Even though the New York Mets had a horrible month of June, it does not mean that we can’t hand out awards as to which players shined.
If you ask any New York Mets fan about how the team played in the month of June, it is probably a month that they want to take out of their memories for a long time. In the 26 games that were played, Mickey Callaway’s squad had a combined record of 5-21.
At the beginning of June, the Mets were 27-27 and they were five games out of first place in the NL East. Right now, they are in fourth place and they find themselves 14.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the division.
On offense, the Mets managed to score only 89 runs, which is the worst in the National League. That is a low total for a team that did manage to hit 27 home runs, which is ten more than any other team in the league. Plus, they had a collective batting average of .210.
Meanwhile, on the pitching side, the Mets had a 4.67 ERA as a team (12th in the NL) and the team WHIP of 1.36 was tied for the third-worst in the league. Out of the 21 losses that the team had, 12 of them came from their starting pitchers, including four from the ace, Jacob deGrom. Of course, it doesn’t help when New York never seems to put up a crooked number on offense for their ace.
So, before the Mets can turn the calendar to the month of July and the trade deadline will soon be at the center of attention, let’s take a look at who takes home our monthly awards for June.
Hitter Of The Month: OF Brandon Nimmo
Nimmo is named the hitter of the month for the second consecutive month and the power that he showed was one of the reasons why. He had six home runs in June, which was two more than any other player on the Mets.
It is a lot to ask Nimmo to be the team’s best power hitter while getting on-base consistently and the walk total took a little bit of a hit in June. After having 15 walks in May, that number dropped all the way down to eight this past month.
As the walks went down, the strikeouts went up as his 39 K’s in June were 17 more than he had in May (22). If Nimmo can get back to showing patience at the plate in addition to his power, that could take his game to another level.
If there were another choice for hitter of the month, it would probably be Wilmer Flores. Flores doesn’t get as much playing time, but he has been the regular first baseman with Jay Bruce on the disabled list. Flores’ 13 RBIs were tied with Nimmo for the most on the Mets in June and this is while having ten fewer hits (14).
Pitcher Of The Month: SP Jacob deGrom
As long as deGrom is on the team, he is the odds-on favorite to win this honor every month. He only had one win to show for it in June (1-4 in six starts), but the other stats tell a different story than his win-loss record.
In those six starts, he had a 2.36 ERA and had 49 strikeouts to nine walks in 42 innings of work. His 49 K’s were the most on the team and the most in the National League (four ahead of Max Scherzer).
The last time that deGrom allowed more than three runs in a game was in his second start of the season against the Miami Marlins (April 10). While the frustration of losing has to be getting to him, he has still put up results that have to put him in the running to start the All-Star Game for the NL.
The rotation had a strong month as a whole despite the lack of wins. Zack Wheeler did not have a win in six starts (0-2). However, he had a 3.26 ERA and gave up only two home runs. His 38.2 innings were the most he has thrown in a single month in his career.
Biggest Surprise(s): OF Jose Bautista and RP Tim Peterson
The expectations weren’t that high on Bautista when the Mets signed him back in May. He is well past his prime, but the 37-year-old has been the second best outfielder on the team behind Brandon Nimmo even though he has a .218 average for the season.
During the month of June, he hit .250 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. He found a way to get on-base at a consistent rate as he had a .434 on-base percentage and he drew 18 walks. The 18 walks were the most on the team and ten of his 14 hits went for extra bases as well (seven doubles).
On the pitching side, Tim Peterson made his Major League debut on May 30 and has slowly become one of those pitchers that Callaway trusts behind Familia and Gsellman. The 27-year-old shows good command of the strike zone and gets outs at a consistent rate.
In seven outings in June (9.1 innings), he gave up a run on five hits, struck out 11 batters, and walked one while holding the opposition to a .156 average. Before Sunday’s game, he did not allow a right-handed hitter to get a hit against him.
With the way the Mets bullpen has been this season, Peterson is a good success story that people should be rooting for. The 20th Round pick back in 2012 is taking advantage of his opportunity.
Biggest Disappointment(s): RP Jeurys Familia and Robert Gsellman
When you look back at the early stages of the season, the two relievers that Callaway relied on the most were Familia and Gsellman. Now, as the Mets try to somehow fix their bullpen, those two pitchers are trying to find their old dominant form themselves.
The month of June did not begin on a good note for Familia as he went on the disabled list on June 8 due to a sore right shoulder. While he came off the DL nine days later, he has not been the same pitcher since. In eight appearances, he had an 8.22 ERA, did not record a single save, and teams hit .405 against him (15 hits allowed).
This is not good for an organization that is hoping to get the most value for Familia at the trade deadline when you consider that the closer is a free agent at the end of the year. Without any save opportunities, it is going to be hard to showcase him to a contending team.
As for the potential closer of the future, Gsellman did not fare much better than Familia. In ten appearances, the right-hander had a 7.11 ERA and allowed ten runs on 11 hits in 12.2 innings of work. He gave up more runs than any reliever on the team despite having a batting average against of only .234 (20 points lower than it was in May).
Gsellman has still been one of the better surprises of the season for the Mets. With that being said, he already has appeared in 34 games this year and it is not that easy for a former starter to take that kind of a workload in the bullpen.
While the bullpen isn’t the biggest of the Mets issues by any means, Familia and Gsellman have to close out games when they get those rare opportunities.
