Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

For just the second time in franchise history, the National League batting champion will be a New York Met. Jeff McNeil finished 2022 with a .326 average, narrowly topping Freddie Freeman to finish the 2022 season with the best batting average in MLB.

McNeil struggled in 2021, hitting just .251 over 140 games after hitting .319 in his first three years in the majors. This season, he returned to form and set a new career high with his .326 average.

After hitting over .300 in April, May, and June, McNeil hit just .208 in July, dropping his average from .319 to .294. The poor month looked like it would take McNeil out of the batting race with Freeman sitting at .325 to start August, but he responded with his best two months of the year in August and September/October. He hit .385 in August to bring his average up to .318 and get back in the hunt for the batting crown. In September/October, he hit .357 to take the lead.

Freeman entered Wednesday needing to go 4-for-4 to overtake McNeil, who did not play in the Mets’ final game. Despite getting hits in his first two at-bats, Freeman finished 3-for-4 to clinch the batting title for the Mets’ All-Star second baseman.

McNeil joins José Reyes as the only two Mets to win a batting title. Reyes hit .337 in 2011 to lead the National League. McNeil does however become the first Met to lead MLB in batting average.

McNeil finished with the sixth-highest batting average in Mets history. John Olerud has the record, hitting .354 in 1998, but he finished second to Larry Walker of the Rockies who hit .363 that season.

“It’s the only award I can look forward to,” McNeil said following Tuesday’s game. “I’m never going to lead the majors in home runs.”

The post Jeff McNeil Becomes First Met to Lead Majors in Hitting appeared first on Metsmerized.

Photo by James Farrance

In February, during early camp at Port St. Lucie, Mets top prospect Francisco Álvarez told reporters that his goal for the 2022 season was to make it to the big leagues. Well, he’s done it.

Three months before Álvarez proclaimed that goal, he turned 20 years old. Coming into spring camp, the young catcher didn’t have an at-bat above A-Ball in the Mets system. Those two factors didn’t stop the hard-working phenom from his ultimate goal.

Álvarez started the season as the everyday catcher for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies and he didn’t waste any time showing off his bat. He homered in his first three Double-A games and finished his first month in higher competition with a .926 OPS.

The numbers for Álvarez dipped a little in May to a .783 OPS, but he was off and running again in June when he slashed .286/.389/.681 with 10 home runs and 24 RBIs for Binghamton. Two more games in July at Double-A and the Mets had seen enough, Álvarez was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse.

Francisco Álvarez against left-handed pitching this season:

.315/.424/.595

pic.twitter.com/f0XbFJXSmg

— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) September 30, 2022

Things for Álvarez started a little slow in Triple-A and then he would have a hot few games and then struggle again. Totally normal stuff for a 20-year-old facing Triple-A pitching. Then came the news in August that the Mets prized prospect had an ankle injury. It was first feared that he might need surgery, but thankfully that wasn’t the case and Álvarez was back in action on Sept. 11.

What a September it was for Álvarez in Triple-A. The right-handed power bat hit .362/.483/.596 in 58 plate appearances for Syracuse. He finished the season off by walking exactly twice in each of his last four games and only struck out twice in that span.

For the year, Álvarez hit .260/.374/.511 with 22 doubles, 27 home runs, and 78 RBIs over 112 games. The Mets aren’t going to call up the best prospect in baseball (per MLB Pipeline) to have him sit on the bench so I would expect him in the lineup tonight against left-hander Max Fried.

While Álvarez’s overall numbers are substantial, his slash line of .315/.424/.595 is elite and the Mets have struggled to get production from their designated hitters against lefties all year.

Now that Álvarez is here, the big question everyone wants to know is he postseason eligible. The answer is yes with a slight caveat. He is not on the 40-man roster yet –the Mets have yet to announce any such move– meaning he will have to be an injury replacement to be postseason eligible. Players not on the 40-man roster at the start of September can still be eligible as long as the team has a player who’s been on the injured list for the minimum amount of time and the Mets have several such players.

Of course, we don’t know yet how the Mets plan to use the catcher, however, it’s important to remember that Álvarez caught both Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom in the minor leagues this year during their rehab stints.

