Deep dive on the 194 times the Mets had a ball with a 100 or greater EV in September

As baseball fans interested in learning more about the game, we took a giant step forward with the arrival of Baseball-Reference. It’s hard to remember but there was a time when they did not update stats with the current season until the year was over. We took another step forward with FanGraphs, with all of its advanced statistics. There were others along the way, too, and the goal here is not to slight those sites. Rather, it’s that there’s another great advancement with the Statcast numbers that are now in the public domain.

One of my goals this offseason was to dive into some of the Statcast numbers. Because of my use and familiarity with B-R and FG, the Statcast numbers aren’t as convenient when trying to put together a study. They’re all there – it’s just that you have to do it manually, rather than being able to click on rows and have the numbers calculated, like you can with B-R.

Anyway, for this article, I went thru all of the Statcast box scores for the Mets in September and October and looked for all of the team’s players to produce an exit velocity (EV) of 100 or greater. The decision was made to start with EV because it’s a pretty simple concept. We used to talk about – man, he scorched that ball! Now, we can say, that ball had an EV of 110! Even Keith Hernandez, who used to openly scoff at the numbers, now realizes the value and will cite them during games.

Not all EVs are created equally. You also have to include launch angle in your calculations. A ball with an EV of 107 with a high launch angle has a good chance to be a home run. A ball with that same EV but a low single digit launch angle might easily be an out. In an effort to not make any more numbers than necessary here, launch angle was not recorded. But xBA, which includes launch angle, is here. xBA is calculated using both EV and launch angle and comparing it to historic numbers with those two inputs.

Pulling numbers out of the air – if a ball has a 100 EV and a 15-degree launch angle, Statcast goes back and compares all balls hit with those same numbers and calculates an expected batting average. The idea is that xBA takes out defense and ballpark and instead looks at the skill level of the hitter. In a way, it’s similar to FIP. Regardless, the thing to remember is that it’s possible that a player can hit the ball with the EV and launch angle that has an xBA of .980 and still make an out. It’s overwhelmingly unlikely, but not impossible.

The Mets had 194 balls hit in what we call the final month of the season with an EV of 100 or greater. It’s too much to include all 194 in one chart. So, will break it down to five charts – four with 39 players and the final one with 38. Here are the 39 balls with the highest EV for the Mets in September:

Date	Player	EV	Result	xBA
9/9/22	Pete Alonso	115.6	HR	.920
9/7/22	Pete Alonso	113.3	double	.640
9/19/22	Pete Alonso	113.1	HR	1.000
9/7 G2	Pete Alonso	112.5	single	.310
9/13/22	Pete Alonso	112.4	HR	1.000
10/5/22	Mark Vientos	111.9	single	.520
9/25/22	Pete Alonso	110.6	HR	1.000
9/14/22	Pete Alonso	109.7	HR	.870
9/19/22	Tyler Naquin	109.6	single	.210
9/15/22	Daniel Vogelbach	109.1	double	.760
9/7 G2	Daniel Vogelbach	109.1	single	.850
9/7/22	Pete Alonso	109	single	.650
9/3/22	Eduardo Escobar	108.9	HR	1.000
10/4 G2	Francisco Alvarez	108.9	HR	1.000
9/1/22	Francisco Lindor	108.6	single	.190
9/15/22	Mark Vientos	108.5	single	.480
9/20/22	Pete Alonso	108.3	HR	.930
9/7 G2	James McCann	108.1	single	.860
10/4 G2	Francisco Alvarez	107.8	double	.670
9/7/22	Eduardo Escobar	107.8	HR	.980
9/25/22	Francisco Lindor	107.6	single	.510
9/11/22	Brandon Nimmo	107.6	HR	.970
9/7/22	Francisco Lindor	107.5	out	.240
10/1/22	Pete Alonso	107.4	single	.420
9/25/22	Mark Vientos	107.4	out	.480
10/5/22	James McCann	107.4	single	.640
9/25/22	Tyler Naquin	107.4	single	.840
9/10/22	Darin Ruf	107.3	out	.540
9/15/22	Francisco Lindor	107.3	HR	.940
10/4 G2	James McCann	107.1	out	.310
9/1/22	Pete Alonso	107	out	.570
9/1/22	Francisco Lindor	107	double	.640
9/2/22	Mark Canha	107	Double	.900
9/6/22	Brandon Nimmo	107	HR	.960
10/5/22	Mark Canha	107	HR	.960
9/19/22	Brandon Nimmo	106.9	out	.200
10/5/22	Mark Vientos	106.9	out	.390
9/13/22	Eduardo Escobar	106.8	out	.760
9/3/22	James McCann	106.7	out	.900

In what should come as a shock to no one, Alonso had the five-highest EVs for the team. But in perhaps a bit of a surprise, Vientos broke the monopoly with a ball hit 111.9 mph. An indication of how important it is to hit the ball hard are the results we find in this chart. The top 22 hardest-hit balls all resulted in hits, including 10 HR. The ball with the highest EV that resulted in an out was Lindor’s ball with an EV of 107.5 on 9/7. But that ball had an xBA of just .240, so it’s not a surprise that it resulted in an out.

