One week to go in the regular season and we’re seeing the New York Mets make some changes to their lineup, rotation, and bullpen usage. Despite all of the winning, this is a fractured roster with some holes in it. They’ve relied on top-tier starting pitching and clutch hitting this month. A few literal lucky bounces haven’t hurt them either.
Anyone who believes in destiny, fate, or any other kind of wizardry has to have some belief the Mets did a favor for the baseball gods at some point to get what the 2024 season has become.
For one last time in the regular season, let’s look at how the Mets depth chart is doing and view two players who are moving up and two who seemed to have dropped down.
Tyrone Taylor is moving up the depth chart
The game-tying hit on Sunday helped put an exclamation point on Tyrone Taylor’s month. Taylor has been an important part of the Mets all season. Although there have been some lengthy offensive slumps and he never came close to fitting the reputation as a righty who can hammer lefties (he has done quite the opposite), Taylor has been one of the most reliable hitters all month.
Flashing a .353/.450/.559 slash line, he has added 4 doubles and a home run to go along with his usually steady defense. Brought over this offseason in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers to be a fourth outfielder, lately he has played much more like a starter.
Taylor has passed Harrison Bader in terms of importance. Few games don’t involve Taylor in at least some capacity. Either as a defensive replacement, pinch runner, or someone to come off the bench for a big swing, he is there.
A lot of what the Mets planned to build their roster around this year didn’t quite work out to perfection. A focus on defense had to be tossed aside when many of those players underperformed at the plate. Well, Taylor is one of the few who’ve done well in both aspects. Lately, he has worked his way into more regular appearances in the starting lineup, too.