3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Reel In Another Series

3 UP

RBI Machines

In this series, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor both homered and added to their RBI totals. For Lindor, it all come in the series opener as his bat carried the Mets to a victory. He is now tied for fourth in the majors with Aaron Judge for the most RBI in the majors.

Of course, Lindor doesn’t lead his city or even his team in RBI as Alonso is the Major League leader with 69. He expanded on his lead with a couple of nice games over the weekend where he hit a double, two homer, and three RBI.

Look, we know RBI is a bit of an antiquated stat, but it does provide some context and value. In some ways, Alonso and Lindor leading in RBIs at their respective positions speaks to how this team has a more old school approach, and they’re having success.

Re-finding Nimmo

When Brandon Nimmo was dealing with the wrist injury, his production fell off a cliff. He had gone from one of the best overall hitters in baseball to losing his power stroke. In fact, he would not hit any homers in May, and he had a stretch from April 26 to June 8 with no homers and just three doubles (.341 SLG).

Nimmo has been much more of himself lately during his six game hitting streak. In this six game stretch alone, he has three doubles and a homer. Again, in this stretch of games, he had a much better power production than he had for over a month.

Going deeper, since June 10, Nimmo is hitting .323/.358/.532 with five doubles, a triple, two homers, and six RBI. What’s astonishing is he’s getting on base and driving the ball well despite only drawing two walks over this stretch. However, this speaks to how versatile an offensive player Nimmo is; he’s not just about the walks. It’s all about getting on base and producing runs.

Peterson Pitching Well Again

The Mets had needed more from David Peterson than he was giving them. Over a five game stretch, he failed to reach five innings once, and he would find himself angry and muttering to himself walking off of the mound.

Well, in his last start, it was a Peterson who had the Marlins muttering to themselves. Over seven innings, he limited them to two earned on four hits and no walks while racking up eight strikeouts. This was the first time all season Peterson pitched over six innings, and it was the second time in a month he pitched over five innings and allowed fewer than three runs.

Of course, the last time was in his previous start. That’s now two starts of five plus innings and fewer than three runs. This marks the first time Peterson has done that this season and just the second time in his Major League career.

He’s doing this at the right time because with Max Scherzer due back soon, there was a real chance he could’ve been sent down. Another start like this, and it would appear he can stay for now.

3 DOWN

Eduard-No!

There was some hope Eduardo Escobar was snapping out of his cold streak in the Houston series. After all, he was one of the few Mets who collected any hits. Unfortunately, it seems his failures in big spots in that series was more indicative of where his game is at right now.

Escobar was a woeful 1-for-11 in the series against the Marlins with no extra base hits and four strikeouts. Defensively, he’s tied for the third worst OAA among third baseman. On the bright side, that makes him the third best third baseman in the National League.

Right now, he has a 90 wRC+ and a -5 OAA. There’s really no way the Mets can justify playing him. This means yet again third base remains a need the Mets need to address at the trade deadline.

Guillorme’s Bat Falling Behind

Watching Luis Guillorme play second in this series was a thing of beauty. He made a number of Gold Glove worthy plays. This is a situation where the eye test matches the analytics as Guillorme’s 2 OAA is the fifth best in the National League. With more time out there, he would likely be higher.

Unfortunately, his bat is starting to lag behind as he was 0-for-12 in this series. Looking deeper, Guillorme has had a poor June where he has hit .231/.296/.246. No matter how much he excels defensively, teams are reticent to put players in the field who are struggling at the plate this much.

This is a conundrum for the Mets. Do you keep rolling with Guillorme’s Gold Glove caliber defense out there, or do you try to get Escobar’s bat going? Is there a happy medium you can find as Jeff McNeil works his way back into the lineup after his injury? How the Mets proceed will likely define their trade deadline approach and possibly their ability to win a World Series.

Canha’s Poor June

In June, Mark Canha has really struggled at the plate. In 22 games, he has hit .211/.341/.338. That includes this past series where Canha was 1-for-12 albeit with a homer.

On this current road trip, Canha is just 2-for-19. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as Canha has a 140 wRC+ at Citi Field and a 107 wRC+ on the road.

There shouldn’t been too much made of these struggles right now. In his career, June has always been Canha’s worst month of the season. Moreover, July has historically been Canha’s best month of the season. Overall, he and the Mets will be just fine and ready to take off in the second half of the season.