Despite selling at the trade deadline, the Mets have finally found a groove and are playing some consistently good baseball. After beating the Braves on Monday night, New York has won seven of its last nine games. As usual, shortstop Francisco Lindor has been in the middle of all the action.
He contributed to an unexpected offensive outburst at Truist Park with this three-run homer:
Francisco Lindor with a 3-run shot! 💪 pic.twitter.com/K0ZxDvyFgu
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 22, 2023
This was Lindor’s 23rd home run of the year, and 69th since joining the Mets (nice). We’ve already established on a couple of occasions that there will always be Lindor haters out there (for whatever reason). For instance, I’m sure there are people out there saying, “Well, yea — he’s only hitting now because the Mets gave up on their season.”
But that’s just not true. He’s been raking at the plate since his second daughter was born.
Francisco Lindor in the Amapola Era
(since June 17th):53 games
.308/.396/.538
41 runs
31 RBI
23 XBH (10 HR)
15-for-16 in SB attempts#LGM #LFGM pic.twitter.com/sjHQ4v9YbA— Matthew Searle (@searlebaseball) August 20, 2023
This extended hot streak has seen his season-long statistics all lift, as well. Through 534 plate appearances, Lindor is hitting .254/.335/.469 with 23 home runs, 28 doubles, 78 RBI, 81 runs scored, and 21 steals. His fWAR is up to 5.1, which is the second straight season he’s broken the 5.0 plateau. That number is also among the best in baseball:
Top 5 players in Major League Baseball this season by fWAR:
Shohei Ohtani 8.5
Mookie Betts 6.4
Ronald Acuña Jr 6.2
Freddie Freeman 6.0
Francisco Lindor 5.1— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) August 22, 2023
His overall performance got me thinking about some end-of-season awards. He finished ninth in 2022 NL MVP voting but didn’t get recognized in any other way. Lindor should once again be in contention for a Gold Glove Award. But if things continue the way they are, he should be the National League shortstop Silver Slugger Award winner.
Lindor has already won this honor twice in consecutive years from 2017-18 with Cleveland. Silver Sluggers are decided by coaches and managers, so the best player from a statistical sense might not always win.
When we look at the stats, though, Lindor should be the clear frontrunner. Here are some of his numbers and rankings among players with at least 100 plate appearances as a shortstop in 2023:
- Games played: 124 (1st)
- Plate appearances: 534 (2nd)
- Home runs: 23 (1st)
- Doubles: 28 (1st)
- Runs scored: 81 (1st)
- RBI: 78 (1st)
- Steals: 21 (3rd)
- On-base percentage: .335 (6th)
- Slugging percentage: .469 (3rd)
- OPS: .804 (3rd)
- wRC+: 123 (T-2nd)
In a few cases — like slugging percentage and OPS — Lindor is beaten out by Tommy Edman and Matt McLain. They’ve played 43 and 53 games at shortstop so far this year, respectively.
I’m sorry for those still trying to deny it, but Francisco Lindor is a terrific all-around baseball player. He’s also one of the best shortstops in the game. And by several metrics, he’s been the best at his position in 2023. If he doesn’t take home a Silver Slugger Award this winter (especially if his above rankings don’t change much), then this whole thing is rigged, folks.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on X: @mmusico8.
