Photo by Michael Mayer MMO
The first season in orange and blue was a bit of a struggle for New York Mets star shortstop Francisco Lindor. He struggled at the plate for most of the season, and never quite settled in with his new ball club.
Lindor said early on in camp that he’s focused and determined to give the hometown fans something to cheer for in his second year in the Big Apple. So far in spring training, Lindor has certainly shown that as he looks dialed in and much more comfortable at the plate.
Lindor continued his red hot start to the spring in Sunday afternoon’s 7-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Clover Park. With two outs in the bottom of the third, he jumped all over a Dakota Hudson offering and lined it into the Berm for a solo home run.
Two innings later, Lindor followed up a Mark Canha RBI single with a line drive single of his own for his second hit of the day. Then in the seventh Lindor capped off his afternoon with his second home run, this one a two-run shot from the right side of the plate.
Lindor certainly looked dialed in against the Cardinals pitching, as all three hits left the bat at 100+ MPH.
Over his first five spring training games, Lindor is hitting a crisp .412 with a .444 OBP, a double, three home runs, six RBI, and just three strikeouts. He also currently ranks third in baseball with a 1.444 OPS for the spring.
While spring training stats are meaningless, it’s certainly nice to see Lindor getting into a groove and looking more and more like himself early on. He told reporters postgame Sunday that he’s definitely feeling good at the dish.
“I’m very balanced right now. I feel like I’m getting to the spot and putting my body in a good hitting position. My mind wants to do something and I’m allowing my body to get to the spot it needs to be to swing correctly,” Lindor said.
Despite struggling most of the season, Lindor turned the corner a bit in the second half and was able to end the year strong. Over 125 games played, he hit 16 doubles, 20 home runs, and posted a .734 OPS.
The Mets made some really solid additions on the offensive side of things bringing Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar, and Mark Canha into the mix. It’s certainly fair to expect Lindor, Jeff McNeil, and Dominic Smith to bounce back at the plate as well.
If that does end up being the case, there’s no reason this offense can’t make some noise in the National League East. Lindor himself is certainly excited about the potential this group has heading into the regular season.
“It’s a good offense. We’re gonna do some damage if we stay healthy and we stay within ourselves. It’s gonna be fun. Most importantly we’re hitters, we’re going to do whatever it takes to score runs,” Lindor said.
