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3 lessons the Mets should take with them on this road trip

By JOSUE DE JESUS |
Miami Marlins v New York Mets
Miami Marlins v New York Mets / Mike Stobe/GettyImages
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The New York Mets took two of three games against the San Diego Padres. Without a doubt, an important breather for the team to win the series against one of the favorites this year to win the world series.

The Mets have had ups and downs so far this season, especially suffering bad performances from the offense and its rotation. However, there are three aspects that the team must end up promoting.

Mets reliever David Robertson proved to be the team's best option in high-leverage situations

The Mets entered the season with the loss of their closer, Edwin Diaz. This injury complicated the bullpen forecast for the season, but it was assumed, since the beginning that David Robertson would be the leading candidate.

The Mets' new closer has been incredible early in the season, pitching 6.1 innings and racking up eight strikeouts with no runs or walks allowed. He carries a record two saves and has allowed just three hits in that many innings.

Robertson has been efficient and dominant on the mound. His strikeout percentage is in the top 7% in the league at 38.1% and his hard-hit allowed is in the top 9% at 23.1%, the lowest of his career.

The opposition hits him below .200, with the cutter being his most effective pitch, where he limits the opposition to an SLG of just .167. This efficiency and results make him one of the best relievers right now in MLB.

A relevant aspect of Robertson's work is that he can not only be used in the ninth inning. In the last game against the Padres, Buck Showalter decided to bring Robertson against Juan Soto in the seventh inning with runners on the corners and the Mets up for two runs, which went perfectly due to David Robertson's effectiveness against lefties.

As awkward and difficult as it may seem the situation with Edwin Diaz, allows Buck Showalter to experiment with the bullpen. After this showing, David Robertson should always be used as the option in high-leverage situations, regardless of the ninth inning.

The offense of the hitters at the top of the lineup will continue to improve

The series against the San Diego Padres showed that you have to be patient and wait for the hitters to get into the rhythm. This applies exclusively to hitters from the top of the lineup who are part of the team's core of top hitters.

The Mets have been struggling to produce at key moments with running backs in scoring positions. But in this last series, it was shown, that the talent of hitters like Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Brandon Nimmo comes out in important moments.

Nimmo, who entered the series against the Padres batting below .200, increased his batting average to .243 with four hits in eleven at-bats. Similarly, Lindor has eight hits in 26 at-bats in the last seven games, raising his average from .111 to .227.

Likewise, Alonso, who has been the best hitter on the team so far this year, has hit five of his six homers in the last seven games. His production over this span has been tremendous with 10 RBIs, bringing his SLG to .646.

This high-ranking part of the lineup, including Starling Marte and Jeff McNeil, has posted high OBPs this season. The Mets' top five regular hitters have OBPs above .340, led by Brandon Nimmo, who has an OBP of .386.

As the season progresses, these proven Mets hitters will continue to adjust and improve their production. In this way, the Mets will begin to improve in runs scored by this select group of hitters, placing the team in a better position to win games.

The team needs to consider using their top prospects to help the bottom-of-the-lineup offense

Unlike the hitters at the top of the lineup, the rest of the Mets' hitters, not named Tommy Pham, have been left behind. Led by horrible production from Eduardo Escobar, the bottom of the lineup lacks productive bats.

While this is going on, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio are exploiting the pitching in the minor leagues. The organization is running out of tools to justify that Eduardo Escobar plays above one of these three promises.

Another experiment that is not understood is that of the catcher position. Although Tomas Nido is the best defensive option, it doesn't make sense to call up your top prospect, to not give him enough turns at bat to adapt to MLB pitching.

Francisco Alvarez should be playing the most games at Catcher unless when Kodai Senga is pitching. This is because of the adaptation of the movement of Senga's pitches, like the forkball, where he needs a catcher who knows how to handle this type of pitching.

Injecting Alvarez, Tommy Pham and one of the three prospects mentioned above over Tomas Nido, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar, the bottom of the lineup would begin to showcase fresh bats with talent that would help produce more from a depleted offense. This is the course that the organization should take after the experience so far this season until today.

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