Here’s how it broke down by player:

11 – Alonso
5 – Lindor
4 – McCann, Vientos
3 – Escobar, Nimmo
2 – Alvarez, Canha, Naquin, Vogelbach
1 – Ruf

It was quite a shock to me that McCann had four of the 39-highest EVs in September. And it’s encouraging to see Alvarez and Vientos on here, too. Alonso hit the ball 93 times in September, meaning he had an EV of 106.7 or more 12% of the time. Alvarez hit the ball eight times, giving him an EV of 106.7 or greater 25% of the time. The numbers for Vientos are 24 and 17%, respectively.

Date	Player	EV	Result	xBA
9/4/22	Starling Marte	106.5	out	.690
9/6/22	Francisco Lindor	106.4	out	.230
9/6/22	Brandon Nimmo	106.1	out	.250
9/7/22	Francisco Lindor	106.1	out	.540
9/1/22	James McCann	106.1	out	.550
9/2/22	Starling Marte	106	out	.540
9/7 G2	Tyler Naquin	106	out	.570
10/5/22	Francisco Lindor	106	double	.610
9/19/22	Brandon Nimmo	106	triple	.840
9/24/22	Mark Vientos	106	HR	.950
9/7/22	Brandon Nimmo	105.9	single	.360
9/7/22	Tyler Naquin	105.9	HR	.880
9/9/22	Eduardo Escobar	105.8	out	.560
9/2/22	Pete Alonso	105.8	HR	.630
9/11/22	Tomas Nido	105.7	HR	.700
10/2/22	Daniel Vogelbach	105.7	HR	.700
9/10/22	Francisco Lindor	105.7	HR	.810
9/21/22	Tyler Naquin	105.7	double	.940
9/28/22	Eduardo Escobar	105.6	HR	.890
10/2/22	Brandon Nimmo	105.5	out	.420
9/24/22	Pete Alonso	105.5	out	.550
10/5/22	James McCann	105.5	HR	.730
9/17/22	Eduardo Escobar	105.5	HR	.890
9/14/22	Brandon Nimmo	105.4	error	.260
9/7/22	Tyler Naquin	105.4	out	.400
9/9/22	Mark Canha	105.3	out	.820
9/28/22	Eduardo Escobar	105.2	single	.280
9/20/22	Pete Alonso	105.1	out	.140
10/4 G2	Francisco Lindor	105.1	HR	.650
9/7/22	Eduardo Escobar	104.9	single	.690
9/2/22	Brandon Nimmo	104.6	out	.520
9/4/22	Eduardo Escobar	104.5	single	.780
10/2/22	Francisco Lindor	104.4	out	.090
9/4/22	Daniel Vogelbach	104.4	out	.290
9/20/22	Francisco Lindor	104.4	HR	.710
9/15/22	Jeff McNeil	104.3	single	.890
9/18/22	Francisco Lindor	104.1	single	.340
9/6/22	Tyler Naquin	104.1	out	.620
9/3/22	Pete Alonso	104.1	out	.630

In our second batch, we see the first eight all resulted in outs. It was particularly tough for McCann, who made an out on a ball hit with an xBA of .900 – ouch. In all, there were 20 hits and 19 outs in this grouping. And 11 of the 20 hits were home runs.

Lindor led the way with eight entries on this second list.

