Speaking with the media at Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway gave a glimpse as to what his batting order could look like come Opening Day.
The Mets’ second-year skipper plans to bat the team’s newly-acquired second baseman, Robinson Cano, third in the order, with last year’s part-time leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo at the top of the lineup.
Cano, 36, hit .303/.374/.471 with 10 home runs, 50 runs batted in, 22 doubles, and a 136 OPS+ rating in a suspension-shortened 2018 season for Seattle (80 games; 348 plate appearances). The Dominican slugger was handed an 80-game suspension on May 14 for violating MLB’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
Cano took the majority of his at-bats last year from the three-hole (249 plate appearances, compared to 60 batting second and two batting in the sixth spot), hitting .321/.402/.506.
Over the course of his career, Cano has found success at the plate batting in nearly any spot in the order. In the third position, the 36-year-old has a .297/.357/.477 slash line with 117 homers and 459 RBI in 3,416 at-bats — by far his highest total for any batting position (1,415 at-bats in the five hole) — at the very least indicating a certain level of comfort for the veteran second baseman.
In all likelihood, Michael Conforto will occupy the second spot in the Mets batting order next season, giving this team quite the 1-2-3 combo atop their lineup.
With a small handful of moves remaining for Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen — which are sure to fill any remaining offensive voids on the current roster –, these three producers could equate to a boatload of runs for this team next season. We shall see.
