The Mets are more fun when the rookies come to play
New York blows out the Nationals thanks to a five-homer night. Plus, the club is simply more fun when the 'Baby Mets' are in the lineup.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets blew out the Nationals by a score of 11-5 on Tuesday night (box)
1B Pete Alonso clubbed his 42nd home run of the season in the victory
LHP José Quintana had his longest outing of the season, allowing just one run over seven innings with four strikeouts
C Francisco Álvarez broke out of his slump in a big way, going 2-for-3 with a home run (22), three RBI, a walk and three runs scored on the night
Álvarez becomes the second catcher in MLB history to hit over 20 home runs with 50 or more RBI in their age 21 or younger season (Johnny Bench, 1969)
CF Brandon Nimmo continued his career-high power surge, hitting two home runs on the night (21, 22) while scoring three runs
2B Ronny Mauricio recorded the first RBI of his major league career with a run-scoring single in the win
All four ‘Baby Mets’ played on Tuesday night and combined to go 5-for-13 with a home run, double, triple, six RBI, walk and five runs scored
SS Francisco Lindor connected on his 26th home run of the season, tied for the most he’s hit in a year as a member of the organization
New York’s offense hit five home runs and went 3-for-4 with runners in scoring position on the night
The path is clear for the Mets to hire David Stearns as the President of Baseball Operations (The Athletic)
Stearns and the Mets are “down the road” in their discussions (SNY)
RHP Carlos Carrasco is expected to miss the remainder of the 2023 season due to a weight room injury (Mets.com)
Prospect Watch 🔎
RHP Blade Tidwell (No. 10 prospect, Double-A): 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K (loss)
INF Jeremiah Jackson (No. 22 prospect, Double-A): 3-for-3, 2B, RBI
OF Ryan Clifford (No. 6 prospect, High-A): 1-for-3, HR (22), 2 RBI, run scored
SS Marco Vargas (No. 8 prospect, Single-A): 2-for-3, 2 RBI, 3 BB, SB, run scored
Injury Updates 🏥
Carlos Carrasco broke the pinky finger on his pitching hand and is not expected to return this season
Roster Moves 🗞️
RHP Carlos Carrasco placed on 15-day injured list (broken right pinky)
RHP Sam Coonrod recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
Who’s Hot 🔥
Ronny Mauricio is 6-for-15 (.400) with a double, an RBI and two stolen bases in his first four major league games
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (64-74) vs. Nationals (62-77)
Where: Nationals Park — Washington, D.C.
Starting pitchers: RHP José Butto (0-2, 4.30 ERA) vs. RHP Joan Adon (2-1, 5.90 ERA)
When: 7:05 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
The Mets are simply more fun when the ‘babies’ are in the lineup ✍️
It’s amazing what a little youth can do for the vibes around a baseball team. Long considered dead (and standings-wise, they still are), the Mets have become significantly more watchable in recent days.
Credit for this sudden surge in entertainment value goes in large part to the crop of youngsters that has recently made their returns to the roster. While promising rookie catcher Francisco Álvarez has been with the club since April, infielder Mark Vientos returned off the injured list just over a week ago with teammates Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio (making his major league debut) following him four days later.
If you’d suspend your critical eye and engage me in a little small sample size theatre, for a moment, the Mets are 5-3 since Vientos returned from the injured list and 3-1 since Baty and Mauricio were called up last Friday. But it really isn’t about the win-loss record, now is it?
No, it’s that for the first time in the second half that this is a baseball team that is actually worth watching most nights. That couldn’t be said for quite awhile as the team predictably lost their luster after trading away six players at the deadline and, to be entirely honest, weren’t even all that fun to watch prior to that when at full strength.
Now, though, New York’s watchability has certainly increased some. Not only has the quality of play improved – hey, they did just play the roil of September spoiler by taking a pretty big series from the AL West contending Seattle Mariners – but these ‘Baby Mets’ are actually giving fans something to look forward to. The same could not have been said about Rafael Ortega, Jonathan Araúz or Tim Locastro, no offense. Even D.J. Stewart, who has been a wonderful story, fun to watch and maybe has a chance of playing his way into a potential bench role with the club next season, isn’t offering all-that-much juice when it comes to hopes for 2024 and beyond.
The same can’t be said for these kids, though. Álvarez may have been in the midst of a mighty slump prior to Tuesday night’s victory, but he is making his mark and became just the second catcher of all-time to hit over 20 home runs with over 50 RBI in his age 21-or-younger season. The only other player to ever do that at the major league level was Johnny Bench, a Hall of Famer considered to be the greatest catcher who ever played.
Then you have the likes of Baty and Vientos. While both struggled mightily throughout the early parts of the year, they’re also both incredibly young with limited experience at this level and the book should not even be close to written on either of them. For context, even though it feels as if Baty (who’s still only 23) has been around for quite some time he’s still only appeared in 101 games in his career – not even close to a full season’s worth. And while Vientos (also still just 23) made his debut even sooner last year he’s played even less, playing in just 59 career games in the majors.
Mauricio is the true wild card here. Some have advocated for him to have been called up for weeks if not months prior to it finally happening last week, while others have suggested that he wasn’t major league ready or potentially even overhyped among the Mets young crop of top prospects. It’s been an extremely limited sample size thus far, but in the first four games he’s played in he’s certainly brought an extra gear of energy to this club.
How many Mets can you remember hitting a ball as hard as he did in his first career at-bat? Just so you know, it’s actually the hardest ball that any Mets player has hit in the entire 2023 season. That thing had prime Giancarlo Stanton level movement on it… phew. He’s also been a menace on the base paths despite only reaching base six times in 15 tries so far in his brief major league career, going 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts.
Most of us have long accepted that there is no rainbow at the end of this season for the Mets and to quit worrying about final scores or the standings, but we still pine for an entertaining product that makes it worth the two-and-a-half hours we spend watching SNY each night. That was taken from Mets fans for awhile, but the tides may now be turning with this late-season youth movement.
The book is already closed on 2023, but it sure makes things a lot more enjoyable to watch.
Around the League 🚩
Astros 2B José Altuve homered three times (and in four straight at-bats dating back to Monday) in the club’s 14-1 drubbing over the rival Rangers
Yankees DH Giancarlo Stanton hit the 400th home run of his career to carry the team to their 8th win in nine games
Cubs 2B Christopher Morel delivered a monstrous pinch-hit, three-run home run to cap a six-run 7th inning in Chicago’s big 11-8 win vs the Giants
Rays 2B Brandon Lowe connected on the second walk-off home run of his career as Tampa Bay downed the Red Sox in extra innings, 8-6
The miserable season for the White Sox continues as they lost to the Royals courtesy of a walk-off balk in the bottom of the 9th