Date	Player	EV	Result	xBA
10/4/22	Brandon Nimmo	104.1	HR	.790
9/10/22	Eduardo Escobar	104.1	HR	.840
10/1/22	Tomas Nido	104	out	.490
9/7/22	Tomas Nido	104	double	.620
9/7 G2	Tyler Naquin	104	out	.710
9/4/22	Brandon Nimmo	104	single	.750
9/20/22	Mark Vientos	103.8	out	.380
9/3/22	Darin Ruf	103.8	out	.620
9/12/22	Eduardo Escobar	103.8	triple	.720
9/6/22	James McCann	103.8	single	.840
9/30/22	Francisco Lindor	103.7	out	.380
9/28/22	Tomas Nido	103.6	double	.840
10/1/22	Jeff McNeil	103.6	single	.890
9/23/22	James McCann	103.5	out	.320
9/1/22	Darin Ruf	103.4	out	.250
9/12/22	James McCann	103.4	single	.320
9/13/22	Mark Vientos	103.4	out	.520
9/19/22	Daniel Vogelbach	103.4	double	.530
9/7 G2	Francisco Lindor	103.4	double	.730
9/11/22	Brandon Nimmo	103.4	double	.740
9/2/22	Pete Alonso	103.3	out	.210
9/25/22	Tyler Naquin	103.3	out	.770
10/4/22	Tomas Nido	103.2	out	.600
9/10/22	Mark Canha	103.2	HR	.760
9/16/22	Eduardo Escobar	103.1	double	.470
10/4 G2	Jeff McNeil	103.1	HR	.760
9/7/22	Brandon Nimmo	102.9	out	.640
9/14/22	Tomas Nido	102.9	HR	.700
9/23/22	Mark Canha	102.8	double	.670
9/7 G2	Daniel Vogelbach	102.7	out	.250
9/4/22	Jeff McNeil	102.7	single	.880
9/18/22	Tomas Nido	102.7	single	.880
9/7 G2	Mark Canha	102.7	double	.890
9/21/22	Francisco Lindor	102.6	out	.650
9/30/22	Tomas Nido	102.6	HR	.760
9/2/22	Mark Canha	102.6	single	.840
10/1/22	Brandon Nimmo	102.5	out	.480
9/16/22	Daniel Vogelbach	102.5	HR	.770
9/1/22	James McCann	102.4	double	.450

Naquin hit into some bad luck here. He had balls hit with an xBA of .710 and .770 that were both turned into outs. Seven of the 24 hits in this group were homers, including two by Nido

Speaking of Nido, he led this grouping with seven balls hit between 102.4 and 104.1 mph.

Date	Player	EV	Result	xBA
9/2/22	Brandon Nimmo	102.4	triple	.490
10/1/22	Brandon Nimmo	102.4	single	.500
10/4/22	Tomas Nido	102.4	single	.810
10/5/22	Mark Vientos	102.3	single	.270
9/24/22	Pete Alonso	102.3	HR	.600
9/3/22	Starling Marte	102.3	single	.930
9/11/22	Mark Vientos	102.2	out	.090
9/24/22	Francisco Lindor	102.2	single	.630
9/13/22	Luis Guillorme	102.2	single	.810
9/18/22	Pete Alonso	102.1	out	.270
10/4 G2	Brandon Nimmo	102.1	double	.480
9/18/22	Mark Canha	102.1	out	.560
9/12/22	Eduardo Escobar	102	out	.200
9/7/22	Mark Canha	102	out	.530
9/25/22	Tomas Nido	102	double	.530
9/12/22	Francisco Lindor	102	HR	.630
9/12/22	Pete Alonso	101.9	single	.300
10/4/22	Brandon Nimmo	101.9	double	.570
9/17/22	Eduardo Escobar	101.8	single	.480
9/7 G2	Pete Alonso	101.8	out	.520
9/11/22	Eduardo Escobar	101.8	HR	.700
10/2/22	Eduardo Escobar	101.8	single	.810
9/19/22	Mark Canha	101.7	out	.310
10/5/22	Tyler Naquin	101.7	out	.310
9/13/22	James McCann	101.7	out	.480
9/2/22	Eduardo Escobar	101.7	HR	.630
9/13/22	Jeff McNeil	101.6	single	.250
9/16/22	Brandon Nimmo	101.6	out	.250
10/1/22	Brandon Nimmo	101.6	out	.630
9/25/22	Pete Alonso	101.6	double	.680
9/23/22	Brandon Nimmo	101.6	single	.690
9/9/22	Eduardo Escobar	101.6	single	.740
9/14/22	Darin Ruf	101.6	single	.810
9/23/22	Francisco Lindor	101.5	single	.520
10/2/22	Jeff McNeil	101.5	HR	.600
9/10/22	Eduardo Escobar	101.5	double	.650
9/19/22	Francisco Lindor	101.5	single	.810
10/4/22	Francisco Lindor	101.4	out	.310
9/21/22	Jeff McNeil	101.4	out	.400

Earlier, we saw Alonso hit a HR on a ball with an xBA of 1.000 – meaning possibly that it was a ball that was going to go out in any park. This time he had a HR on a ball with an xBA of .600, so it’s safe to say that one wouldn’t have been out in every park.

