2 Mets players who will maintain their hot starts, 1 who won’t

You’d think looking in some places that the New York Mets were playing terrible baseball. Far from it. In the face of plenty of adversity, the team has stepped up and played pretty well. There is a long way to go and whatever you think of this team right now may not be true even within a month.

The positive start to the year can be credited to a variety of players. These three, in particular, have been on fire in the ways they best know how.

Two of them look like they can maintain something at least close to the pace they’re on. Another is likely to see trouble eventually catch up.

1) NY Mets slugger Pete Alonso is hitting well and it’s no fluke

Pete Alonso’s early numbers seem to fluctuate daily. An 0 for 4 performance will drop his slash line a noticeable amount. What isn’t going away are how many home runs and RBI he has through the early part of the year.

Alonso has either led or been among the leaders in these two statistics in the first few weeks of the season. Frankly, it’s these two areas the Mets need him to produce the most. When Alonso hits home runs, the RBI totals go up. And even when he isn’t necessarily going yard, finding other ways to drive in runs is something he must do.

The Mets lineup is dependent on Alonso for crooked numbers. A strong beginning to the 2023 season is a must for them to be successful. He’s doing about exactly what we’d expect him to.

Unfortunately, Alonso has slowed down of late yet not significantly enough for us to call this a season-long slump. After 116 trips to the plate, the Polar Bear is batting .257/.328/.562 with 10 home runs and 25 RBI. The average is slightly down, the OBP is more significantly below where we’d like it, and the power is superb.

2) NY Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo will cool off slightly but still produce

Brandon Nimmo is taking his new contract seriously. He’s off to one of the best starts of all on the Mets roster. We definitely shouldn’t expect him to keep up at this exact pace. However, a career-year out of Nimmo isn’t out of the question. If he can hit .300 with an OBP over .400, we have to be thrilled.

Some specifics: Nimmo is slashing .330/.435/.457 with a pair of home runs and 13 RBI. He’s not leading the league in any of the major categories. He is, however, leading the Mets in just about every statistic we’d like him to.

Nimmo is unlikely to challenge for a batting title. His career-high .292 batting average from 2021, a year where he played only 92 games, is proof of that. Nimmo has proven he is a much different hitter from his breakout year in 2018 when he slashed .263/.404/.483 with 80 walks and 140 strikeouts. He has cut down on the Ks over the years and is currently walking more than he strikes out.

The hot start from Nimmo is no fool’s gold. It’s the real deal. Other than having inflated numbers because of only a handful of games being played, he looks on course for exactly what many would’ve expected out of him.

Now among the best center fielders in the game, a monster year at the plate is his chance to make this secret only Mets fans seem to know a more publicly-known fact. Slumps will come. The happiest man in baseball will bounce back from them.