It wasn’t that long ago that we were discussing the sputtering Mets offense and how it came limping out of an awful Spring Training. The team was at or near the bottom of the league in many of the most prevalent offensive categories. To those watching, the lineup was clearly not firing on all cylinders, small sample size be damned. What a difference a few weeks make, huh?
The lineup has dug itself out of the basement with a bang, placing in the back half of the top ten in the MLB with their wRC+ of 110. In fact, they’re in the top ten in the MLB in wOBA, BB%, ISO, OBP, AVG (basically), SLG, OPS, HR, RBI, etc. You get the picture.
Over the last two weeks, specifically, they’ve been otherworldly. In that span, the team as a whole has slashed .282/.349/.542 with a wRC+ of 136. In 12 games they’ve gone 10-2 while hitting 25 home runs and averaging 6.25 runs per game. That’s a sound strategy for thrashing the competition.
What’s the best part and, really, the only way this kind of performance is possible? Every one of the regulars not named David Wright has been good-to-ridiculous during those 12 games. Here are some incredible numbers the team has put up during that span:
- Yoenis Cespedes, Curtis Granderson, and Neil Walker each have a wRC+ over 200
- The three above, plus Michael Conforto, have an OPS over 1.000
- Cespedes has a SLG of 1.000
- Seven of 10 regular/semi-regular players has an average over .300
- Walker hit 7 of his 9 homers
The general theme in terms of approach/outcome has been pretty much consistent across the board with each hitter. They’ve been making a good-to-great amount of contact, that contact is generally hard, and they’ve been putting the ball in the play.
Even Wright, whose wRC+ of 98 during this span is the only one of the regulars below average, still seems to be following the same pattern. The key difference for him is the astronomical strikeout rate of 38.8%. If he could bring that down to even a Cespedes-like 28%, his line drive rate (29.2%) and his hard hit rate (54.2%) would likely have led to at least modestly better results.
Of course, they haven’t faced the highest quality pitching over the last two weeks. Even so, with the possible exception of the Pirates, this has been the hottest lineup in the MLB. It’s not a pace the team can keep up, obviously, but it highlights just how dangerous it can be when all of the hitters are mostly clicking at the same time. It’s more dangerous than perhaps even the most optimistic pundit could have imagined.
The flip side of this is that we bore witness to what can happen when the entirety of the lineup is mired in a slump. That’s not something that’s likely to happen too often, though. Chances are also good that the team-wide slow start was a result, at least in part, to the “light” Spring Training the team tried to implement after a long 2015.
Enjoy it, Mets fans, as the team is sure to hit a lull at some point. Still, while we all expected an average offense at best heading into the season, it looks like we may actually be witnessing an above average one being paired with a dominant pitching staff. If so, look out baseball.
Cold weather certainly has something to do with slow offensive starts, and the pitchers are usually ahead of the hitters in April. However, the Mets may just be what we have seen- a better offense than expected, a starting staff as advertised, and a BP that is also better than expected !!! Credit Sandy.
For all the media, bloggers (me especially), the fans, the man on the street, everyone practically in NYC, Sandy has proven time and time again that he is smarter than everyone else. His moves of Walker and Cabrera have solidified the infield, and his BP moves too have worked – Blevins, Bastardo, Henderson. It looks like the Mets are on a collision course with the Nats and Cubs, just like last year. The difference ??
Mets are for real NOW, vs July of last year.