Nimmo and Escobar pace this grouping with seven hits apiece.

Date	Player	EV	Result	xBA
9/10/22	Francisco Lindor	101.4	double	.640
10/4 G2	Mark Canha	101.4	single	.730
10/2/22	James McCann	101.3	out	.180
9/7/22	Francisco Lindor	101.3	out	.400
9/13/22	Jeff McNeil	101.3	out	.470
9/14/22	Eduardo Escobar	101.2	out	.320
10/4 G2	Jeff McNeil	101.2	out	.680
9/13/22	Francisco Lindor	101.1	out	.560
10/2/22	Mark Canha	101.1	single	.920
9/23/22	Eduardo Escobar	101	out	.450
9/2/22	Eduardo Escobar	100.9	out	.040
10/1/22	Francisco Lindor	100.9	out	.180
9/10/22	James McCann	100.9	double	.400
9/24/22	Luis Guillorme	100.9	single	.890
9/21/22	Luis Guillorme	100.8	out	.410
9/7 G2	Jeff McNeil	100.8	single	.920
10/5/22	Francisco Lindor	100.7	out	.270
9/20/22	Mark Canha	100.7	single	.640
9/13/22	Jeff McNeil	100.7	single	.770
9/9/22	Brandon Nimmo	100.6	out	.290
9/25/22	Tyler Naquin	100.6	out	.290
9/20/22	James McCann	100.6	out	.300
9/11/22	Tomas Nido	100.6	single	.770
9/27/22	Brandon Nimmo	100.4	out	.250
9/27/22	Pete Alonso	100.3	HR	.410
9/23/22	Jeff McNeil	100.3	single	.440
10/4/22	Tyler Naquin	100.3	out	.450
9/23/22	Jeff McNeil	100.3	double	.500
9/11/22	Tomas Nido	100.3	double	.700
10/4/22	Brandon Nimmo	100.2	single	.370
9/30/22	Francisco Alvarez	100.2	out	.410
9/23/22	Mark Vientos	100.2	double	.680
9/17/22	James McCann	100.1	out	.170
9/14/22	Mark Canha	100.1	single	.270
9/15/22	Jeff McNeil	100.1	out	.500
9/16/22	Luis Guillorme	100.1	single	.650
9/13/22	Pete Alonso	100	out	.010
9/21/22	Francisco Lindor	100	double	.570

There was just one homer in this last grouping, by Alonso with a 100.3 EV. This was not the lowest EV for a homer in September, as at least Nimmo hit one with an EV in the 98 range. There were more outs (20) than hits (18) in this last grouping. McNeil ran into an out on a ball with an xBA of .680, which was quite the contrast to the out by Alonso that had a .010 xBA. McNeil had the most appearances on this list with seven.

Without bogging this down with another chart, here were the appearances of players on all 194 balls hit in September with an EV of 100 or greater:

27 – Lindor
24 – Nimmo
23 – Alonso
22 – Escobar
15 – McCann
14 – Canha, McNeil
12 – Naquin, Nido
10 – Vientos
7 – Vogelbach
4 – Guillorme, Ruf
3 – Alvarez, Marte

It’s a bit surprising that Alonso didn’t lead the way but he wasn’t far from the lead. And it might be a bit comforting to know that if the Carlos Correa deal doesn’t end up happening, that Escobar showed in September that there was still plenty of life left in his bat. McCann’s performance is shocking. He hit the ball 38 times and 15 of them had an EV of 100 or greater, which means that 39% of his balls were hit this hard. Maybe there’s still life in his bat, too. Good luck to the Orioles finding out.

Finally, let’s break this down by xBA, showing how many hits Mets players got:

Under .199: 1-9 — .111
.200s: 5-21 — .230
.300s: 6-16 — .375
.400s: 10-23 — .435
.500s: 9-24 — .375
.600s: 23-32 — .719
.700s: 22-25 — .880
.800s: 24-25 — .960
.900s: 12-14 — .857
1.000: 5-5 – 1.000

When the Mets hit a ball in September with an EV of 100 or greater, they were 117-194, which works out to a .603 AVG. Not too shabby. They hit in some bad luck with the 24 balls hit for an xBA in the .500s and the 14 balls hit with an xBA in the .900s. But that was more than made up for in the better-than-expected outcomes on the 32 balls hit in the .600s, 25 in the .700s and the 25 in the .800s

12 comments on “Deep dive on the 194 times the Mets had a ball with a 100 or greater EV in September”

Jimmy P On January 8, 2023 at 1:08 pm

Yes, was aware that McCann’s EV numbers were very good.

