The brand new pope could or will not be a Chicago Cubs fan, which may make for some unlucky circumstances for the Mets this weekend with the Cubs coming to Citi Area for a three-game set. There may be already a perception in New York that God hates the Mets, so possibly we’ll have a solution as as to if or not that’s the case by Sunday night time.
At 22-16, the Cubs come into the sequence atop the NL East standings with the third-best file within the NL. They’re anticipated to name up their prime pitching prospect Cade Horton to start out Saturday since Shota Imanaga landed on the injured checklist with a hamstring pressure. The Cubs have been debating utilizing former Mets starter Chris Flexen, who’s at the moment pitching out of the bullpen in Chicago, however the right-hander was used twice this week in opposition to the San Francisco Giants, eliminating that risk.
But it surely’s one other former Met lighting up the Second Metropolis, Pete Crow-Armstrong. The 23-year-old outfielder, who was drafted by the Mets within the first spherical in 2020, is hitting .265 with 9 house runs in what may very well be a breakout marketing campaign. He poses a risk on the basepaths along with his velocity, having stolen 12 bases and been caught solely twice. Statcast ranks him because the sixteenth quickest participant in baseball, protecting 29.4 toes per second.
He’s additionally made dynamic catches in middle area and charges as among the best middle fielders with a powerful arm, a ton of vary and wonderful route-running.
Whereas Crow-Armstrong exhibits no indicators of slowing down, his underlying numbers on the plate do counsel {that a} reasonable regression may very well be coming. He chases quite a lot of pitches, particularly breaking balls. A 44% chase price is likely one of the worst amongst all certified hitters. This results in weak contact and strikeouts. The league will modify to him and he’ll have to regulate as effectively.
Technically, Crow-Armstrong by no means had the possibility to turn into a Met for the reason that Mets despatched him to the Cubs in a commerce for Javier Baez and Trevor Williams in 2021. It was a controversial commerce on the time since Crow-Armstrong had barely spent any time within the Mets system and was injured on the time of the commerce deadline.
The Mets rapidly fell out of competition for the postseason and Baez was not re-signed. Williams proved helpful as a long-reliever/spot-starter in 2022, making the commerce considerably worthwhile, however the commerce remained a sore topic for a couple of years.
Former common supervisor Brodie Van Wagenen and his successor, Zack Scott, traded away a handful of first- and second-round picks throughout their tenures, after which there was the Kumar Rocker debacle. All of it left the Mets’ system devoid of high-end expertise wherever aside from the infield.
But it surely’s secure to say the Mets have since recovered, at the moment sitting on the prime of their very own divisional standings with a 24-14 file.
Tyrone Taylor is enjoying excellent middle area protection and he’s been hitting extra as of late as effectively. Taylor won’t hit for lots of energy, however he runs the bases in addition to he cuts down runners, permitting him to show singles into doubles and doubles into triples. He has an OPS of 1.198 over his final 10 video games with two doubles, a triple, a house run, three RBI and a stolen base.
Between Taylor, Luisangel Acuña and Jeff McNeil, the underside of the Mets’ order is placing a ton of strain on opposing hitters. They’re extending innings and making it robust for them to throw their finest stuff to the three heavy hitters on the prime of the order, Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso.
And talking of Soto, he’s trying extra just like the Soto we’ve come to know. The slugger has hit 4 house runs during the last week and two Wednesday to assist the Mets earn a key NL sequence win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Soto has hit .286 with a .977 OPS over his final 15 video games, strolling 12 occasions and placing out solely 9.
With one other key NL matchup on faucet this weekend, the Mets will want all the firepower. Perhaps it’s time to reintroduce their very own pope: Grimace.
