The Mets were among baseball’s weakest defensive clubs in the morning of July 1. New York ranked 28th in the majors in defensive runs saved, but its gloves cost them 24 runs.
The Mets have made that setback into a plus a little over a month later. Since then, they have saved more runs than any other baseball team—28 to be exact. They should not let a few careless plays on Sunday in Seattle ruin the significant progress they have made in the battery and nearly everywhere else.
By the way, this enhancement is not limited to DRS. The Mets were 11 outs below normal through three months and 14 outs above average after that, according to Statcast’s outs above average.
What’s changed?
Different personnel
The obvious one is this one. The Mets have improved their defense by giving talented players greater playing time. Tyrone Taylor will play in the outfield, José Iglesias will be in the infield, and Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens will be behind the plate.
When Omar Narváez struggled behind the plate against the Mets in early May, I wondered if that was largely to blame. At the time, everyone in baseball owned a stolen base. The combination of Alvarez and Torrens has been noticeably superior at suppressing the running game since Narváez was removed from the equation. When I wrote the linked item on May 10, opposing teams were 52 for 55 when it came to stealing against the Mets; three months later, they are 50 for 73.
Torrens has caught nine out of fifteen attempts at a steal, which is absurd. Alvarez has also performed admirably, catching nine of his last 27 since coming back.
Despite sporadic playing time, Taylor is credited with eight defensive runs saved this season in the outfield. In that regard, he leads the Mets.
“Tyrone just does a good job fundamentally getting ready every single pitch, really coming hard out of his breaks,” said outfield coach Antoan Richardson. “He puts in the work daily to make sure he stays on top of it.”
Tyrone Taylor leads the Mets with eight defensive runs saved, a result of this and many other great catches. (USA Today/Isaiah J. Downing)
When Starling Marte returns, it will be interesting to watch how the Mets split up the playing time in right field. Jesse Winker is playing right field for the first time in a number of years, yet Marte is rated as one of the worst outfielders in the majors this season (-9 DRS).
The coaching staff knows the players better
Both Mike Sarbaugh, the infield coach, and Richardson discussed how their knowledge with the roster has grown during the season. Fielding coaches also go through a getting-to-know-you process, but we tend to focus more on the learning curve for new hitting or pitching coaches than for fielding coaches.
“We’re probably a little more direct with each other at this point in time,” Richardson said. “Early on, we were just trying to understand how best to communicate with each other. Now you know how to have the conversation.”
“The one thing is knowing when to address something and when not to,” said Sarbaugh. “You get a feel for how they understand what they’re doing out there and where you, as a coach, can help.”
More focus on preparation
Something that Richardson and Sarbaugh both value highly? The pre-pitch ritual of a player.
“You can have the best hands, you can have the best feet, but if you’re not on time, you’re not going to be able to maximize those strengths,” Sarbaugh said. “I try to get across to the guys it’s being consistent from the first pitch to the last pitch, as much as you can. That’s when you’re going to make the consistent plays.”
“It’s equally as important (in the outfield),” Richardson said. “Mistakes on the outfield seem to be more detrimental than mistakes on the infield. Being engaged on every single pitch is something we constantly talk about.”
How tough is that for 162 games a year, 150 pitches a night?
Sarbaugh quoted Vince Lombardi as saying that while striving for perfection may not be possible, it is possible to discover greatness along the way.
“It’s not going to be perfect every time,” he said, “but if we can be consistent more times than not, that’s when we’re going to make the plays.”
That helps to explain why certain players have grown since the beginning of the season. During the last six weeks, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil in particular have made some progress.
(Top photo of Harrison Bader: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)
