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Mets: Three important lessons the team had to learn in 2020

By Adrian Cervantes

Sep 22, 2020; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets center fielder Guillermo Heredia (15) celebrates with New York Mets left fielder Jeff McNeil (6) and New York Mets right fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 22, 2020; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets center fielder Guillermo Heredia (15) celebrates with New York Mets left fielder Jeff McNeil (6) and New York Mets right fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 06: Wilson Ramos #40 of the New York Mets reacts against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on September 06, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /

Lesson #3: Situational Hitting Is Key

Many around baseball had known that the Mets were equipped with numerous offensive weapons and came into the 2020 season with as deep of a starting lineup as any team in baseball, with or without Yoenis Cespedes. For the most part, the Mets offense met expectations by leading the Majors in team batting average. The Mets also were second in the MLB in on-base percentage and third overall in hits and OPS. To put the icing on the cake the Mets were fourth overall in team slugging percentage as well.

But that is not where the problem lies for this ballclub. The Mets were one of the worst teams in baseball when it came to situational hitting and driving runners in on base. Despite the gaudy offensive numbers the Mets were 13th in baseball in average runs scored per game at 4.77 and were dead last in the league in driving in runners in scoring position.

The Mets as a whole hit .245 with runners in scoring position, and I hate to single any one player out as this was a collective failure among the offense, but Wilson Ramos hit .139 in 38 plate appearances with runners in scoring position this season. That is unacceptable, especially in a shortened season.

When your team ranks at the top or near the top of all of the offensive leaderboards and you are struggling to put runs on the board there is a fundamental issue at hand. It has been said multiple times that many players missed having hitting coach Chilli Davis in the dugout with them this season, and maybe that was part of the reason the team could not execute with runners on the basepaths as adjustments weren’t being made quickly enough. Or maybe it was simply bad luck?

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Bad luck or no bad luck it’s an area that needs to be addressed this upcoming Spring Training. In an abbreviated season where the Mets starting pitching was ravaged by inconsistency, the offense was unable to pick them up on most nights when needed. If the Mets could’ve just even been in the middle of the pack in terms of driving runners in this season, the Mets would be playing October baseball.

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