Mets’ Hitting Struggles Could Break Their Season

Michael Conforto image source: Newsotime.com

By Ethan Marshall

There are many reasons as to why the New York Mets have struggled so much since the all-star break, with a 9-13 record since then. However, the biggest source of their struggles has been a lack of hitting. As a result, the Mets are out of first place in the NL East for the first time in 90 days after Friday’s loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. They are in danger of plummeting deeper in the standings this weekend, as the Atlanta Braves are just half a game behind the Mets. If the Mets’ bats continue to remain ice cold, they’ll be out of contention by the end of August.

There may not be many better statistics that best exemplifies the Mets’ inability to hit this season than their numbers with the bases loaded. As a team, they are hitting .211 in such situations, ranking 24th in the MLB. They’re also slugging just .316 (28th in baseball) and striking out 25.2% (18th) in those spots. They’ve also grounded into nine double plays with the bases loaded, with all but one being inning-ending double plays.

The Mets have generally struggled to hit with runners in scoring position. They’re ranked 18th with a .247 batting average, 12th in on-base percentage at .342, 26th with a .376 slugging percentage and 23rd with a .718 OPS. Additionally, the Mets have only 12 sacrifice flies this season, giving them a chance to break the record for fewest in a season, set by the 1971 San Diego Padres with 19.

While these numbers also factor in those lineups earlier in the season, when many of the team’s starters were injured, consisting of names like Cameron Maybin, Khalil Lee, Wilfredo Tovar and Johneshwy Fargas, many of the regulars have underperformed and/or struggled to remain healthy this season. Michael Conforto is having one of the worst contract years ever, missing 33 games due to a hamstring injury and putting up a pitiful slash line of .201/.331/.329 this season. James McCann has just 17 extra-base hits all season, including two in his last 18 games. Francisco Lindor’s struggles earlier in the season were well-documented, then he posted a solid .827 OPS in the months of June and July before he was sidelined with an oblique strain. Brandon Nimmo (hand), Jeff McNeil (hamstring) and JD Davis (hand) are all playing through injuries after spending significant time on the injured list.

The offense has not only failed to show any signs of improvement over the course of the second half, but the at-bats feel less competitive as the days go by. The Mets hitters look lost at the plate and haven’t shown an ability to adjust. They aren’t going to do much damage with all the strikeouts and soft contact they’ve had at the plate. If their approach at the plate doesn’t significantly improve quickly, the Mets won’t be playing meaningful baseball through much of September.