SAN FRANCISCO — While the Mets remain open to adding another bat to the lineup at the trade deadline, president of baseball operations David Stearns doesn’t think they necessarily need one. If Francisco Lindor gets his bat back, the lineup may not need another one.
The shortstop went 3-for-5 with a home run and a double Friday night in the Mets’ 8-1 win over the San Francisco Giants. This came after snapping an 0-for-31 stretch Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels. A crucial part of the Mets’ lineup, Lindor suddenly lost his swing in late June and hasn’t looked the same since, but there are signs that he’s snapping out of this funk, mostly by using all fields.
Friday, the switch-hitter hit a single to center, homered to right field from the left side of the plate and drove an opposite-field double to the left field corner.
“Every time he’s using the whole field and going the other way, that’s when he’s at his best,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “First at-bat, he’s not trying to do too much, [he hits a] line drive up the middle with a nice and easy swing, under control. Then, he pulls the ball for a homer. But then you look at that last at-bat against [right-hander Camilo] Doval, he’s able to drive the ball the other way like that, that’s when he’s at his best.”
The All-Star team leader has been critical of himself as of late and hasn’t shied away from saying that he doesn’t look like himself or feel like himself at the plate. Some of it has been luck, but the 31-year-old hesitates to use that as an excuse. He’s gone through cold streaks in the past, though typically, they’ve come at the start of the season, not in the middle of the summer.
He just sort of lost a feel for his swing. The only explanation is that throughout the course of a baseball season, it happens.
“I work, I feel good, and then it just disappears,” Lindor said. “It’s just human nature.”
There was speculation that the broken pinky toe he suffered in early June in Los Angeles was behind the struggles. Lindor played through pain, but couldn’t swing as hard as he would have liked at times. He insists that it’s fine and healed now, but he’s been known to play through injuries in the past.
Regardless of what the issue is, the Mets need him. He’s been hitting second since about mid-June instead of batting leadoff like he did last season. The move to batting leadoff last year spurred the Mets’ turnaround, and shaking up the top four this year has proven effective as well.
Currently, he has an OPS+ of 118, 18 points above league average. Last year, during an MVP-caliber season, it was 139, but 118 is more on-par with his typical career numbers. His expected numbers are still good. The Mets badly need him to perform at his typical level, but the reality is that athletes aren’t robots who can perform on command.
It takes talent, work and repetition to perfect a swing and sometimes, the body just doesn’t cooperate. But now that it’s starting to cooperate again, Lindor credited hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, and coaching assistant Rafael Fernandez. He also credited the team for picking him up when he was down.
Team wins matter more than his own individual results.
“You rely on the people around you and just hope that you get one or two hits,” Lindor said. “If not, as long as the team wins, the nights are a little shorter.”
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