The Mets’ lineup has a certain fluidity to it right now.
Meaning, if someone hits, they’re likely to receive an invite to stay a little longer. With the second-worst team OPS in all of baseball, and multiple injuries, the Mets have needed all the help they can get. We saw it with MJ Melendez early in the season. We saw it with the aggressive promotion of A.J. Ewing.
And now we’re seeing it with Jared Young.
Young, who’s now hitting cleanup for the New York.
Because why not?
Young had a shot to be a key part of the Mets’ plans earlier in the season, but a meniscus tear wiped him out from April 12 to May 26. He’s since rejoined a team that went through the wringer during his absence. At the time he went down, the Mets had lost five in a row to fall to 7-9. Young probably didn’t expect that they’d go on to lose seven more consecutive games after that.
Young, of course, has still been a platoon bat, hitting almost exclusively against righties. But he’s been the starting cleanup hitter for each of the Mets’ last seven games now, and so far, so good.
Young’s .313 average .945 OPS lead the Mets’ lineup. It’s still a small sample, but it’s not as tiny anymore, with his 55 plate appearances the most he’s received among his four major league seasons. Young is 0-for-5 in limited opportunities against lefties, so when just looking at his numbers versus righties, he’s sporting a .349/.420/.628 line, good for a 1.048 OPS.
Young has always had some pop from the left side. He just hasn’t really put it all together at the highest level. He only hit .186 for the Mets last year, but he slugged .488. His slugging percentage across 171 career MLB plate appearances is .490.
In Friday’s 5-0 win over the Padres, Young got the scoring started with a second-inning blast to right-center. It traveled 422 feet and came off the bat at 111.1 mph. It was the Mets’ hardest-hit ball of the night; the second-hardest also belonged to Young, with a 109.3-mph single in the fourth inning.
It was another worthy showing out of the cleanup spot.
Young recorded his second multi-hit game in a row. He homered for the second time in his last four games and third time in his last six. He’s played in nine games total since coming off the injured list. He has reached base safely in every single one.
So, again, why not bat him cleanup? The Mets have had Juan Soto to lead the way, but finding additional sparks has been hard to come by. They have reaped the rewards of their patience with some guys; Carson Benge, Marcus Semien, and even Bo Bichette have shown signs of life after extended slumps. But the overall unit has been garishly underwhelming.
So that’s why, even in a small sample, Young’s production has been such a bright light. The Mets need something to get them going, and lately, it’s been Young.
