Mets' first-place start has masked major offensive woes
Mets’ Juan Soto looks on from the dugout after striking out swinging against the St. Louis Cardinals during the third inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Scoring runs was supposed to be — and maybe still will be — one of the Mets’ strengths this season. So far, though, not so much.
Pete Alonso is off to a tremendous start at the plate and carried a .365/.474/.730 slash line into Thursday night’s game against the Cardinals at Citi Field, but the same cannot be said for the rest of the team.
Entering play, the Mets’ team batting average of .219 was 13th out of 15 National League teams. They’ve been especially poor with runners in scoring position. Their .166 average in those situations was worst in the NL and 29th of 30 in MLB.
“Right now, we’re going through some downs with runners in scoring position,” Brandon Nimmo said Wednesday. “But we’re getting guys on and so, the more opportunities we get, the more we’re going to cash in.”
Obviously, the news isn’t all bad, as the Mets won 11 of their first 18 games and were in first place in the NL East entering Thursday. Nevertheless, continuing to win with an offense that’s averaging four runs is improbable. The Mets averaged 4.8 runs last season.
While Juan Soto’s unremarkable start to his Mets tenure gets a lot of attention, his .798 OPS is far from horrific. Nimmo, however, is a player who hits in a run-producing spot in the lineup — fifth — and hasn’t performed to his standard. He is a career .260 hitter but was batting .203.
“There’s times where he’s hitting the ball hard and he’s not getting results,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I feel like he’s been a little aggressive at times, swinging on the first pitch. His game plan is that we’re going out there and we’re going to be aggressive. He just hasn’t got results.
“We know the professional hitter he is. He’s a guy that controls the strike zone better than anybody else. He’s got power. He’s got the ability to use the whole field . . . It’s a little bit of both, not getting results [when] hitting the ball hard and being a little too aggressive.”
Francisco Lindor and Mark Vientos also are off to slow starts. Lindor was batting .239 and .077 with runners in scoring position. Vientos was hitting .145 and .048 with runners in scoring position before launching a solo homer in the second inning Thursday.
“His job is to go out there and control the strike zone and hit the ball hard,” Mendoza said of Vientos. “[He’s] consistently hitting balls over 100 mph [and] controlling the strike zone. When they come, they’ll come in bunches, so I’m not worried about it. I just want him to continue to believe in himself, continue to have fun. He’s a really good player and he showed that last year and he’ll get there.”
The Mets have led MLB with a 2.36 ERA and it’s covered for the offense’s slow start. Still, this is a team expected to hit. Alonso is hot, but the rest of the lineup needs to warm up.
Mets honor Black history
The Mets played the Twins in Minnesota on baseball’s Jackie Robinson Day on Tuesday, so they celebrated the history of Black Mets players and significant historical figures by making Thursday their annual Black Legacy Game. Mets great Darryl Strawberry was on hand as the team’s signature guest.
Asked about Robinson’s significance to him, Strawberry said, “It’s highly respected of Jackie Robinson [for] setting the table. I don’t know if the players — especially the players of color — really know . . . all he had to endure. He endured everything, he took everything, all the burdens for all of us to be able to put on the uniform.”
Extra bases
The Mets placed Jose Siri on the 10-day injured list with a broken left tibia and optioned Justin Hagenman to Triple-A Syracuse. In corresponding moves, reliever Max Kranick was recalled and the contract of outfielder Jose Azocar was selected to the big-league club . . . Catcher Francisco Alvarez, who is coming back from surgery to remove a broken hamate bone in his left wrist, appear to be getting close to returning. He was scheduled to play back-to-back days for Syracuse and Mendoza said, “We will have a conversation after he gets through those two days and see if he needs more at-bats. If he feels like he’s ready to go, then we have a decision.” . . . Jeff McNeil (oblique strain) was scheduled to play centerfield on Thursday for Class A Port St. Lucie and then move back to the infield to play back-to-back games with either Syracuse or Double-A Binghamton on Saturday and Sunday . . . Paul Blackburn (right knee inflammation) is scheduled to pitch for Class A Brooklyn on Saturday. The goal is to stretch him out to 75 pitches and then decide whether to slot him in the rotation or have him pitch out of the bullpen.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
