1 top skill for each of the four new free agent additions

Mark Canha has eagle eyes at the top of the Mets' lineup.

In 2021, Mark Canha posted a 12.3% walk rate, a .358 on-base percentage, and .746 OPS. Those are good numbers, yet they are the lowest he’s had in three years.

Canha’s best season was in 2019 when he slashed .273/.396/.517/.913 with a 146 OPS+, 26 homers, 80 runs scored, and a 4.1 WAR. That was an outlier season for him, but he’s still had four consecutive seasons with an OPS+ over 111 and walk rates over 12%.

Canha’s Baseball Savant page shows great patience. He’s in the 91st percentile in chase rate, 87th in walk rate, and 72nd in whiff rate. He simply doesn’t swing out of the zone.

It will be interesting to see where he hits in the Mets lineup, since Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo are also tablesetters. I would assume that two out of those three would hit at the top, and one will be sent to the nine slot as a second leadoff man.

Combine his on-base skills with his defensive prowess (74th percentile in Outs Above Average) and versatility (played all three outfield positions in 2021 and has played first in the past) and the Mets have one of the most underrated talents in baseball.

Eduardo Escobar is an extra-base hit machine in the middle of the Mets' lineup.

Simply put, Eduardo Escobar rakes.

Escobar has slugged at least .470, hit at least 21 homers, 26 doubles, and driven in at least 84 runs every year since 2018 except for the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He is coming off of a good 2021, where he slashed .253/.314/.472/.786 and hit 28 homers, 26 doubles, and drove in 90 runs. He had an OPS+ of 109, wRC+ of 107, and WAR of 3.0.

The switch hitter is really good at pulling the ball in the air. He hit 47.9% of his batted balls to the pull side, and 47.1% of his batted balls were in the air, thanks to an average launch angle of 20.8 degrees. One way he could improve these numbers further is by decreasing his ground ball rate, which was high at 31.5% last season. 

Escobar will probably get most of his playing time at third base, and his power bat definitely plays there. The Mets haven’t had a third baseman with this much pop since David Wright.

The Mets have a special 1-2 rotation punch with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer

At 37 years old, Max Scherzer still has some of the best swing and miss stuff in baseball.

In 2021, Scherzer made 30 starts and pitched 179.1 innings. He gave up just 119 hits, 49 earned runs, 36 walks, and struck out 236 batters. He had a 2.46 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 0.846 WHIP, 6.0 H/9, 1.2 HR/9, 1.8 BB/9, 11.8 K/9, and an ERA+ of 166. That ERA is his career-low, he led the NL in BB/9, and he led the league in WHIP and H/9. He finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting for his efforts.

He struck out 34.1% of batters he faced and walked only 5.2%, good for a K/BB of 6.56, which was second in the league. His Baseball Savant page is redder than his Nationals jersey. He finished in the top 90% in seven categories (96th in strikeout rate, 92nd in xwOBA, xERA, xBA, walk rate, whiff rate, and fastball spin. He only had two categories where he ranked in the bottom 50%: max exit velocity (which is blue for pretty much everyone, since it measures the singular hardest hit ball a pitcher gives up) and barrel rate, which was only slightly below average at 47%.

The bottom line is Mad Max is still an elite pitcher, and even when his peripherals and velocity have dropped a little bit as he’s gotten older, he’s still one of the best in the game. I can’t wait to watch him pitch alongside Jacob deGrom.