During an SNY Mets broadcast this past week, Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez discussed defensive metrics and how it could be fathomable that a team could rank poorly by one standard but well in another. Cohen recalled a conversation with Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, in which Cohen referenced that the Mets’ performance varied based on which metric one...
The New York Mets handled their business against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Well, for the most part. After taking two out of three, the Mets did drop the final game of the series on a rainy and frustrating Wednesday night at Citi Field. This is baseball, however, and even teams struggling will run into a win here and there. Plus, all you can ask of any team is to win a series. Clinching the sweep...
Mark Vientos threw the ball over the catcher’s head. Tyrone Taylor played a would-be fly out into a single. Juan Soto couldn’t field a base hit cleanly, which cost him a chance to throw out a runner at home. The Mets escaped Miami with a dramatic 6-5 victory in 11 innings Wednesday (thank you, Pete Alonso), but this was not, as the old slogan went, “baseball like it oughta...
Defensive mistakes have cost the New York Mets far too many games this season. A combination of things have been at the core of the issue, including taking a bad route in the outfield, failing to find the ball in the sunlight, among others things. More than a few players have been at fault, but right now, Starling Marte appears to be really struggling out in right field. Saturday’s game...
We’re looking back at the 50th anniversary of the Mets’ 1973 National League pennant-winning team by reviewing the most inspirational figures of that remarkable run. We continue with the only person in uniform for both of the franchise’s World Series titles and remains one of the most beloved Mets ever. Look at the stat sheet for Bud Harrelson and you won’t see his true...
Third base has functioned as somewhat of a revolving door for the New York Mets this season. The position group has slashed just .210/.270/.332 while putting up -2.3 fWAR and -9 Outs Above Average, making it crystal clear that a pick-me-up is necessary. Brett Baty and Eduardo Escobar got the initial crack at cementing their roles as regulars at the position, but neither player seized the...
When Francisco Lindor bobbled what would have been an easy double play to get through a clean third inning, a team like the 2022 Mets might have rebounded and put up a clean inning anyway. Not the 2023 Mets. What resulted was a five-run inning, highlighted by multiple defensive blunders, which led the way for an embarrassing 14-7 defeat in the first game of a three-game series against the...
One of the biggest moves the New York Mets made two offseasons ago was signing veteran outfielder Starling Marte during free agency. In December of 2021, New York brought Marte to Flushing on a four-year, $78-million deal. Year one of that said agreement was terrific. This season? Not at all so far. In his first year (2022) with the Mets, Marte was selected to his second-career All-Star game....
Good morning, Mets fans! On Friday, Buck Showalter indicated that Ronny Mauricio could start to see more playing time at different defensive positions including first base, third base, and the outfield. This came on the same night that Mauricio started at second base for Triple-A Syracuse, the first game in his minor league career that he started at a position other than shortstop. If Mauricio...
Questions still linger about how the shift ban will affect the total number of hits in baseball—and if banning the shift really does anything at all. (If you look at year-over-year heat maps of where players position themselves, there’s not really a huge change from 2022 to 2023.) But whether the Mets are shading their infield toward second or playing straight up, they are hitting all the...
Francisco Álvarez may be the Mets’ future behind the plate, but at least one New York catcher made a case to keep him in the minors a bit longer. Baseball Savant, the website that houses metrics and insights from MLB’s Statcast technology, introduced a new catcher blocking leaderboard. The stat tracks a catcher’s proficiency in preventing wild pitches (WP) and passed balls (PB)...
Max Scherzer took the bump for his second start of the spring on Friday afternoon against the Nationals. Former Met Trevor Williams started the game for Washington in his first action against the Mets since leaving in free agency this past offseason. Scherzer and Williams both avoided trouble through the first two innings. Scherzer retired all six batters in order while the ball never left the...
