Mets Player Meter: Position Players, June 15-28

The Mets had an eventful and generally brutal two weeks. The team had a 3-10 record since the last player meter and saw manager Carlos Mendoza fired and replaced with Andy Green on an interim basis. It wasn’t all terrible, as Juan Soto continued his domination, and the rookie outfielders Carson Benge and AJ Ewing remained bright spots.

There’s not much to say about Juan Soto other than he continues to be fantastic for the Mets. Soto has a 210 wRC+ over the last two weeks and a wicked on-base percentage of .500. Despite missing two games with a sore back, Soto had eight games in which he got on base at least three times. He raised his average to .300 and maintained his NL-leading OPS of .973.

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AJ Ewing had one of the best two-week stretches of his young career, notching 10 RBIs in his last 13 games. During that stretch, he had five extra-base hits and two go-ahead RBI hits in the most recent series against Philadelphia. Like Ewing, Carson Benge continued to prove why he’ll be a big part of the Mets’ future in the second half of June. While not as hot as he was in the early half of the month, he still had a 103 wRC+ over the last two weeks with at least one hit in 11 of his last 15 games.

Bo Bichette turned in his best month as a Met, remaining remarkably consistent throughout June. His wRC+ of 158 in the first half of June was nearly matched with a wRC+ of 154 in the second-half. Bichette did struggle a bit on the road trip to Philadelphia, where he went 1 for 12 and was booed by Philly fans for choosing the Mets over them in free agency last offseason. The word was Bichette, and the Phillies were close to a deal before the Mets swooped in, but Bichette made it clear that it wasn’t that serious and they were just friends. Bichette rebounded following that series and has an active seven-game hitting streak.

Francisco Lindor made his long-awaited return from the IL, getting two hits, including a triple, in three games played. Lindor hasn’t played in back-to-back games yet as the training staff eases him back into action following his calf injury. Ronny Mauricio also returned from an IL stint and has looked lost in his small sample size. Going 1 for 10 with three strikeouts, Mauricio got a pinch-hit opportunity with the bases loaded Sunday against the Phillies, but hit an infield pop-up.

Marcus Semien landed on the IL after an ugly few weeks that involved a 1-for-19 stretch and a wRC+ of 51. However bad Semien was before his injury, his struggles pale in comparison to Brett Baty‘s latest stretch. Baty has just two hits in his last 40 plate appearances, with an OPS of .340 and a wRC+ of 26. Mark Vientos has at least slightly overcome his poop emoji in the last player meter. He hit three home runs in the last two weeks with a 128 wRC+, but an ugly string of errors has him fighting for playing time once again.

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The good news about Francisco Alvarez is that he has a 131 wRC+ over the last two weeks and appears to have picked up where he left off after missing time due to a knee injury. The bad news is that his 31.4 percent strikeout rate over that same stretch is hard to watch. Luis Torrens is trending down in his limited playing time since Alvarez’s return. Torrens went 4 for 22 in the second half of June with zero RBIs and five strikeouts.

Bless the hearts of Eric Wagaman and Jared Young as they fight hard to stay in the big leagues and try to help this sad Mets club. Wagaman had a 77 wRC+ in 22 plate appearances, mostly being used as a pinch hitter against left-handed pitching. He hit a pinch-hit two-run homer against the Chicago Cubs in a game that the Mets lost 4-3. Young appeared in 11 games, hitting two home runs with a wRC+ of 79.

MJ Melendez was sent down to Triple-A to make room for Tyrone Taylor, coming off the IL, after appearing in 10 games in the last two weeks. He registered an abysmal 36 wRC+ in those appearances, while Taylor has yet to get playing time.