A quick review of how the Mets’ position players fared over the past week.
This week, the Mets swept the Nationals and took three out of four from the Phillies—exactly what they needed to do—and they managed to do all of that without their best player in the lineup. Others have stepped up to the plate in a big way in Lindor’s absence and we have a whopping four fireballs on the meter this week, which is to be expected in a week where the team scored ten runs three games in a row. But the lineup has been pretty feast or famine. Players like J.D. Martinez and Mark Vientos have stayed cold, but this week the heat from the fireballs was enough to overcome that.
We’ll start with Luisangel Acuña, who has been a revelation playing almost every day since the injury to Lindor. His 291 wRC+ this week leads the team. He went deep in back-to-back games in the Nationals series and hit his third home run of the week in Saturday’s game, which at the time gave the Mets the lead. A whopping six of his nine hits this week went for extra bases. He scored six runs and drove in six runs this week. A rookie stepping up this big in a stretch run is extremely impressive and Acuña is making a strong first impression as a Met.
Francisco Alvarez also went deep three times this week and boy did he pick the right time to get hot. These past couple of weeks are finally the breakout we have been waiting for from him and no moment was bigger than his performance on Saturday, in which he hit a game-tying home run and a clutch RBI double that was part of the Mets’ seventh inning rally. Overall, he posted a 225 wRC+ and his seven RBIs are tied for the second-most on the team. He also walked three times and scored four runs. Given Alvarez’s hot streak and the fact that the Mets need every single win, Luis Torrens has not played much. He went hitless in six plate appearances this week, reaching base once via a hit by pitch.
Losing both Jeff McNeil and now Francisco Lindor would have sunk many teams, but the job José Iglesias has done has allowed the Mets to weather this storm and even thrive among the storm clouds. Iglesias leads the team in hits this week with 14, which is five more than anybody else—a .467 batting average for the week, which also leads the team. He also leads the team in runs scored with seven. He has slotted into the leadoff spot beautifully during this time without Lindor in the lineup.
Tyrone Taylor has stayed hot for the second straight week now and rounds out our fireball recipients. His nine hits are second only to Iglesias for the team lead, which matches Acuña’s total. Three of those nine hits were doubles and Taylor also walked four times, good for a 219 wRC+ for the week. Taylor scored three runs and drove in three runs this week.
The Mets’ RBI leader this week is Brandon Nimmo, whose go-ahead home run yesterday was the difference in the game and the series. Nimmo drove in nine runs this week in total and scored six runs, putting up a 177 wRC+ in 25 plate appearances for the week. The Mets have desperately needed a week like this from Nimmo, who has been a non-factor for much of the second half, but he has stepped up when the Mets needed him most.
Similarly, Pete Alonso posted a 162 wRC+ this week in 31 plate appearances and his seven RBIs match Alvarez for the second-most on the team behind Nimmo. In what were potentially his last regular season games at Citi Field as a Met, Alonso put together a strong week. He went deep twice—once on Tuesday and once on Thursday. He also walked four times and scored five runs.
Starling Marte delivered the key hit to kick off the week—a walk-off knock in the tenth inning of Monday’s game. It was one of five hits for Marte this week—all singles. But Marte also led the team in walks with five, boosting his wRC+ for the week to a solid 114. Marte scored four runs and drove in three runs this week.
Unfortunately, things get kind of bleak from here. The bleakest bit of this week’s meter is the second straight poop emoji for J.D. Martinez, who looks utterly lost at the plate in an “I don’t know, his career might just be over” sort of way. It is certainly not what you want as the Mets try to push their way into and through October. Martinez reached base just twice in 18 plate appearances via a walk and a hit by pitch and he scored a run. That’s it. No hits. Six strikeouts. It’s downright depressing to watch him hit right now—so much so that his playing time has sharply declined even with injuries to key pieces.
Mark Vientos is still ice cold as well, though he escaped poop emoji territory with a simply bad, but not terrible 73 wRC+ for the week in 30 plate appearances. He collected five hits, two of which went for extra bases, including a home run in Thursday’s victory. He drove in five runs, scored three runs, and walked three times, but also struck out a team-leading eleven times, including his platinum sombrero on Saturday.
Harrison Bader and Jesse Winker went from so-so to in the red this week, which is not good news. Bader posted a 62 wRC+ in 18 plate appearances this week and Winker went hitless in 10 plate appearances, but he did walk three times. Bader had two hits—both singles—walked four times and scored three runs, but did not drive in any runs this week. Eddy Alvarez remains pretty much exclusively a late-inning defensive replacement and pinch runner. He went hitless in four plate appearances this week and walked once.