After losing to the Brewers Saturday night, halting a nine-game winning streak, and then, hopefully, beginning a new one with yesterdays dramatic 3-2 victory, the Mets are among the league-leaders in some offensive categories as a team, and middle of the pack in others.
We’ll start with the team’s batting average, .233, which is good for sixth in the National League heading into Monday’s games. Only Asdrubal Cabrera (.315, 15th in NL among qualified hitters) and Todd Frazier (.295, 31st) can be found among the league’s top-50 hitters.
Kevin Plawecki (.150), now on the disabled list, Yoenis Cespedes (.190), and Jose Reyes, who has yet to register a hit, are the only (excluding Tomas Nido and Jose Lobaton, who just got here) position players with a batting average below the Mendoza line, signifying that practically this entire team, top to bottom, is hitting at a somewhat respectable clip.
The Mets rank sixth in the league with a .731 on-base plus slugging percentage, with just 15 home runs (tied for 10th in the NL). Cabrera (.918, 18th in NL), Frazier (.973, 10th), and Jay Bruce (.765, 50th) are currently the only Mets in the top-50 in OPS in the National League.
Brandon Nimmo (1.371) and Michael Conforto (.845) are both performing well in this area, but do not have enough at-bats to qualify for placement among the league-leaders.
The Mets have the fourth-highest on-base percentage in the league at .333, trailing only the Braves (.353), the Pirates (.343), and the Nats (.338). They’ve taken 61 bases-on-balls thus far, good for third in the league (Nationals, 80).
The Mets’ 24 doubles are good for ninth in the NL, trailing the league-leaders, the Braves, by 13. On a side note, the Boston Red Sox, through 15 games, have 47 doubles.
As well as this team is playing on offense and as high as they sit in most leaders-standings, the Mets only have 106 hits on the season. That’s the lowest total in the National League by three (Philadelphia, 109).
Plus, this team has not been striking out a lot. Their 130 strikeouts in 13 games are fourth-least in the league, which is a welcome change to the trend that we’ve seen develop throughout the league regarding strikeouts over the last decade or so.
One of the main reasons that this team has been so successful is because they’ve hit well with runners in scoring position. With RISP, the Mets have slashed .255/.390/.415 with 45 runs batted in. Their .805 OPS with RISP is sixth highest in the league (Braves again, .982).
With RISP and two outs, they’ve been similarly potent. Their slash line in those scenarios is .240/.406/.460 with three home runs and 22 RBI. The Mets’ .866 OPS in these situations ranks fourth in the league.
The Mets have come from behind to win seven times already this season, including another one yesterday. A very nice habit is forming here.
Their slash line when playing from behind is .260/.353/.470 with six doubles, five home runs, and 17 RBI. Their .823 OPS when behind in games is second-best in the NL.
This team has only played from behind in 100 of their at-bats, which shows that when they have had to rally, they’ve done it quickly. Although the season is still very young, that’s a deeply encouraging sign.
Oh, and in comparison, the league-leaders for at-bats taken while playing from behind are the Cincinnati Reds, with 345.
When this bubble bursts for the New York Mets, which over a long season is bound to happen at least a couple of times, it seems that this team is sound enough fundamentally, and deep enough, to withstand any prolonged slumps from a few guys here and there.
