Three Mets players we could see end 2021 as a league leader

In the last full season of New York Mets baseball, two Mets players took home awards despite the team not making the playoffs. Pete Alonso was the home run leader and won Rookie of the Year, and Jacob deGrom won his second straight Cy Young Award.

Those two players are still on the team now along with many others who can win an award or lead the league in a statistic. The Mets have one of the more potent offenses with a mix of power and average, and a really solid pitching staff lead by the best pitcher in baseball.

There is a lot of potential on this team to be very good and also take home some personal awards. Here are three Mets I think have a really good shot at leading the league in a statistic this year.

Mets reliever Trevor May will “hold” it all together

Holds are not the most enticing or recognized statistic in the book, but it is a very important one. A relief pitcher gets a hold when he enters the game in a save situation and gets at least one out before getting to the next reliever. Even if that next reliever blows the game, the hold still stands as the lead was held.

The Mets signed Trevor May this past offseason to a two-year $15.5 million-dollar deal. This move gave the Mets another above-average to elite right-handed reliever who can be relied upon late in games. While May won’t close, he will be pitching in the seventh or eighth innings in most games that are close and will be relied upon to set up for guys like Edwin Diaz or Seth Lugo.

In 2020, May was primarily used as a set-up man for Taylor Rogers. He’d pitch usually in the seventh or eighth inning of close games and would rack up a lot of holds. May finished tied for fourth in all of baseball with his 10 holds, just four behind Jake Diekman who led baseball with 14.

May only blew one chance out of the 11 he had which he could get a hold, so he was very reliable when it came to protecting leads.

With the roster the Mets have assembled, I think making the playoffs is a very strong possibility. In order to make the playoffs, they will have to hold leads. This has been a problem in years past but May has been one of the best set up men in baseball the last couple of years.

In 2019, his last full season, May appeared in 65 games and went 1-3 with a 2.94 ERA, striking out 79 batters in 64 innings pitched, an 11.1 K/9. If he pitches like this with the offense the Mets have and the pieces they have in the back end of the bullpen May should rack up a ton of holds.