The Mets are entering their biggest series of the season and the biggest in quite some time as a franchise and they decided to have the best roster they could by calling up their top prospect. It’s certainly an aggressive move for a team that has World Series aspirations and they hope Álvarez can play a part in getting them there.

The post Francisco Álvarez Makes Good on Promise to Reach Majors appeared first on Metsmerized.

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

As he recovers from thumb surgery, there may be some hope for Mets rookie third baseman Brett Baty to return if the team makes a deep postseason run. But if we don’t see him at Citi Field again this year, Baty has already provided a promising glimpse of what kind of excitement he can provide next season.

In a recent interview with The Game Day, he made it apparent that his first stint in the majors, while brief, was a very worthwhile experience that garnered much positive feedback.

Baty played in only 11 games with the Mets before his regular season ended, but he hit two home runs, one of which was dramatic and memorable, as all followers of the team already know. On Aug. 17, Baty became the fifth Mets player in franchise history to homer in his first at-bat.

He did it with his family watching jubilantly at Truist Park. Baty launched a hanging curve from Jake Odorizzi for a two-run shot to boost the Mets to an important victory over Atlanta.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I was just looking for a pitch that I could drive, he left one up, and I ended up getting it out. It was a great feeling to get my career started off like that.”

For Baty, it was the beginning of a whirlwind introduction to the majors. He notched three hits in each of his first three games, with four RBIs on the road in two dates at Atlanta and one at Philadelphia. Baty leaped into the cauldron of intense and highly significant NL East matchups and then found himself playing in two games at Yankee Stadium.

He played only six games at Triple-A with Syracuse after logging 89 games at Double-A with Binghamton before he was called up.

“I was just doing my thing in Binghamton and got a quick taste of it in Syracuse and then did a spot up here and was filling it to the best of my ability,” he said.

Baty reveled in the intensity of the divisional games and being part of the most passionate local rivalry in MLB.

“I was thrown right into the fire, starting in Atlanta, then went to Philly, and then the Subway Series. Those were three tremendous series right off the bat. It was a great atmosphere,” he said of the two games in the Bronx. Following the Yankees series, Baty hit his second homer vs Colorado at home on Aug. 26.

Throughout his first trip through the majors, Baty has been getting a lot of support from the coaching staff and his teammates. Joining the big-league club during a key portion of its run to a postseason berth might appear daunting for a 22-year-old getting his first chance to contribute. But Baty said he was fortunate to get a lot of assistance and assessments from Eric Chavez, who has been a big reason why the Mets have sported a top-five offense in 2022.

“He said he liked the swings I was taking, he liked the at-bats I was taking, so we were just taking it pitch by pitch, at-bat by at-bat, and I felt like I was doing a great job. He’s been a tremendous help,” Baty said of Chavez.

When a young player arrives in the majors for the first time, it is customary for seasoned veterans to show him the maps to success on and off the field. This 2022 Mets team is already known for its good chemistry and tight-knit clubhouse, so Baty naturally had several new teammates offer their insights to help him adjust. He said they were very encouraging while offering observations on his early work in the field and at the plate.

“Defensively, Francisco Lindor has been a great help on the left side of the infield,” he said. “It’s just been awesome to have a Gold Glover over there. Eduardo Escobar was helping me out defensively, too. On the offensive side, it’s been Pete (Alonso), (James) McCann, (Daniel) Vogelbach. They’ve all been saying that my ABs have been good.”

As a first-round draft pick in 2019, Baty arrived with the Mets with much anticipation from the fan base. He only played three games at Citi Field this season, but he had hits in all of them. Even if we don’t see Baty again in 2022, he has already given the team’s followers flashes of what they can look forward to from him in the future.

Baty made sure to soak up every moment from his first run with the Mets. Performing in games of high consequence seemed to make the experience greatly fulfilling, and he can also assure that he will be better prepared for the bright lights of playing for and in New York next season.

When reflecting on his first opportunity to wear the uniform, Baty ended his description with a Mets buzzword that may indeed demonstrate that he is already on a path to becoming a fan favorite.

“Being up here, every single pitch matters. Just being able to have everybody hang on every single pitch has been great,” Baty said. “The atmosphere and the crowds have been amazing.”

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