Whereas Jeff McNeil works his approach again from the indirect pressure suffered throughout spring coaching, the Mets proceed to seek for offense from second base.
Each Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña have disenchanted on the plate in McNeil’s absence.
As a substitute of forming a good lefty-righty platoon for Carlos Mendoza, the younger duo has largely flailed on the plate.
The Mets entered Monday’s sport in opposition to the Marlins with the worst OPS amongst second basemen within the majors (.306), and the 2 have mixed to go 4-for-35 with a stroll and 11 strikeouts.
Acuña then went out and went hitless with a misplay on a grounder within the seventh inning of a 2-0 win over the Marlins at Citi Area Monday night time.
That lack of manufacturing has been considerably masked by having Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo forward of them, in addition to Francisco Lindor, who figures to be warming up.
President of baseball operations David Stearns stated previous to the sport he hoped one in every of both Baty or Acuña would snatch the place till McNeil’s return — which figures to be weeks away, since he’s been unable to hit outdoors because of the inclement climate in latest days at Citi Area.
“Offensively, both players haven’t gotten off to the starts they would have liked,” Stearns stated. “Brett had a really hot spring training and we saw the type of potential and quality at-bats he had. For him, it’s just getting back to that approach and seeing some results. That’s a big part of it at the major league level. You’re gonna need to see some results to get that confidence back.”
Baty’s struggles come after he slumped final season after successful the beginning job at third base after which misplaced the spot to Mark Vientos — who, like Baty and Acuña, has gotten off to an unpleasant begin on the plate.
“If we can have some hits fall for both those guys, hopefully we can get one of them on a roll here,” Stearns stated.
And he made it clear he’d favor to see one in every of them take management of second base for now.
“I’d love to see one of them take advantage of the at-bats and perform,” Stearns stated. “That’s what someone like Mark Vientos did last year when he got an opportunity and solidified a spot at the major league level. You’d love to see that from young players. I also understand it can’t always happen at the exact moment we want it to.”
Stearns stated he has been happy with each gamers on protection, noting Baty has adjusted to the brand new place quicker than anticipated, contemplating his lack of taking part in time there, even within the minors.
Each time McNeil does come again, one in every of them is probably going headed again to Triple-A Syracuse.
“For both these guys, if one of them does find their way back to the minor leagues at some point when we get fully healthy, there are gonna be other opportunities,’’ Stearns said. “We know that through whatever occurrence, they are gonna find their way back to the big leagues and get another shot. But I would love to see one or both of them perform at a really high level before we have to make those decisions and prove they’re going to really contribute throughout the course of a year.”
Mendoza has to determine how you can get essentially the most out of the spot within the lineup, which meant he went with the righty-swinging Acuña on Monday, although Miami began right-hander Valente Bellozo.
