Mets giving chances to recently acquired right-handed veterans against Angels left-hander

(Brett Davis - Imagn Images)

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Mets giving chances to recently acquired right-handed veterans against Angels left-hander

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Mets giving chances to recently acquired right-handed veterans against Angels left-hander

2 / 2

Mets giving chances to recently acquired right-handed veterans against Angels left-hander

(Brett Davis - Imagn Images)

With a left-hander on the mound for the Los Angeles Angels, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is going with a right-handed heavy lineup on Saturday, including a few hitters who were not even on the team a week ago, let alone on Opening Day.

Andy Ibañez, claimed off waivers from the Athletics a few days ago, will make his Mets debut in left field and is batting sixth while Austin Slater, whom New York signed just under a week ago and is 1-for-4 so far with the Mets, is in right field and batting eighth.

Both players are in the lineup, which features just one lefty in Juan Soto as well as switch-hitting Ronny Mauricio, because New York is facing LHP Reid Detmers who, like most lefties, has worse numbers against right-handed hitters than against left-handed hitters.

So, with injuries aplenty and other guys struggling at the plate, Mendoza is giving chances to the newcomers who were brought in for this very reason.

“They’ve done it throughout their career at this level,” the skipper said, referring to Ibañez and Slater hitting against lefties. “There’s a reason why they’re here and we will continue to give them chances.”

To their credit, both Ibañez and Slater do have good career numbers against southpaws – much better than when facing righties. Ibañez is slashing .275/.321/.442 versus left-handers with 17 of his 28 home runs coming against them while Slater is slashing .263/.353/.421 in 914 at-bats against lefties.

The problem? Neither hitter has gotten off to a good start this season and are not exactly guys that you’d expect to see in the starting lineup of a team with a $382 million payroll.

But that’s where the Mets are at this point as they try to climb out of a disastrous first month of the season. Regardless, Mendoza is “optimistic” in the players he’s got on the roster and will continue to use them in similar situations in the future.

“They will continue to get those opportunities even in games as you guys have seen in the past few days with being aggressive with pinch-hitters and things like that,” he said.

Things can’t get much worse for New York who still has the worst record in baseball, although a win on Saturday would transfer that ugly distinction to the Angels. Also, at 1-6 against LHP this season, anything would be better than what the Mets have done up until this point.

Meanwhile, sitting in the two right-handed hitters place are lefty-swingers Carson Benge who has been better lately after a horrendous slump to start the season and his MLB career, and MJ Melendez who, despite limited action, has been one of the team’s best hitters – albeit against right-handers.

Brett Baty, mired in a season-long slump, is also on the bench alongside righty-swinging Luis Torrens. All of them will be options to pinch-hit later in the game against the Angels' struggling bullpen.