| Francisco Alvarez, C | | |
| Brett Baty, UTIL | | |
| Carson Benge, OF | | |
| Bo Bichette, 3B | | |
| Andy Ibåñez, INF | â | |
| Francisco Lindor, SS | | |
| Ronny Mauricio, INF | | |
| MJ Melendez, OF | | |
| Tommy Pham, OF | | |
| Luis Robert Jr., OF | | |
| Marcus Semien, 2B | | |
| Austin Slater, OF | â | |
| Juan Soto, OF | | |
| Tyrone Taylor, OF | | |
| Luis Torrens, C | | |
| Mark Vientos, 1B/3B | | |
| Weâll run through the rash of injuries quickly before getting to the evaluations of the healthy players. Obviously the biggest blow is that **Francisco Lindor** is missing an extended period of time with a calf strain that is more severe than the one Juan Soto suffered, which is a shame because he had just been heating up with the bat before hitting the IL. He was replaced on the roster with **Ronny Mauricio**, who was given the opportunity to play shortstop every day and put up just a 47 wRC+ in 28 plate appearances before falling victim to injury as well; he fractured his finger sliding into first base and so now the Mets need to move onto Plan C, which is likely **Bo Bichette** seeing a lot of time at his natural shortstop position. With the bat, Bichette is finally showing some life, putting up a 105 wRC+ over 52 plate appearances, mostly out of the leadoff spot these days. Bichette leads the team with six RBIs over the past two weeks with his biggest hit of course being the go-ahead bases clearing double he hit in the rubber game against the Twins. Bichette also leads the team in hits (14) and runs scored (8). So though Bichette has not been the Metsâ best hitter over the past two weeks, you could argue heâs been among the most productive, with his prowess for coming through in the clutch beginning to return. Utility infielder **Andy Ibåñez** recently arrived to help fill out the roster in the face of this latest rash of injuries and is hitless in his first three plate appearances, but does have an RBI. Vidal BrujĂĄn is now up with the big league team as well and has yet to appear in a game, but will be represented in the next meter. | | |
| **Luis Robert Jr.** was cruising straight toward a poop emoji, but he has since hit the injured list as well with a herniated disc in his spine. He should miss less time than Lindor and itâs unclear how much the injury was affecting his performance, which had taken a nosedive. So poor was **Tommy Pham** in filling in as the Mets faced their outfield shortage that he was designated for assignment. He went hitless with a walk and a run scored in six plate appearances before he was let go. The Mets signed **Austin Slater** to replace Pham and while no player that is out there for the taking in April is going to be a game-changer, unlike Pham, Slater at least looks like he perhaps belongs in the major leagues at the moment. He has already racked up three hits and scored a run in his first nine plate appearances as a Met. | | |
| I think that covers the injuries and various roster shuffling. The other unpleasantness that I would like to get out of the way early before turning to more positive signs is addressing the Metsâ catching tandem. Woof. Itâs pretty funny that the Mets announced a two-year contract extension for **Luis Torrens** as heâs in the midst of a second straight poop emoji worthy meter period. Torrens is hitless in his last twelve plate appearances, though he is unleashing excellent throws to nab would-be base stealers as usual. But unlike earlier in the season, **Francisco Alvarez** has not been that much better, which is a shame because the Mets could really use his bat as a DH option since so many of their position players are hurt. But his bat has not been worth DHing lately. He has put up an abysmal 7 wRC+ over his past 39 plate appearances. He has six hitsâfour singles and two doublesâin that span and has struck out a whopping eleven times to lead the team. He has scored a run and driven in three runs. | | |
| Since returning from his calf injury and dealing with some forearm tightness that made throwing uncomfortable, **Juan Soto** has been serving as the DH more often of late. He is one of the few bright spots on this meter, having posted a 157 wRC+ in 48 plate appearances over the past two weeks. That is the second-best mark on the team. He is also the only Met besides Bo Bichette to rack up a double-digit hit total, which included two home runs and two doubles. Not surprisingly, Soto also leads the team in walks with nine over this 12-game span. | | |
| After a poop emoji in the last meter, **Mark Vientos** leads the team with a 167 wRC+ over the past 12 games. He also matches Bo Bichetteâs six RBIs to lead the team. Vientos is also the only Met besides Soto to hit multiple home runs in the past couple of weeks, both of them coming in yesterdayâs victory. Weâve seen Vientos have a hot week this season only the plunge back into the depths, so letâs hope the hot streak sticks this time, especially given the fact that Vientos is still good for at least one mistake in the field nearly every game. | | |
| **Brett Baty** has also turned his poop emoji into a green arrow this week with a more modest, but still solid 135 wRC+ in 40 plate appearances. His six runs scored in the past 12 games are second only to Bichette for the team lead. His eight walks are also the second-most on the team behind Soto and double the amount of the next highest total (Mark Vientos with four walks). Batyâs five RBIs are also one off the team lead shared by Bichette and Vientos. | | |
| **Carson Benge** has seen improvement too; we already saw him make such a fantastic defensive play in yesterdayâs game that it caused Gary Cohen to break out an SAT word. On top of that, he pulled himself out of the doldrums with a 103 wRC+ in 36 plate appearances. Of his nine hits, three went for extra bases, including a home run as part of a strong performance in the Metsâ series finale against the Twins. Bengeâs six runs scored match Baty for the second-most on the team. He collected four RBIs in total and also walked two times. | | |
| **Marcus Semien** and **Tyrone Taylor** have been unable to get themselves out of the red with a 22 and a 37 wRC+, respectively. The usual pattern is playing out with Taylor; he is now playing close to every day because of injuries and it has resulted in him being overexposed. Of his six hits in the past two weeks, just one went for extra basesâa home run in Game 1 of last weekendâs doubleheader against the Rockies. That represented Taylorâs only run scored in the past two weeks. Semien has been a bit more productive, but still not great. He collected eight hits, six of which were singles. He scored five runs and drove in two runs. Semien has been swinging the bat a little better just in the past four or five days or so; perhaps he will turn things around soon. | | |
| Though he didnât quite earn a fireball this week, **MJ Melendez** continues to be useful for the Mets off the bench. In 23 plate appearances, Melendez posted a 146 wRC+. He racked up six hitsâfour singles, a double, and a home runâover this 12-game span, driving in four runs and scoring two runs. So desperate is the Metsâ situation that Melendez has found himself batting cleanup some games as a result of this performance. | | |
