Francisco Lindor gets his 30/30 season, becomes fourth Mets player ever to do so

NEW YORK — Francisco Lindor dealt an emphatic fist pump as he watched as his long drive sail over the right-center field wall.

It was a home run to remember for the Mets shortstop on Wednesday night at Citi Field. It helped the 29-year-old become just the fourth player in team history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the season.

"It’s been on my mind, for sure. I can’t lie,' Lindor said. "It’s numbers that I wanted to get to. I know my teammates were pulling for it, as well as my coaches. It meant a lot.

"It meant a lot to run around the bases and appreciate what was happening and wishing my family was here and then looking up to the stands and seeing my wife and my daughters up there. It’s definitely pretty cool."

Lindor joined David Wright, Howard Johnson (three times) and Darryl Strawberry as the only other Mets players to accomplish the feat. Wright is the last to reach 30-30 for the Mets in 2007.

A big day for Francisco Lindor

Lindor entered the Wednesday's doubleheader against the Marlins with 27 home runs and turned it into a night that he will not soon forget.

In the bottom of the first inning in the first game, Lindor poked his 28th home run to left-center field from the right side of the plate against left-hander Braxton Garrett.

In the second game against righty Johnny Cueto, Lindor flipped around to the left side and delivered a solo home run from the Mets' cleanup spot to lead off the second inning. Then in the fourth inning, he caught a hanging slider from Cueto and deposited it over the wall for No. 30.

Lindor gave credit to his family and coaches for being able to achieve the milestone. And a tip from Pete Alonso helped expedite the process.

"This is one of those numbers that you put your work in day and day out, you stay healthy, at the end of the year, you kind of reach those numbers," Lindor said. "I wasn’t by myself. Today, actually, I asked Pete, like, ‘Pete, how do I hit this guy?’ And he gave me his approach, his plan. I just went into the box trying to be like Pete in a way and it worked out."

Joining his idols

Lindor constantly explains that he doesn't play for the numbers on the back of his baseball card, but it' ha's hard to avoid their presence when they are brought up on a daily basis by members of the New York media.

Earlier in his career with Cleveland, no one told him when he was approaching certain milestones. He could not avoid that this time around, but he was happy to join some of his idols, namely Barry Larkin and Carlos Beltran, in the process.

"There’s a lot of guys that kind of set the path for me," Lindor said. "Probably they weren’t trying to but the path is there, I’m just following it. It’s a blessing."

Showalter knows that the historical significance is not lost on Lindor.

"He takes on the responsibility of playing and being there for everybody," Showalter said. "He’s always a guy who you can trust with things. It’s not more than just a contract, he just keeps grinding. He puts yesterday’s successes and failures behind him."

Showing up on a daily basis

For the first time in his career, Lindor has eclipsed 30 home runs, stolen bases and doubles. After Wednesday night's game, Lindor has 33 doubles and 30 stolen bases.

Both the 30-30 and 30-30-30 milestones are credit to Lindor's ability to "post up" and be available throughout the grind of a 162-game season. He has only missed two games in 2023.

"What a great example he is for these young players up here to see how important it is and good things can happen if you keep posting," Showalter said. "We talk a lot during the year, the last couple of years, that the game will be good to you if you just stay true to you. Sometimes you don’t think it’s going to let you up off the deck, but just keep being true to it and you’ll get a return."

Midway through June, Lindor was batting .211 and he had only collected 12 home runs and seven stolen bases. After Wednesday night's three-home run performance, Lindor is now slashing .254/.334/.469 with 30 home runs, 96 RBI and 104 runs with four games to go.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Francisco Lindor gets 30/30 season, 4th NY Mets player to do so