2 NY Mets players off to surprising starts, 1 playing as expected to open the season

Francisco Lindor is off to his typical slow start

Francisco Lindor came off one of the best single-season performances in Mets history in 2024. He batted .273/.344/.500 with a 137 OPS+ through 689 plate appearances. He fell just a single stolen base shy of his second straight 30/30 campaign. His +6.9 bWAR was the most by any Mets shortstop and the 11th best mark in franchise history among all players.

Lindor finished second in National League MVP voting, but he's not looking like an MVP candidate. He has just two hits in 22 plate appearances. Both hits are singles. Lindor has not drawn a single walk and has struck out a half-dozen times. It's been a rough go of things for Lindor through the first week of the season.

But if you're about to panic over this, don't. If anything, this is completely expected of Lindor. The first month of the season is always Lindor's worst month. His career OPS in March/April is just .741. The only other month that comes anywhere close is June, at .765. He has a career OPS above .800 for the rest of the months of the season. 

Let's also not forget that this would be far from the first time with the Mets that Lindor has gotten off to a sluggish start. Last season, he was batting below .100 through his first 12 games. 2023 was also a very similar story. Lindor had just two hits in his first 25 plate appearances of the year with six Ks. The only difference was that he also had five walks. By the end of April, we will have forgotten these five games.