New York Mets look good, but have a glaring defensive weakness

Infield Defense

First baseman Pete Alonso had a reputation as a poor defender but was surprisingly decent in his rookie campaign. He finished the year with a slightly above average UZR of 1.6 but a pretty poor DRS of -6, so there is clearly still work to be done.

He has said that he worked on his defense a lot during the offseason, so fans will hope to see an improvement with his glove in 2020.

The Mets have an elite hitter in Jeff McNeil, but that isn’t the case with his defense, which is honestly still a mystery. McNeil is much better at third base than anywhere else, which is a relief because it looks like he’s going to play there almost every day moving forward. That is the only position where he is above average in both DRS and UZR.

Second baseman Robinson Cano has been one of the best defensive players in the league for years but had it rough both at the plate and with the glove in his first season with the Mets. He posted a bad -6 DRS and a below-average -0.8 UZR.

He’ll look to bounce back on both ends this year, which will be huge for the Mets. They have had a terrible defensive infield so getting the former Gold Glover back would be incredibly beneficial for them.

Unfortunately, even though Amed Rosario’s offense improved greatly in 2019, he is still a terrible defensive shortstop. His UZR slightly improved from -5.2 in 2018 to -0.8, but he posted a -16 DRS in back-to-back years.

He’s definitely a big reason why the remainder of the Mets’ infielders must step up in 2020 because it’s unclear if Rosario will ever be even an average defender at short.