3 Mets overreactions from the month of April

New York Mets v Los Angeles Dodgers
New York Mets v Los Angeles Dodgers / Katelyn Mulcahy/GettyImages
1 of 3
Next

April showers bring May flowers. This weekend, it forced the New York Mets to hand out some vouchers. Games in April are now over. We welcome May and hope to see brighter days ahead for this ball club.

Before we flip the calendar to the new month, let’s get a little nutty and overreact to what we saw in the first full month of the season. The games on the schedule in March can come along, too.

1) NY Mets overreaction: Max Scherzer is no longer an ace

What a weird year it has been for Max Scherzer. After four starts he’s 2-1 with a 3.72 ERA. Many pitchers would take this. Not Mad Max.

Scherzer needed some help on Opening Day to get the win against the Miami Marlins in what wasn’t a vintage outing by him. In his second start, the Milwaukee Brewers beat down the Mets in every way possible. It was as far from a typical Scherzer outing as anyone could script.

His third start included 5 shutout innings and only a single hit allowed versus the San Diego Padres. He was pushed back a few days prior to his next outing where he exited after 3 innings when he was tossed for having sticky fingers. 

It has been a wild ride for Scherzer. The overreactions have been plentiful and really come from the bad outing in Milwaukee. Finding the strike zone has been a bit of a problem for Scherzer in each outing with 2 or 3 walks in each. It’s far too early to overreact and claim he’s no longer ace material. Before bumping him down the depth chart, we’re going to wait to see how he does the next time out. We should have a well-rested veteran on the mound.

2) NY Mets overreaction: The return of 2021 Francisco Lindor

It has not been a pretty start to the year for Francisco Lindor. Has the 2021 version of him returned? Not quite.

Through his first 117 plate appearances we find the Mets shortstop batting .218/.316/.446 with 4 home runs and 21 RBI. If we want to cut him some slack, it’s really only the ugly batting average dragging him down this season. All of us know better than to latch too strongly onto a batting average when so many other things are going well.

Compare this to the .230/.322/.412 performance in his 125 games back in 2021. We can see the power has already gone up. He’s ripping doubles like he used to. He already has 11. He had 16 in all of 2021.

As usual, Lindor is playing steady defense for the Mets and a Gold Glove could be on its way to his mantle. He hasn’t won the award since 2019 yet he has been a contender each year since.

Those who think the 2021 version of Lindor has returned are overreacting a little too quickly. He’s driving in runs. He’s scoring them, too. Entering Sunday, he actually led the league with those 11 doubles.

Many fans are still waiting for a monster year from him at the plate. Even looking back at his best seasons in Cleveland, many might be disappointed to see what his peak may look like. Are 30 home runs with 100 runs scored and 100 RBI good enough? It's a possibility and a more than acceptable end result even if his batting average isn't pretty enough to land a date.

3) NY Mets overreaction: Brandon Nimmo will contend for a batting title

Hold your horses. Brandon Nimmo in contention for a batting title? Don’t you mean Jeff McNeil? The April numbers have Nimmo right there among the best in the league in hitting. A regular OBP machine, he has become a much better hitter over the last three seasons.

Nimmo’s career high .292 batting average from 2021 won’t win him a title. It also might be difficult to sustain in a full season. He played in just 92 games for the Mets that year. Compared to the 151 he participated in last season which saw his average drop to .274, we can expect Nimmo to hit well below where he’s currently at.

The outrageously high .330 batting average after 116 plate appearances for Nimmo has been one of the most pleasant surprises. Has he actually taken the next step toward becoming an even more complete player?

Rather than overreact and believe Nimmo will compete for a batting title, we should enjoy this part of his game that has gotten even better than before. He has one more walk than strikeout (17/16) and has already matched last year’s stolen base total with 3.

It’s not an overreaction to declare Nimmo a success in April. In fact, believing anything else is not giving him nearly enough credit. He’s doing everything we expected him to do and better.

manual

Next