A Welcome Sight From the Mets’ Offense

The New York Mets’ offense was actually really good in 2020, but at the same time, they were merely meh. That kind of statement sounds weird and doesn’t make sense at all, but it’s 2020 and it’s the Mets, so I think that explains it well enough. I’ll keep going, though.

If we look specifically at team wRC+ from the regular season, the Mets posted a mark of 122. This tied them with the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers for the best wRC+ in baseball. If they landed at the top of this particular leaderboard, then how the heck did they finish with a 26-34 record and tied for last in the NL East?

Well, there are a few reasons for that, but part of it is the fact that New York didn’t score enough runs. This unit tied for the league’s best wRC+ and was second to only the Atlanta Braves in team on-base percentage (.348), but, you know, scoring runs was hard. The Mets pushed 286 runners across the plate over the shortened 60-game season, which put them right in the middle of the pack at 13th place.

A .732 OPS and 100 wRC+ as a squad with runners in scoring position (ranking 24th and 23rd in baseball, respectively) will do that. But hey, we’re not here to talk about the negative — the team’s collective wRC+ was an encouraging sight, especially since it was a continuation of what they accomplished in 2019 (104 wRC+, seventh-best in baseball).

While scrolling through FanGraphs leaderboards, I noticed something when looking at the league’s top qualified hitters in wRC+…there were three Mets within the top 30: Dominic Smith (sixth), Michael Conforto (13th), and Brandon Nimmo (23rd). Naturally, I wondered to myself, “Well, shoot, I wonder how often this has happened recently.”

As it turns out, the 2020 occurrence was the first time it happened if we look back in Mets history to 2010. Here’s a quick rundown of how many qualified hitters found their way into the top 30 of FanGraphs’ wRC+ leaderboard and who they were.

(For this super arbitrary exercise, the player had to remain with the Mets all year. Thems the rules)

This will be off topic for a moment, but it looks like Lucas Duda doesn’t get nearly as much love as he deserves, which our own Mike Mayer pointed out on the Twitter machine this week.

Shifting gears back to present (and recent) day, it’s hard not to get excited about what’s to come for the Mets offense. They do have their issues and adding another bat or two (*cough* Francisco Lindor, George Springer, and/or J.T. Realmuto *cough*) will certainly help. However, as it’s been mentioned many times before — and likely on these virtual pages — the core group on the position player side of the roster is incredibly strong.

What stands out to me when looking at the above table is the type of players that were landing on it prior to 2018. Outside of potentially Duda before things went downhill fast (his age-28 and age-29 seasons), we had already seen what was likely the peak of each player’s career. Or, at the very least, we already had proof of what they were capable of in the big leagues. That’s very true for Jose Reyes and David Wright (single tear), Curtis Granderson is the man but was already in his mid-30s by the time he landed in Queens, and Yoenis Cespedes‘ first full year in New York was his age-30 season.

For Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, Nimmo, Smith, and Conforto, it’s not outrageous to think the best is yet to come. As a quick refresher, here’s what their ages will be on Opening Day in 2021 (unless the world continues to end):

— McNeil: 28 (he’ll be 29 a week later)

— Alonso: 26

— Nimmo: 28

— Smith: 25

— Conforto: 28

Phew, man, that’s exciting and means the time is now to build around these dudes and create a legitimate competitive window where the playoffs are a distinct possibility for the at least the next few years.

It was also encouraging to see the Mets perform this well overall on offense without the production many were expecting to see from McNeil (who didn’t get real hot until September) and Alonso (who dealt with his fair share of inconsistency before catching fire during the last week or so).

The hope for 2020 is quite obvious: for Nimmo to do what he normally does, for Smith and Conforto to continue building on their respective breakouts, and for McNeil and Alonso to re-join them amongst the league’s top offensive weapons. Add in a key external piece or two, and the rest is gravy on top.

New York has seen its number of qualified players among the top 30 in wRC+ grow consistently each year since not having one take up residence in this group during the 2017 season. Let’s hope the trend continues in the right direction for 2021.