Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
On Thursday night in Queens, where the Mets and Pirates were honoring the late Puerto Rican legend Roberto Clemente, Francisco Lindor came to the plate in the bottom of the third tied for the Mets’ single-season record for home runs hit by a shortstop.
Lindor would proceed to blast a two-run home run into the Coca-Cola Corner and give the Mets some cushion room in their eventual 7-1 victory.
With his 24th home run on the season, Lindor now holds the Mets’ single-season shortstop home run record that was set by Asdrúbal Cabrera back in 2016. This milestone comes in the same season that Lindor passed Jose Reyés for the Mets’ single-season RBI record for a shortstop.
The 2022 season has been drastically different for the Mets shortstop this year. Lindor has been an anchor in the Mets lineup, playing in all but one game so far this season and batting third in 125 of them. In high-leverage situations this season, Lindor is batting to a slash line of .312/.400/.610. Lindor has also driven in 94 runs this season, passing his previous career-best mark of 92 back in 2018.
Lindor’s greatness spans outside of New York as well. According to FanGraphs, Lindor leads all MLB shortstops with 6.2 WAR this season. Lindor is also top five in home runs hit, runs batted in, wRC+, runs, and OBP for MLB shortstops.
While these milestones are nothing to scoff at, Lindor seems to be focused on the bigger picture. After Thursday night’s game, the Mets shortstop had this to say about his home run record, “It would mean a lot more to me to win the World Series than to be the all-time leading shortstop in home runs.”
With the Mets set to play 17 more games this season, and three substantial ones against the Atlanta Braves from September 30 to October 2, Lindor will certainly have an opportunity to lead his team towards a division title and through the postseason towards a World Series.
