Players of the Week: Eduardo Escobar, Taijuan Walker Pace Mets

Despite some ugly losses in Southern California, the Mets flew back to New York with an even 5-5 record on their west coast swing. Last week specifically, the Mets went 3-3, losing the series in San Diego but winning two of three after traveling up north to Anaheim. Emerging from the 11-day California business trip were two stars of the week: Eduardo Escobar and Taijuan Walker.

Escobar hit for the 11th cycle in Mets history during the Mets lone win at San Diego, while Walker threw two solid starts, including a gem in Anaheim.

Hitter of the Week

Eduardo Escobar had a historic week highlighted by his cycle on June 6. But that wasn’t his only quality game of the week. Escobar slashed .360/.360/.680 with three doubles, a triple, a home run, and six runs batted in.

He started the week with perhaps the best game of his lengthy major league career. Amazingly, Escobar entered the eighth inning still without the toughest half of the cycle: the triple and the homer. After his home run in the eighth, Escobar lined a triple into the right field corner, bouncing off the outfield wall at the perfect angle. This allowed Escobar just enough time to reach third safely to a round of applause from the Mets faithful in San Diego.

Following his epic night in SD, Escobar recorded a hit in the next four games of the road trip. This included a multi-hit game in the Mets 7-3 win at Anaheim and a run a piece scored in games against the Padres and Angels.

Pitcher of the Week

Pitching two games in his home region of Southern California–he grew up in San Bernardino County–Walker earns Pitcher of the Week honors for a solid outing against the Padres and a truly spectacular game against the Angels.

On June 7 in San Diego, Walker was backed by  no run support as the Mets put up a goose egg on the scoreboard. Nonetheless, Walker did his best to keep the game relatively close. Over six innings, Walker allowed six hits, two walks, and four runs. He allowed his first home run since May 5 and, despite striking out only four batters, it was actually tied for the second-most strikeouts he had thrown in a 2022 game up to that point.

At Angel Stadium, Walker posted one of the most dominant starts of his season, if not his entire Mets tenure. In six innings, Walker allowed six hits, just one earned run, walked one batter, and struck out a season-high 10 batters. Previously, Walker had struck out no more than six batters in a game this year. His 10 K’s against the Halos were his second-most as a Met, just shy of the 12 strikeouts he threw against the Cubs last season on June 15. Walker primarily featured his splitter, four-seam fastball, and slider, throwing each for a called strike + whiff percentage of at least 27%.

After a disappointing 7.29 ERA post-All-Star break last season, Walker has bounced back very nicely over the first two months of 2022.