Mets Addressing RISP Woes En Masse
A focus on improving the team's clutch performance has been apparent..
The New York Mets have been nothing short of awful with runners in scoring position in recent years.
Ducks being left on the pond have torpedoed this team’s attempts at contention time and again. Any one of us could likely name a wasted opportunity or 12 off the top of our heads without much effort.
In the past, coaching staff hires have been this organization’s first step when attempting to improve the team’s situational hitting approach. Whether it was Pat Roessler or Chili Davis or Tom Slater or Hugh Quattlebaum or whoever else was called on to offer guidance, in most cases, the results remained unchanged.
Going back to 2018, the Mets have a .249/.342/.407 line with runners in scoring position (.317 wOBA, 21st in MLB) and a record book with mostly subpar results to show for it.
This winter, coincidentally without a coaching staff in place outside of pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, Mets general manager Billy Eppler and the revamped New York front office have taken matters into their own hands.
By the end of last season, disappointment in big spots was all but expected. The Mets finished the year with a .238/.334/.370 line, 24.1% strikeout rate, and 45.5% groundball rate with RISP (OPS fifth-worst in MLB, others both sixth-worst). That’s simply not gonna do.
Under the new front office’s direction this offseason — well, at least before the lockout was enacted — it appears the Mets are finally making a bonafide push to rectify those shortcomings.
Last year, Francisco Lindor (.283/.410/.543, 152 wRC+), Brandon Nimmo (.268/.423/.339, 127 wRC+), and Pete Alonso (.252/.355/.469, 118 wRC+) led the way for the Mets in the RISP department.
With those three essentially making up the incumbent positional core as New York upgrades its roster this winter, Eppler & Co. appeared to target players who similarly embrace those clutch spots.
Enter Starling Marte (.327/.405/.490, 144 wRC+ with RISP in 2021), Mark Canha (.293/.408/.379, 129 wRC+), and Eduardo Escobar (.280/.338/.524, 125 wRC+). All three figure to play integral roles for the Mets moving forward (Marte, specifically), and all three should increase productivity with ribbies on the table.
They’re not Jed Lowrie (.342/.420/.525, 160 wRC+ w/RISP last season; no kidding), but this is certainly a push in the right direction. A host of small upgrades can lead to a dramatically improved sum of the parts. That kinda feels like what this is, so far.
Whether it was addressing their RISP woes, replacing Marcus Stroman with Max Scherzer, etc, the Mets have certainly done all they can to shore up weak spots so far.
There’s still plenty to accomplish once the leaguewide roster freeze thaws, but this has been a very encouraging start. Onward.
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