Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Coming into the 2022 season, some Mets fans were unsure what to expect from Jeff McNeil. The player who dazzled fans with his unique bat to ball skills and defensive versatility from 2018 through 2020 seemed to disappear during a tumultuous 2021 season, one which saw McNeil finish with a relatively paltry slash line of .251/.319/360, and an OPS+ of 88.

Thus far in 2022, McNeil has looked far more like the All-Star he was in 2019 than the replacement-level player he was in 2021. To date, he is slashing .320/.372/.442/.812, good for a sterling 133 OPS+. McNeil’s offensive production would be above average when compared to his peers at most any position on the diamond, but what is perhaps most impressive about McNeil’s season is how seamlessly and effectively he has bounced back and forth between the infield and outfield, and how well he has held up defensively.

In all, McNeil has started 35 games at second base thus far in 2022. Many thought that McNeil would serve as the primary second basemen for the Mets in 2022, given that the team inked three outfielders–Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Nick Plummer–to major league deals in the offseason. But with the Mets trotting out the oldest team in the majors, it is McNeil whom they have turned to once again the paper over the roster’s cracks as they inevitably appear.

Canha hits the Covid-19 Injured List? No fear, send the Squirrel out to left and watch him chase down fly balls with reckless abandon. Starling Marte’s quad starts barking? Tell Jeff to go out to right field, and watch him dazzle with the glove at a position he never before played in the major leagues.

The day after, he gunned out Shohei Ohtani at the plate with a strong throw from right field.

Indeed, the two games McNeil started in right field this past weekend in Anaheim were his first big league games ever in right. In addition, McNeil has started 23 games in left field this year and even logged an inning at third base for good measure.

Wherever the Mets have needed him, McNeil has filled in – and according to the statistics, done so pretty effectively. Thus far in 2022, McNeil has not given away anything statistically in the field, compiling zero Outs Above Average (OAA) despite moving around the diamond so often.

In short, OAA aims to measure how an individual defender compares to the average player at his position. Compiling 0 OAA may not seem all that impressive at first glance, but a player who can credibly play three-plus positions–all while providing well above-average offense–is immensely valuable to an older roster with multiple players who need the occasional day off. Interestingly, McNeil has actually been worth 1 OAA in left field this season, and 0 OAA at second. The -1 OAA he compiled in his two games in right field this past weekend drag his season number down to 0 OAA.

Mets manager Buck Showalter knows the value of a solid utility man. Just last week, Showalter was extolling the virtues of Mets reserve infielder Luis Guillorme when he posited that “there should be a category in the All-Star Game, for lack of a better expression, a utility player.”

“You can’t win without one, and there should be a column there for those guys. They should get recognized.”

Though Buck was not referring to McNeil directly, no Met is more deserving of the utility moniker than the Squirrel. After all, it is McNeil’s ability to transition frequently and seamlessly between the infield and outfield that allows the Mets the flexibility to slot in Guillorme any time a Mets position player (aside from a catcher) goes down with an injury.

In a season full of unexpected heroes–with a new one popping up seemingly every night–the Mets have been able to rely on McNeil, perhaps their most unsung one of all, whenever and wherever they need him.