It’s funny, because it’s the kind of data we all wished we had long ago. We see Piazza and say, “Nobody hits the ball harder.” That was the proof of his talent.

But launch angle, as you note, is also critically important.

And what about placement? Jeff McNeil led the NL in batting average and his “hard hit” rate is, I’m pretty sure, below average.

Separating the signal from the noise has never been more important, because we are flooded with data, a lot of it without context or meaning.

Reply
- Brian Joura On January 9, 2023 at 10:17 am
  
  According to his Baseball Savant page, McNeil was in the 8th percentile in HrdHit% – can’t get much lower than that.
  
  But he’s in the 62nd percentile in max EV, so it’s not like he doesn’t have the ability to hit the ball hard. Rather, he chooses often not to do so. I’ve had this discussion with ChrisF, where he essentially says that McNeil is so good with how he’s performing now, why would you want to tinker with that?
  
  But I think McNeil could follow in the footsteps of Daniel Murphy and look to pull the ball – and hit it harder – rather than just being content to flick the ball the other way.
  
  My hope is that with the new shift rules that McNeil will pay less attention to where the infielders are playing and more attention on where the outfielders are set up.
  
  Reply
ChrisF On January 8, 2023 at 1:40 pm

hope you’re feeling better Brian. I was sick all last week too, and in the matter of 3 weeks managed to dodge covid twice.

Thanks for this exhaustive data compilation and reduction. I think the notion of hit the ball hard and success will follow is a maxim to live by. As every microsecond of ball movement comes into play, I think that there will be finally data collected to achieve more definitive causality gradually replacing correlation. It amazing to see how all this continues to grow, and just what teams do to make the most of pure objectivity in the context of a purely subjective human endeavor.

One thing about exit velocity and launch angle is that not all launch angles are created the same, nor will resultant EVs and outcomes.

At its heart, LA is simply the angle of initial ball flight after bat contact. That said, things are not as easy as that given that we have a spherical ball making contact with a cylindrical bat. The best point of contact occurs when the midline of the ball hits the midline of the bat, transferring the most energy, and velocity to the exiting ball. The batter controls a key aspect of this, which is the bat path. The longer the path stays in the plane of the pitched ball, the more likely there is for contact, and hard contact. However a level swing is likely to produce the hardest hut ball, but at lower launch angles. High launch angles happen when the ball hits above the midline of the bat, but there is less energy translated to the ball exit velocity.

By contrast, an upper cut bat path can make intense contact with the pitched ball and lead to high exit velocities associated with home runs. The counter point to this approach is that the bat path spends less time in the plane of the ball, leading to a lot of swing-miss events.

So while there is a lot of interest in the actual launch angle, really the best measure is not the raw angle at the instant of contact, but the angle between bat bath and launch. An upper cut swing with a high launch angle really has a low angle between bat path and ball flight angle.

I’d really like to see LA and EV move past the point of contact info, and include swing data including bat mass, swing velocity, and swing angle.

Keep the data coming!!

Reply
- Brian Joura On January 9, 2023 at 10:25 am
  
  It’s amazing that MLB has allowed this to be in the public domain. So often we criticize MLB for its missteps but rarely do we credit the org when it does something right. Having this Statcast data available to everyone is a great move on MLB’s part. It allows people to better understand and become more passionate about the game.
  
  As for your specific issues – I can’t make an intelligent case against it. But I don’t think you can make the case for it, either. I made the comparison to FIP and with that stat, people were able to point out where it fell short, specifically with knuckleball pitchers. Where do you think the current model of LA/EV/xBA is falling short? Who are the hitters who are being “cheated” or unnecessarily “promoted” with the current system?
  
  Reply
MikeW On January 8, 2023 at 2:28 pm

So Brian, when are you going to write a book ?

Reply
T.J. On January 8, 2023 at 10:00 pm

Tremendous piece. Numbers supporting the traditional eye test. And, as the players and teams have known for quite some time, this evidence unfortunately supports the elevated strikeouts, regardless of how much it ruffles us old fans who were raised on “shorten up” with two strikes. Now it’s simply swing hard in case you hit it. Every. Single. Time… Almost.

