2 Mets players who've earned an apology from their doubters, 2 not quite there

NY Mets DH Daniel Vogelbach has been better, but hasn't quite earned an apology yet

The player a large contingent of Mets fans have blamed for the disastrous 2023 season is Daniel Vogelbach. The player brought here to be the primary DH against right-handed pitching simply wasn't doing his job close to the level he had to in order for the team to stick with him for as long as they did. At least that's what it felt like.

Vogelbach had a miserable start to his season, slashing .203/.343/.297 with two home runs and 14 RBI through his first 47 games and 118 at-bats. Yes, 118 bats in the Mets DH had just two longballs and had his slugging percentage nearly 50 points lower than his OBP. Simply unacceptable.

Vogelbach was given a week off to mentally reset, and he went on a little hot streak for a week before falling back into another big slump. Vogelbach had a .649 OPS in his last 22 games after that mini streak before the deadline and felt like one of the players who was going to either be traded or DFA'd. It turns out, the Mets held onto their DH, and have seen that move pay dividends.

The DH has an .821 OPS in 13 games since the deadline with three home runs in 36 at-bats including a grand slam in St. Louis. This is nice to see, but a 13-game stretch when the team is out of it isn't enough to make up for the .698 OPS he had before the deadline. Let's see if he can finish the season strong.