5 surprise Mets players who helped the team win during the Francisco Lindor slump

The New York Mets have been on a good streak in recent weeks with an outstanding performance from offense and pitching. Despite having players in an offensive slump, such as Francisco Lindor, the team has managed to stand out. Lindor may have broken through the slump with a big homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. Even then, he got help from some of the players on this list.

The Mets have the best bullpen in the league and one of the best ERAs this season. Likewise, the offense has shown flashes of the 2022 level, when they were one of the best offenses in the MLB. Given this situation, players with low expectations have emerged as heroes early in the season.

1) Harrison Bader

The Mets signed Bader to a one-year, $10 million contract, which seemed like a stretch given his recent offensive production. At the time of signing, Bader looked like a defensive outfielder with baserunning ability but no bat against right-handed pitching.

So far this season, Bader has been hitting the ball well regardless of the pitcher. Even against righties, he has a hitting level above the league average, with a slugging rate almost double what he showed last season.

This recent success is due to two aspects of Bader's hitting profile. First of all, his ability to more effectively connect offspeed pitches and fastballs, which he connects with for an expected slugging percentage of around .500.

Another reason for his performance at the beginning of this season is that he has managed to hit pitches with more power. His hard-hit contact and exit velocity is the highest of his career.

If Bader continues to perform at the plate combined with his defense, his contract would end up being a bargain for the team. Without a doubt, David Stearns managed to achieve a necessary profile for the team on both sides of the ball.

2) Reed Garrett

Reed Garrett is perhaps the most impressive story this season for the Mets team. A pitcher who has posted an ERA of almost 6.00 and considerable inefficiency in getting outs in his career has become a stellar pitcher.

Garrett ranks in the top three in the league among relievers with the highest induced swing and miss. This has resulted in him becoming the MLB leader in terms of strikeout percentage, with an elite level of around 54%.

Garrett's ability to achieve this level shown to date is due to a change in his throwing arsenal. During his career, Garrett focused on using his four-seam fastball as his primary pitch, which the opposition hit in 2023 for an astronomical expected slugging percentage of .639.

In 2024, thanks to the help of the team's coaching staff and the team's analytics department, they identified that Garrett had to make more use of his secondary pitches. In fact, between his slider, splitter, and sweeper, which combined he uses more than 60% of the time, the swing and miss level is greater than 50% while achieving an expected batting average below .200 . If Garrett continues on his current path, he could end up as the most relevant figure in the Mets bullpen after Edwin Diaz.

3) José Buttó

Mets prospect José Buttó has been formidable so far this season. After two years in which he went up and down the minors, putting up unremarkable numbers, this season seems ideal to unleash his full potential.

Buttó had concentrated in his career on being a pitcher with practically two pitches, his fastball, with a speed average close to 94 mph, and his change-up, which is his signature pitch, was rated by scouts with a grade of 70 on the 70/80 scale. However, his profile was not able to get the opponents out of the way.

His fastball is still efficient and achieving a good level of swing and miss, but it is the adjustment in his changeup and the greater use of his sinker that has achieved a better level on the mound. The pitch is achieving a whiff higher than 45% thanks to a better combination and use in the strike count with his fastball to get hitters out of time. Likewise, his sinker, which he used only 5.6% of the time, is being used 23% of the time, with which he has managed to generate a batting average for his opponents below .100.

Buttó looks like the pitcher the Mets expected him to be at the fourth-in-a-rotation level. With the injuries that affect the rotation, Butto is achieving the task, putting pressure on him to stay in it for the remainder of the season.

5) D.J. Stewart

A few weeks ago, Mets fans were calling for Stewart's head. Since the beginning of the campaign, the team expected a temporary transition for Stewart to the big team until J.D. Martinez was ready to go up but Martinez's discomfort made Stewart's stay longer.

Stewart's start in 2024 was disastrous. However, after a few series, the contact of the Mets' designated hitter began to appear on time, along with great discipline at the plate.

Stewart is displaying an elite level of strike zone recognition with a walk rate of over 20 percent and a chase rate or swing at balls outside the strike zone that ranks in the top percentile of the league. He has achieved this without sacrificing power, where it is shown that his proportion of batted balls at an exit velocity greater than 98 mph, better known as barrels, is at 18.8%, in the top 10% of the league.

Additionally, Stewart has been more than timely at bat in important at-bats for the team. In late and close games this season, Stewart has an OPS of almost 2,000  and a batting average above .300.

In moments of slump of vital players for the team like Francisco Lindor, and while waiting for Martinez to debut this season, Stewart's work has been valuable. His power bat and quality at-bats have been necessary to help the team in the streak they have had to date.