Twenty games into their season, the Mets enjoyed an off day Thursday as the winningest team in MLB.
After catching their breaths, they will kick off an important divisional homestand Friday at Citi Field with three games against the Phillies followed by four against the Braves.
Before then, here are five stats that are noteworthy about the Mets’ start to the season — aside from the ones you’ve likely heard plenty about, like six straight series wins or the team getting plunked 19 times in 20 games:
Coming through in the clutch
The Mets were often plagued by a lack of hits in big spots last season, but they have shown a knack for reversing that trend this season. As a team, they have hit .272 with runners in scoring position (sixth-best in MLB) and an even better .321 with runners in scoring position and two outs (third-best in MLB). In 2021, they hit .238 with runners in scoring position (sixth-worst) and .204 with runners in scoring position and two outs (third-worst).
The Mets’ offseason additions have helped in a big way on this front. With runners in scoring position and two outs, the Mets’ most productive hitters have been Eduardo Escobar (3-for-4), Starling Marte (5-for-8) and Mark Canha (5-for-9). Holdovers Jeff McNeil (6-for-18) and Francisco Lindor (6-for-21) have also hit well with runners in scoring position.
Better on the base paths
While the Mets’ baserunning has also been a big Achilles’ heel in recent years, it has largely been much improved early this season. Per FanGraphs’ Base Running statistic (BsR) — which takes into account stolen bases, caught stealings and other plays like taking extra bases or getting thrown out — the Mets ranked third in MLB at 3.3. It’s a long way from where they have finished in previous years: in 2021, their -13.5 BsR was fourth-worst in MLB; in 2020, their -11.1 was second-worst; and in 2019, their -17 was second-worst. They haven’t finished with a positive BsR since 2018, when they registered a mark of 2.6.
An aggressive Marte (4-for-6 in stolen bases) has helped the cause, with McNeil and Escobar also among MLB’s top 20 players in BsR. The Mets have run into 10 outs on the bases — the second-most in MLB entering Thursday — though manager Buck Showalter has typically said he does want those mistakes to limit his players’ aggressiveness.
Defensive improvements
The Mets rank seventh overall and third in the National League with a defensive efficiency of .723 — a stat by Baseball Reference that measures the percentage of balls in play that are converted into outs.
Other advanced metrics aren’t quite as kind to the Mets, with Baseball Savant rating their overall defense as -1 Outs Above Average (18th in MLB) and FanGraphs giving them -1 Defensive Runs Saved (19th in MLB).
Exit velocity down all-around
The Mets’ average exit velocities are some of the lowest in the league — both for their pitchers and hitters.
The Mets’ dominant pitching staff (thanks in large part to the rotation) has held opposing hitters to an average exit velocity of 87.5 mph (sixth-best in MLB) and a 33.8 hard-hit percentage (second-best in MLB). Their penchant for limiting hard contact has resulted in a team ERA of 2.93.
The Mets’ offense, meanwhile, has been making it work without a ton of hard contact of their own. As of Thursday, their average exit velocity was 87 mph (sixth-lowest in MLB) and their hard-hit percentage was 34 (third-lowest in MLB).
Bullpen hit and miss
There hasn’t been too much to worry about early for the Mets, but the bullpen might be the biggest area of concern to this point. While Mets relievers lead MLB with 11.06 strikeouts per nine innings, that has come with only five strikeouts in 6 ¹/₃ innings from Trevor May, who has struggled. In each of the last two seasons, May’s strikeout rate placed in the top 10 percent of MLB pitchers, but this year he has a career-low mark of 16.1 percent.
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