McCann is the case study of the guy that can crush it when and if he makes contact. But, his inability to make regular contact combined with his inability to elevate has killed his offensive game. He is a frustrating case because he has the bat speed in most cases. A minor tweak could get him back to the .700+ OPS level, but I can’t blame the Mets for moving on and adding a LH batting option at C.

Reply
- Brian Joura On January 9, 2023 at 10:36 am
  
  Absolutely – you can’t ignore the ability to make consistent contact. It brings to mind the old maxim on fast guys and stolen bases — you can’t steal first base.
  
  I do think there’s something to the percentage of balls that are hit that make loud contact, however we want to define it. I defined it here as 100 EV but maybe a better definition is 93 or 95 or some other number. It would be a whole lot easier if we could query the data, rather than having to go thru each individual box score
  
  Reply
NYM6986 On January 9, 2023 at 7:33 am

Lots to consider from a new perspective. Having seen Aaron Judge hit a ball out as quickly as he does, would have to believe that both his bat speed and launch angle are elevated above the average player. Felt the same way in the first year that Cespedes was with us and how fast some of his balls left the yard. Harder hit balls, even without a great launch angle, should have a better chance of being a hit, and I believe your stats back that up. Interesting thought on elevating the angle might lead to more swings and misses which seems like where you find a player trying to HRs and not concentrating on making solid contact and letting the rest just happen. Lenny Dykstra came to SP in 1987 all jacked on steroids and thought he was a home run hitter instead of a table setter. Oops. Too bad McCann did not get a few breaks and hit at an acceptable rate because I liked his game calling and his throws down to 2B. Anything close to his hitting at his last stop would have made his acquisition a bargain. So much for the woulda-coulda-shoulda of buying one thing and getting another. As far as you’re book title, perhaps “The Joura has reached a verdict on the Mets.”

Reply
- MikeW On January 9, 2023 at 8:38 am
  
  How about Jourassic Park.
  
  Reply
  - Metsense On January 9, 2023 at 5:31 pm
    
    Monumental research with great analysis. Thanks. I hope you’re feeling better.
    McNeil is an enigma. Does he want to be a 2019 version of himself with a bWAR 5.1 and oWAR 4.6 or his 2022 batting championship version with a 5.7 bWAR and a oWAR 5.1? On paper it looks like 2022 was a better year. If there wasn’t a rule change it should a no-brainer for him to continue his approach but in 2023 he won’t have as much of the holes in the opposite field that he utilized in 2022. Therefore, in theory, he won’t get those flick hits. He will have the the hole in short right field in 2023 so he should pull the ball more often. It might result into more hard hit balls and more homeruns. Instead of being in the competition for only a batting crown, he might be considered in the discussion for the MVP.
    Alsono with his hard ball rate should have a better batting average. Piazza had a career .308 BA. Is it just bad luck for Alsonso?
    McCann was a surprise.
    
    Reply
    - Brian Joura On January 9, 2023 at 6:33 pm
      
      McNeil only really pulled the ball for 2 months back in 2019 so I’m not sure it’s fair just to compare the raw WAR totals and come to any conclusions.
      
      The Alonso-Piazza comparison is very interesting. In three of his four seasons in the majors, Alonso has a BABIP between .274 – .280, with the exception being the Covid year in 2020 when it was just .242 in 239 PA.
      
      Piazza had a lifetime .314 BABIP and from 1993-1998, he never had a mark lower than .322 in the category. He also had a better K% than Alonso, but we should acknowledge that Pete has made really nice strides in that department.
      
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TexasGusCC On January 10, 2023 at 2:15 am

I also applaud the work and see some interesting numbers. When JD Davis was traded to San Francisco while he was leading the NL in EV, I was very upset. In fact, his slugging took the biggest jump from .369 to .496, giving him an OPS+ of 140 after being at 97 with the Mets. Now, I feel the Mets made the same mistake with McCann. While I never knew just how well, I did see him putting better wood on balls in September and didn’t like the clearance price they put on him. The Braves look for good deals and the Mets look to jettison players because we believe they can’t excel on the Mets. Well, I know that Baltimore is a haven for right handed hitters and Citifield was a morgue for them, but as 6986 said, McCann looked good in other areas but the results weren’t happening and it did make sense to get a lefty hitting catcher. I would have offered up Nido or McCann – whomever brings the most back – and maybe the Mets did this, maybe they hung onto Nido thinking he could communicate better with Alvarez. Either way, Alvarez is the future.

Funny having Vientos in limited at bats have as much as Vogelbach and Ruf combined. Sad, actually.

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