So far this season, a lot has been said about Jeff McNeil‘s offense (by myself and plenty of others). There’s good reason for that, too — the 2019 All-Star suffered through an 0-for-5 outing on Sunday, yet still leads all of baseball with a .339 average. Showing off his talent with the bat hasn’t been the only thing he’s done well this season, though.

Part of Sunday’s rough offensive display for McNeil included a pair of strikeouts, which happened for the 10th time this season. It was also the third time he’s produced a multi-strikeout performance in four games (including two in a row). The only other time he’s struck out that often this year took place from June 27 through June 29, which he struck out twice in three consecutive games.

But you know what’s cool? The fact that he doesn’t let any level of frustration pour into other parts of his game. Sunday was a perfect example of that — he could’ve easily been grumbling to himself by the bottom of the seventh inning when Donovan Solano lined a ball down the right-field line. Instead of continuing to just grumble to himself, he did this:

This awesome play could’ve very easily not happened if he wasn’t totally focused on the present moment. And given the current situation — a tie ballgame with two outs in the latter third of the contest — not making this play could’ve been a big deal.

The above play also reinforced something Gary Cohen mentioned during Saturday’s broadcast: McNeil’s defense has been stellar when looking at advanced metrics like Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). He’s played at least 60 innings at four different positions thus far in 2019 (second base, third base, left field, and right field). When using that specific benchmark for innings played, he either leads the team or is tied for the team lead in DRS at those positions.

Position Innings Played DRS
Second Base 158.1 0
Third Base 63.1 2
Left Field 282.2 2
Right Field 166.0 3

While McNeil did move around the diamond in the minor leagues, it’s a whole different ballgame once getting promoted to the big leagues (pun intended). You’re dealing with more pressure and the game is moving faster (especially at first), all while playing in a huge media market that comes with its own level of potential distractions. Asking any player to move around the diamond depending on the day is hard, especially for someone who hadn’t even had a full year of big-league service time under his belt like McNeil.

It looked like he had the ability to perform regardless of the situation, but watching him actually put together an All-Star campaign is even better.

What stands out to me is what McNeil has done in nearly 160 innings at second base. Sure, producing 0 DRS doesn’t exactly jump off the page, but it’s better than what Robinson Cano has done at the position (-6 DRS through 557.1 innings). A lot more went into the decision, of course, but it’s just another data point in the fact that general manager Brodie Van Wagenen didn’t properly value McNeil before a flurry of winter activity. But, you know, at least he wasn’t included in that trade with the Seattle Mariners. That would’ve been a lot worse.

McNeil’s defensive value thus far stands out even more because of the general lack of defense the Mets have shown over the last four months of play. When looking at team defense, only the Mariners and Baltimore Orioles — two teams clearly entering 2019 with a rebuild in mind — have cost themselves more runs on defense than New York. It’s even worse when looking at Defensive Runs Above Average, which measures defensive value relative to the league average across all positions. In this specific metric, the Mets are last.

So when it comes to McNeil’s value to the Mets, he’s basically a unicorn. He’s not a detriment to them on defense — he’s actually been an asset — and has paired that with well above-average offense. As things continue to progress toward the trade deadline, it’ll be interesting to see if New York deals a couple veteran players, which could help usher in a more consistent position on the field for their hit machine moving forward.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to matter where he is. The most important position he plays is being at the top of Mickey Callaway‘s lineup.