Lindor’s season is up among some of the best ever by a Mets position player.
Anyone who paid attention to the Mets this year doesn’t necessarily need statistics to know what they saw: Francisco Lindor had one of the best seasons in franchise history. After a sluggish start, Lindor went on an absolute tear over the final four months of the regular season, and he delivered a grand slam that gave the Mets an NLDS-clinching game over the Phillies at Citi Field.
For the purposes of this exercise, postseason heroics matter not. But let’s take a look at where Lindor’s regular season ranks among the other great ones from Mets position players over the years.
Top 10 by fWAR
By FanGraphs’ version of WAR, Lindor’s 2024 season ranks fourth in franchise history, trailing fantastic seasons by David Wright, John Olerud, and Carlos Beltrán. And it ranks just ahead of great seasons that the Mets got from Bernard Gilkey, Robin Ventura, another one from Beltrán, Howard Johnson, and another one from Wright. Here are those top ten.
- David Wright, 2007, 8.4 fWAR: .325/.416/.546, 30 HR, 113 R, 107 RBI, 34 SB, 151 wRC+
- John Olerud, 1998, 8.1 fWAR: .354/.447/.551, 22 HR, 91 R, 93 RBI, 2 SB, 167 wRC+
- Carlos Beltrán, 2006, 7.8 fWAR: .275/.388/.594, 41 HR, 127 R, 116 RBI, 18 SB, 148 wRC
- Francisco Lindor, 2024, 7.8 fWAR: .273/.344/.500, 33 HR, 107 R, 91 RBI, 29 SB, 137 wRC+
- Bernard Gilkey, 1996, 7.6 fWAR: .317/.393/.562, 30 HR, 108 R, 117 RBI, 17 SB, 152 wRC+
- Robin Ventura, 1999, 7.3 fWAR: .301/.379/.529, 32 HR, 88 R, 120 RBI, 1 SB, 129 wRC+
- Carlos Beltrán, 2008, 7.2 fWAR: .284/.376/.500, 27 HR, 116 R, 112 RBI, 25 SB, 129 wRC+
- Howard Johnson, 1989, 7.0 fWAR: .287/.369/.559, 36 HR, 104 R, 101 RBI, 41 SB, 166 wRC+
- David Wright, 2008, 7.0 fWAR: .302/.390/.534, 33 HR, 115 R, 124 RBI, 15 SB, 143 wRC+
- Gary Carter, 1985, 6.7 fWAR: .281/.365/.488, 32 HR, 83 R, 100 RBI, 1 SB, 139 wRC+
Top 12 by bWAR
As you might expect, Baseball-Reference’s take on the list looks slightly different. Many of the same single seasons appear in the list. Non-WAR stats are only included here for players who aren’t listed above.
- David Wright, 2007, 8.3 bWAR
- Carlos Beltán, 2006, 8.2 bWAR
- Bernard Gilkey, 1996, 8.1 bWAR
- John Olerud, 1998, 7.6 bWAR
- Lance Johnson, 1996, 7.2 bWAR: .333/.362/.479, 9 HR, 117 R, 69 RBI, 50 SB, 125 OPS+
- David Wright, 2012, 7.1 bWAR: .306/.391/.492, 21 HR, 91 R, 93 RBI, 15 SB, 144 OPS+
- Carlos Beltrán, 2008, 7.0 bWAR
- Cleon Jones, 1969, 7.0 bWAR: .340/.422/.482, 12 HR, 92 RBI, 75 RBI, 16 SB, 151 OPS+
- Gary Carter, 1985, 6.9 bWAR
- Howard Johnson, 1989, 6.9 bWAR
- Francisco Lindor, 2024, 6.9 bWAR
- David Wright, 2008, 6.9 bWAR
Thoughts
No comparison of defensive metrics across the entire history of the franchise is perfect, as the data available to any form of WAR from decades past pales in comparison to what’s available now. But clearly Francisco Lindor put up one of the all-time great seasons in Mets history.
Taking a step away from WAR, recency bias plays a part here in how we feel about things, as not all Mets fans have been around long enough to have seen all of the seasons in this list as they happened. Lindor was clearly the team’s most valuable player this year. By fWAR, it wasn’t even close, as Mark Vientos finished second to him in the regular season with 2.9. That’s impressive in its own right given how late he got called up to the big leagues for good. But Lindor more than doubled the total of any of his teammates—including the team’s starting pitchers.
Back in early September, I argued that he deserves to be an All-Star in 2025 no matter how well or poorly he begins that season. At the time—and still now after the conclusion of the season—his Mets tenure has seen him put up the fourth-most fWAR of all position players in baseball. Only Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Freddie Freeman have been better.
Wherever you personally rank his 2024 season, though, Lindor undoubtedly did something very special this year. And that’s pretty great.