A pair of points have plagued the Mets for a lot of this season: poor hitting with runners in scoring place and shaky protection within the infield.
President of Baseball Operations David Stearns mentioned Friday the staff wants to enhance in each areas.
Whereas noting he believes success with runners in scoring place might be “random,” Stearns added, “With that being said, we have not been good in that spot over the course of the year and more recently over the last 10 days [or] two weeks.”
He mentioned the gamers “are extremely aware of this, and sometimes you wonder, ‘Is this a good thing or a bad thing to be as aware of this as they all are?’ ”
Both approach, it’s one thing they’ll want to enhance upon.
They survived once more with no hit with runners in scoring place in Friday’s 4-2 win over Colorado, going 0-for-2 however getting three homers — two from Francisco Lindor and one other from Starling Marte.
One other flaw within the staff has been its infield protection, the place it has a number of the worst metrics in baseball.
Of the “uncharacteristic miscues,” as Stearns known as them, “I think we will clean [them] up. They’ve cost us a couple games. We understand how important every single out is.”
Francisco Alvarez was within the lineup Friday in opposition to a lefty, at the same time as his struggles this season have been particularly obvious versus southpaws.
Getting into Friday’s sequence opener in opposition to the Rockies at Citi Discipline, the catcher was simply 2-for-16 with no extra-base hits, with a .301 OPS in opposition to lefties, versus a .744 OPS this yr in opposition to right-handers.
He went 0-for-3 Friday.
Alvarez has usually been worse going through lefties than righties in his profession, however to not this diploma.
It’s a part of an general poor begin to the season, which Stearns mentioned was due partly to the catcher lacking most of spring coaching with a fractured hamate bone following an offseason wherein Alvarez rebuilt his swing, calling him “a player that made a very significant swing change.”
“He got off to a late start and is probably fighting himself a little bit to this point,’’ Stearns said. “He hasn’t produced at the level he’s accustomed to producing, but is working really hard to continue to refine his swing to get it to a place he feels really comfortable with. We all expect to see better production going forward.”
Carlos Mendoza disregarded the suggestion Alvarez has been unhealthy in opposition to lefties and mentioned his tough begin was extra a product of not hitting properly when going through excessive velocity.
Alvarez’s poor numbers in opposition to fastballs have definitely been a problem this yr, one thing the catcher has tried to deal with as he works to enhance his play together with his new swing.
With the Mets starting a stretch Friday night time of 10 straight days with out an off day, they intend to insert a sixth starter into the rotation, with Paul Blackburn possible going in opposition to the Dodgers in Los Angeles after getting back from proper knee irritation.
As they watch for the injured Sean Manaea (indirect) and Frankie Montas (lat) to get wholesome and make their season debuts within the rotation, Stearns mentioned Friday the rotation would proceed to travel between a five- and six-man rotation, relying on the schedule and the pitchers’ workloads.
Montas has made two rehab begins with Class-A Brooklyn and Stearns mentioned the right-hander remains to be on tempo to be again in the midst of June, whereas Manaea — who confronted hitters for the primary time Thursday since his harm — stays behind him.
Manaea is predicted to face hitters once more earlier than starting a rehab task.
The Mets named Lew Sherr as their new president of enterprise operations on Friday.
Sherr is the CEO and government director of the U.S. Tennis Affiliation and oversees the U.S. Open. Sherr replaces Scott Havens, who stepped down from the position this week. … Chris Devenski returned to the Mets bullpen Friday after being recalled from Triple-A Syracuse.
The best-hander changed Brandon Waddell after the lefty was optioned to Triple-A after pitching 5 innings in reduction of Griffin Canning in Wednesday’s loss to the White Sox.
