The New York Mets aren't scoring enough runs, and there are multiple reasons why this team is struggling at the plate.
The New York Mets are having problems with their offense, and there’s a lot going on. There are moving parts and pieces that aren’t working together up and down the lineup, and Tim Britton of The Athletic took a deeper dive into the Mets struggles to break down the issues.
Start with the type of contact the Mets are making at the plate. They're putting the ball in play, but there isn’t nearly enough hard contact, and it’s hurting. According to Britton, the Mets are near the bottom of the league when it comes to barreling up the ball, which is a big part of the reason the Mets have been playing in so many tight games.
That leads into the most publicized offensive issue, which is the hitting with runners in scoring position. The Mets are now 11 for 68 in that category, and one of the big reasons they lost the getaway game to the St. Louis Cardinals was a 1-for-11 mark in that 11-inning defeat on Wednesday.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza has addressed the specifics behind it, but Mets hitters have yet to respond.
“With runners in scoring position, we’re ultra-aggressive at times, expanding,” Mendoza said. “We’ve just got to get back to what we do well, which is controlling the strike zone, getting good pitches to hit and doing damage.”
Every team chases during scoring opportunities, but the Mets are going above and beyond. Britton identified Bichette and Luis Robert Jr. as the main culprits with elevated chase rates, and it’s hard to score runs when hitters in the middle of the lineup are doing that.
Bichette has been especially bad, according to Britton. He’s an aggressive hitter, but a chase rate of 45.2 percent is just plain bad, and new director of hitting coach Jeff Albert asked the right questions in pinpointing Bichette’s tendency so far to swing at bad pitches.
“Are we swinging at good pitches? If we are, what’s happening on those pitches?”
Yet another issue that Britton identified was the Mets’ emerging struggles against lefties. Shortstop Francisco Lindor is the main culprit here, and Juan Soto’s offense falls off some when the outfielder hits against left-handers, too. Second baseman Marcus Semien was supposed to make the lineup more right-handed, but he’s struggling through an 0-for-18 slump after getting hits in his first two at-bats as a Met.
The good news is that the Mets’ walk and strikeout rates are in a very good place, according to Britton. But this is a lineup that’s underperforming compared to the potential, and that’s a big reason why the Mets are currently under .500.