When it rains, it pours. The Mets are having a rough one right now, falling seven back of division-leading Atlanta in the NL East (a division New York had led most of the year) while battling injuries (Jacob deGrom), COVID (Noah Syndergaard, who can’t seem to catch a break) and now a PR catastrophe with newcomers Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor antagonizing the team’s fan base. Baez and Lindor didn’t do anything too outrageous, merely giving a thumbs-down gesture in response to hecklers, but clearly it didn’t sit well with the organization, prompting the Mets to issue a statement reprimanding both players for being “unprofessional.”
Baez has gotten plenty of grief for his stunt Sunday against Washington, especially given his ineffectiveness since joining the Mets at last month’s trade deadline (.210/.258/.452 with 22 strikeouts in 62 at-bats). To say the 28-year-old is limping into free agency would be an understatement. This revealing stat from ESPN producer Paul Hembekides shows the full extent of Baez’s decline, which dates back to early last season.
In that sample size, Baez has hit .226 with an alarming 35-percent strikeout rate, second-highest in the majors during that stretch. In fact, only Joey Gallo (251) and Miguel Sano (228) have logged more strikeouts over that span. To Gallo’s credit, just two players in MLB—Juan Soto and Christian Yelich—have walked at a higher clip (17.2 percent) since July 29th of last year.
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Baez, who went viral a week ago for swinging at a pitch that didn’t even sniff the strike zone, embodies the other extreme. Of 119 qualified big-leaguers, only Kansas City’s Salvador Perez (3.3-percent walk rate) and Jose Iglesias (3.6) have exhibited worse plate discipline than Baez (3.8) in his last 162 games.
Baez is still hitting for power (32 homers, 92 RBI in that timeframe) and defended his position well enough to earn National League Gold Glove honors last season, but his league-worst contact rate (62.7 percent since last July 29th) casts further doubt on his ability to be a franchise cornerstone. We know Lindor and Baez, both natives of Puerto Rico, have long dreamed of playing together in the Big Apple, but if Baez’s struggles persist, don’t count on Steve Cohen paying top dollar for him in free agency.
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