Average or power? For Jeff McNeil in 2020, hopefully both.
“I feel like I can do both,” said a bulkier and longer-haired McNeil on Thursday. “Last year in the second half, I didn’t really change anything. The ball just started to go over the fence a little bit more.”
That second half, McNeil’s final 57 games, was marked by a 73-point drop in batting average and a 4.2-point increase in home run rate, fourth-most among players with 200 plate appearances in both halves.
“I’m not going to change my approach up there,” McNeil said. “I’m still going to up there and put the ball in play, try to set the table for the big hitters like Yo, Pete, J.D., Conforto.
“My job is to get on base and if the homers are there, it’s a bonus.”
The presence of both McNeil and a healthy Brandon Nimmo presents an interesting situation for Luis Rojas to navigate.
McNeil was one of the league’s foremost leadoff hitters in 2019, finishing tops in the sport in on-base percentage from the first spot in the order and trailing only DJ LeMahieu and Charlie Blackmon in average.
Nimmo, though two years removed from his breakout season, finished second in the National League in overall on-base percentage in 2018, trailing only Joey Votto.
Whatever Rojas decides, the Mets will have a pair of adequate on-base men to deploy at the top of the lineup, providing ample baserunners for the aforementioned Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, and potentially Yoenis Cespedes to drive in.
The team knows McNeil will hit, but in a 60-game season, could he even reach the .400 mark?
“You know, it would be nice,” he said. “I have 60 games to go out there and get as many hits as possible and hopefully by the end of the year [his average] is .400. Right now my goal is just to get on base as much as I can for the guys behind me.”
Through his first 60 games in 2019, McNeil was hitting at a remarkable .336 clip with an outstanding .370 batting average on balls in play.
