mets nationals father's day
Courtesy IG: @mets

Mets fans are disappointed in Francisco Lindor. But let’s put his struggles into context. 

Panicking is second nature at this point as a fan of a franchise that is notorious for signing baseball stars just for them to greatly underperform time and time again.

Francisco Lindor is not one of those athletes.

If Lindor was the only player underperforming on a team where he is supposed to be the all-star, that would be a different story. But it’s really hard to get into a groove when an athlete has two of his teammates placed on the injured list every week.

Let’s take a deep dive into Lindor’s time on the Mets so far.

Francisco Lindor
Courtesy IG: @lindor12bc

In the two months Lindor has been with the Mets, he has had 28 hits, 3 homers, 9 RBI, 21 free passes, and three stolen bases over 148 plate appearances.

It’s not great but in comparison to the rest of the Mets lineup, he ranks second runs, ranks third in hits and home runs, and leads in walks.

It’s not like Lindor isn’t getting on base either.

Taking the injured Conforto, McNeil, and Alonso out of the equation, Lindor leads the Mets lineup in OBP and isn’t even in the top five for strikeouts.

While he may not be providing his usual amount of run support or offensive talent, Mets fans have been absurdly dramatic, and rather harsh on the young shortstop.

Looking at the most tangible aspects of his defensive metrics, he’s turned 24 double plays,  already has 2 DRS and 5 OAA, and leads the team in assists at 93.

It’s unreasonable to put all the blame on Lindor for underperforming when the league-wide batting average is the lowest it’s ever been, tied with the 1968 season.

When there is one outlier, it’s understandable to think of that person as the issue.

But when an entire lineup is struggling to translate hits into runs and the majority of the starting lineup is injured, one player can’t be responsible.

 

A long island native, Tatiana is a 21-year-old health studies student, an EMT, and runs her own small business. A self-proclaimed "loud New York sports fan" with a passion for baseball she loves to spend her free time writing about anything and everything about the sport. Follow her on Twitter for more of her work! @TatianaAudley