couple of weeks.

There were no notable moments in the last two weeks of the season from the final two bench players Christopher Morel and Cristian Pache. Morel had eight plate appearances across three games and did not reach base in any of them. Pache does not get a grade because he only appeared in one game, but did not take an at-bat.

That’s a wrap on the position players for 2026 and we’ll get the final meter for the pitchers tomorrow. As always, I appreciate the community taking the time to read and engage with these fun meter posts every season!