Mets manager Luis Rojas has seen the video of Javier Baez’s swing and miss that went viral Tuesday night into Wednesday; he saw it live too, obviously, but when asked about it by Carton & Roberts during his weekly appearance Wednesday, the skipper didn’t think it was as cringe-worthy as social media.
“Yeah, he got fooled on a changeup, and that’s how Javy swings,” Rojas said. “That’s something we want to work with him on, his plate discipline and recognition. All his swings are A+ swings to kill the ball, but I think he had no recognition that was a changeup out of the pitcher’s hand, and that’s why he was so fooled.”
Some have posited that said at-bat was simply endemic of an issue the Mets have had all year, but it’s not just Baez – Rojas admits the Mets’ approach hasn’t been as consistent as they want.
“It’s not being able to barrel the ball as much. We have missed like that because we’re taking A-swings and gambling on a pitch,” Rojas said, “but if you find the pitch, you should barrel it, and we haven’t been able to do that. That’s why our slugging percentages and OPS haven’t been as high – guys who have hit home runs in the past haven’t done it.”
One of those culprits is of course Michael Conforto, who averaged 33 home runs a year from 2017-19 and had nine in 54 games last year, but has smacked just eight in 94 games this year. Jeff McNeil is also in that danger zone – he had 23 homers in 133 games in 2019, but 10 in 139 games since – and he’s one the Mets are particularly perplexed by.
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“Jeff is a guy that will change quickly and do different things. He has the bat to ball skills, and we’ve talked to him about sticking to the process and believing in things,” Rojas said, admitting that McNeil is a tinkerer when it comes to anything from stance to swing to his uniform choices. “He’ll have days where you see the old Jeff, and then he’ll go 0-for-4 and that’s where the search begins again.”
The Mets did fire Chili Davis this season and replaced him with Hugh Quattlebaum, but it’s not just on the hitting coaches; as the saying goes, you can lead the horse to water, but they have to drink themselves.
“The hitting coaches bring the info to the players, and then work with them to process it, but I don’t think there’s any frustration with the process,” Rojas said. “Nobody wastes time here being frustrated; you think about why things went the way they did, but then think about what’s going on the next day because it’s a new pitcher.”
The Mets entered this week two games under .500 and seven games out in both the division and wild card races, and missed a chance to move up with the Braves losing two games to the Yankees. But by no means are they out of it with less than 40 games to go, and Rojas believes the team can turn it around with just a little offense.
“We’re still playing good defense and pitching well for the most part, but the hitting is the one thing that hasn’t been there all season,” Rojas said. “We kept a lot of games close early on and every day there was a different hero, but right now, we just need the offense to get going and score the runs we need. It’s not always sustainable to have the pitching we had the first half, especially without Jake (deGrom). We need to be more consistent going forward.”
And Rojas has a message for disgruntled Mets fans: the team is just as unhappy as you are, and is always working to improve the next day.
“Every game that we lose has been a tough loss. You get stuck in those quiet moments and you see guys upset with their performances, but as soon as they shower, the process is focusing on the next day,” Rojas said. “The trust in what we can do is real. The guys show up every day to win, and we’re never hanging our heads. We want everyone to believe we can do this, and we’re working hard to find a way to improve our offense.”
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