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The New York Mets have their shortstop of the future. And now, Francisco Lindor is really showing why he was a four-time All-Star with Cleveland.

On paper, Lindor’s full-season 2022 numbers don’t stand out too much. He’s batting .260/.352/.459 with eight home runs and 37 runs batted in over 48 games. But since the calendar flipped to May, Lindor has shown the Mets why they paid a premium to make him their starting shortstop for remaining part of the decade.

“Whatever it takes to help the team win. I’m contributing at the right time,” said Lindor after Saturday’s contest against the Phillies.

A large part of Lindor’s recent hot streak is his patience at the plate, drawing 13 walks this month compared to his 11 base on balls in April.

“That’s a lot of numbers for me – I don’t really pay attention to the numbers,” Lindor said, laughing. He added that his main focus is on swinging at the pitches he wants to swing at and putting them in play.

Over his last six games, Lindor is 10-for-22 with six extra base hits and 14 RBIs. Incredibly, Lindor already has more RBIs this season than he did in all of the first half of last season (36). Lindor’s struggles in 2021 were well documented, but even so, his recent hot streak is not surprising.

With Cleveland, Lindor reached the 70-RBI mark each season from 2016 through 2019. This includes a career-high 92 RBIs in 2018, when he finished sixth in American League MVP voting.

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In his most recent game, Saturday’s 8-2 Mets’ victory, Lindor went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three more RBIs. He added two of those RBIs on a triple to the left-center field wall that brought the Citi Field crowd to its feet, cheering loudly for their shortstop.

With May not yet complete, Lindor has already reached the 50% threshold of his 2021 double and triple totals. Meanwhile, his eight home runs this year and near the halfway mark of his rather disappointing 2021 output (20 homers).

Long story short? Francisco Lindor is back, folks. And although we’re early in the season, he’s making a strong case to be in the NL MVP running over the remainder of this exciting season – exciting for both Lindor, the Mets as a ballclub, and the entire Mets fanbase.