Struggling Mets hitters seeing signs of a turnaround

HOUSTON — Two weeks ago, the Mets were discussing how they could get Francisco Lindor a day off. Now they can’t take his bat out of the lineup.

It was around that same time the team sat Daniel Vogelbach to give the designated hitter a mental pause of sorts, and Pete Alonso went down after getting hit with a fastball in the wrist in Atlanta. Since then, Vogelbach has shown signs of recapturing the power that was once his calling card and Tommy Pham has been used as more than just a substitution for Alonso. Now, he has more than earned a spot in the lineup.

The Mets are far from being out of the woods when it comes to changing the direction of the 2023 season, but some key position players are showing signs of a turnaround. Manager Buck Showalter won’t say it’s validating, but the club and its analytics team have long backed the entire lineup and been in favor of giving everyone enough playing time to be able to figure things out.

“They’re easy to trust,” Showalter said. “I see the work. What you don’t trust is when they’re not doing the work and they’ve given in to it. Their want-to is off the charts and the skill level is there. Sometimes we think, we’ve done this in the past and that’s exactly what we’re going to do for the rest of our career.”

Vogelbach, who didn’t play for eight days after a dismal stretch of strikeouts and groundouts, has two home runs and four RBI over his last four games. He’s 3-for-12 with a 1.218 OPS.

Pham has been impressive on both sides of the ball. At the plate, he comes into the second of three games against the Houston Astros riding a five-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games. Over that span, he has hit .318 with seven runs, six doubles, two home runs, 12 RBI, two walks and a steal. He has a .931 OPS over those 11 games and he’s been key in driving in runs. His .364 average with runners in scoring position leads the team.

Pham was signed to be the team’s fourth outfielder in the offseason and hit against left-handed pitching. But he has hit righties and lefties well this season and shown that he’s more than just a platoon option.

The Mets analytics team received some scrutiny for their handling of Vogelbach, but Showalter has credited them with improving Pham’s defense by adjusting his positioning in left field.

“I’ve been more impressed with how he’s been playing defensively,” Showalter said. “When you’ve done something for a long time and you’ve got confidence that you can do it. I think he was more, not upset, but disappointed that guys haven’t seen what he can do offensively and defensively when he got it going. Guys with a track record make it easy to trust that. But as the years creep up, there are some other thoughts that can creep into players minds and Tommy has obviously dispelled any of that that might come up.”

However, the improvement at the plate from Lindor might be the most important aspect for the Mets right now. He’s integral to the success of the team as a vocal leader in the clubhouse and an important part of the team on both sides of the ball. The Mets tend to go the way their leaders go, but Alonso and Brandon Nimmo can’t be the only leaders producing.

Lindor had struggled from both sides of the plate in June, but especially the left side. He collected two hits from the left side Monday night in an 11-1 win over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park, including a two-run homer off Hunter Brown. He’s now two home runs away from 200 for his career.

Lindor’s wife, Katia, gave birth to the couple’s second child over the weekend, a girl named Amapola Chloe. Maybe it’s something about being a girl dad, but he’s looked more like he did last season over the last few weeks. Lindor recorded a .948 OPS with three doubles and four home runs in his last 13 games.

“I’m making adjustments every single day,” Lindor said. “I won’t tell you what they are because I want [the pitchers] to find out themselves. But I’m seeing the ball well and trying to put good swings on it. I continue to say it’s been an uphill fight. I can’t wait until it gets a little flatter for me.”

Three wins in six tries mean nothing to a team that hasn’t shown it can string together wins consistently. But the Mets might be showing signs of life at the right time.

“The game can be boring to cover if it followed a script every night,” Showalter said. “But it doesn’t. Sometimes it doesn’t follow a script for quite some time, but if you stay true to the game, you usually get it back.”