3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Striking It Hot

3 UP

MaKing History

Starting with Jacob deGrom striking out 13 batters over the first five innings, the New York Mets would tie a Major League record striking out 20 batters over a nine inning game. The other strikeouts would come from Seth Lugo (1), Joely Rodriguez (5), and Trevor May (1).

As an aside, this beat the Mets record by one. Of course, that record was held by Tom Seaver, who struck out 19 San Diego Padres on April 22, 1970. That day included a Major League record of striking out 10 batters in a row.

On the season, Mets pitchers lead the majors with an astounding 1,427 strikeouts. They also lead the majors with a 26.2 K% and a 9.8 K/9. They also lead the National League with a 3.58 K/BB.

I’m Bringing Vogelbach

Daniel Vogelbach jumped out of the gate with the New York Mets, but after dealing with an apparent leg issue, he had slumped. Well, upon the site of his former Pittsburgh Pirates team, he started mashing the ball again.

In the series, Vogelbach was 5-for-8 with a homer a six RBI. He, more than any other Mets player, took full advantage of the Pirates control issues drawing five walks.

When Vogelbach is hitting this way, the Mets offense is far more potent. His patience, ability to get on base, and his power, deepen this lineup and takes all the pressure away from the top of the lineup. If the Mets want to make that deep postseason run, they need Vogelbach hitting.

Setting the Table

With the smile and aww shucks persona, it should not surprise anyone Brandon Nimmo is the type of boy who makes sure to set the table. He did that in this series drawing five walks (tied with Vogelbach for the team lead) and scoring a team high five runs. This is the Nimmo we have come to know and love.

While we look upon this as a down year for Nimmo, he has had quite a good year when compared to the rest of the league.

Nimmo ranks 13th in the league in WAR. His 128 wRC+ is tied for 13th. His 6 OAA in center is tied for sixth among center fielders, and third among National League center fielders. Overall, he is having a good season, and he is showing why the Mets need to re-sign him this offseason.

3 DOWN

Homer Prone

While the immediate headline for deGrom was recording 13 of the first 15 outs of the game via strikeout, the bigger issue for him was the homer from Oneil Cruz. Not to be melodramatic, but the homers are becoming an issue for him.

This is the second straight start he has allowed a homer. In fact, he has allowed a homer in five of his nine starts. It is a small sample size for sure, and arguably, deGrom is still getting into peak deGrom form.

However, we see the strikeouts and the velocity. Putting aside the 2020 pandemic season, deGrom so far is allowing the highest rate of barrels he has in his career. Batters also have their highest exit velocities against deGrom.

Again, it is too soon to make anything out of this. That goes double when the homer from Cruz was after deGrom was past 100 pitches. All that said, this is something which bears monitoring. That goes double with deGrom being one of the linchpins to the Mets World Series chances.

Missing the Mark

For a while, Mark Canha was the best hitter in the Mets lineup. Any chances of the Mets looking to platoon him with Tyler Naquin went by the wayside with Canha having his best stretch at the plate in his brief Mets career.

Over his last 11 games, Canha is hitting .205/.354/.333, and for the month, he is now at .207/.324/.310. Notably, Canha usually limps to the finish line. His career .756 OPS is the second worst of any month of the season. It’s also the month where he has his lowest slugging.

While too small a sample size to judge, Canha is a .138/.212/.241 batter over nine postseason games. While that is too small to say he’s a poor postseason player, when viewed through the prism of his typical September/October numbers, it does indicate he has some issues staying fresh late in the season.

This is partially the reason the Mets hired Buck Showalter and expanded their analytics team. When Canha is fresh, he has hit this season. The Mets need that Canha come postseason time. Right now, the organization needs to find that balance of getting Canha the rest he needs while having him out there hitting as the Mets look to win their first division title in seven years.

Trade Already a Disaster?

Karl Ravech tweaked Mets fans during the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast by stating Darin Ruf has had some big hits for the New York Mets. That led Mets fans to question, “What big hits?”

Naturally, we’ve grown accustomed to ESPN having no idea what is happening in baseball. That goes double when it comes to teh New York Mets. However, this seemed bad even for them.

After all, this came after a four game series against the Pirates wherein the Mets used every position player on the roster except Ruf. While that is somewhat expected with the Pirates having all right-handed starters, it’s noteworthy, Showalter used Mark Vientos twice as a pinch hitter.

Between Vientos getting his first career RBI and Ruf doing nothing since the trade deadline, you can understand Showalter’s thinking. Another interesting tidbit was Showalter using Vientos as a pinch runner after he had already deployed Terrance Gore.

With the deluge of roster moves coming with players soon to come off the IL, it is curious to see what the Mets thinking will be there. Obviously, Gore is here to stay. He proved his worth with his pinch running and base stealing. That leaves it down to whether the Mets believe Vientos is the better option right now, or was this just a chance for Vientos to prove his worth?