Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been a very disappointing season for New York Mets utility man Jeff McNeil. Entering play on Tuesday night, the lefty is hitting just .252 with a .683 OPS, .318 OBP, and 25 extra-base hits over 111 games. 

“Obviously not the season I wanted this year. Gonna try to finish strong, I’ve been feeling good at the plate. Hopefully, we can build on these last few days and continue it into the final few weeks of the season,” McNeil said postgame on Sunday.

Sunday night was a big one for McNeil, who picked up a pair of hits, one of which was the go-ahead home run deep into the Mets’ bullpen in the bottom of the seventh. It was his seventh homer of the season, and his first since August 1st.

“It was a big hit. Those big hits showed up a lot in the first half to win a lot of one-run games. It hasn’t shown up lately, and tonight it showed up from Jeff. That heroic home run tonight was special,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said.

McNeil spent time on the injured list and has been struggling for the most part of the season, but has shown some signs of life of late. Over his past 13 games, he is hitting .288 with a .321 on-base percentage and just five strikeouts. 

“It’s nice to see him swing the bat like he has. That’s the Jeff McNeil that we all know. Driving the ball, being able to cover a lot of the zone, pulling the ball, driving it to straight-away center. He’s so talented with the bat, that’s the Jeff we know, it’s definitely good to see,” Rojas said.

It’s been a frustrating one for McNeil, who feels he’s been putting together some good at-bats but hitting into tough-luck outs. The advanced metrics certainly seem to be supporting that notion.

Despite the frustrations, McNeil said he is still confident in his abilities moving forward, and he is ready to learn from this season and move on.

“I’ve done it for three years, I’ve done it for over 1,000 at-bats, I know I’m a very good hitter. A few hundred at-bats doesn’t make me a bad hitter at all…It’s a year I can try to forget about, but also learn from at the same time,” McNeil said.

It’s going to be an interesting offseason for McNeil and the Mets after the disappointing campaign. What do you think Mets fans, should the Mets keep McNeil and bank on a return to form or try and sell him at what’s likely his lowest value?