In an article by Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, a scout heaped praise on New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil, comparing him to a former keystone player for the Mets, Daniel Murphy.

He also gave some extremely honest insight as to McNeil’s makeup as a player, as well as the adversity he has faced to make it to the majors.

“He reminds me of Daniel Murphy. He puts the bat on the ball and he leaves the bat in the hitting zone a long time,” the scout said. “He makes solid contact and now that he has gotten a little stronger, he is starting to drive the ball. He is just a late bloomer […].”

Since making his debut on July 24, the 26-year-old Santa Barbara, CA native owns a .333/.392/.495 slash line with five doubles, two triples, two homers, ten runs batted in, and a 148 OPS+.

While his walk percentage (5.8 percent) certainly needs some work, nearly every other facet of his offensive game has been jaw-droppingly good.

He’s carrying a .380 weighted on-base average (wOBA), a 143 weighted runs created plus (wRC+), a paltry 9.6 percent strikeout rate, a .358 BABIP, and 0.9 wins above replacement, all per Fangraphs.

“You know how they say a player in the field has a nose for the ball,” the scout added. “Well, he has a nose for the plate.”

To be honest, he’s not too shabby in the field either.

McNeil has earned a -1 DRS rating and -1.1 UZR in 182.2 innings at second base, which, all told, isn’t that bad.  Asdrubal Cabrera had a -6 DRS and -5.7 UZR in only 274.1 innings at second for the Mets this season.

After dealing with injuries, and his well-publicized uphill climb to the major league level, the scout sourced by Kernan had directed some extremely pointed remarks towards the organization.

“The Mets jerked him around. He’s a second baseman. They were playing him at third. They played him in left field and then he started getting hurt.”

“If you look at his numbers, he has always hit for average […]. But he’s gotten stronger and now he is driving the ball and he has confidence now. The Mets have a player.”

That certainly appears to be the case.