(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
The New York Mets entered the 2023 season with high hopes.
They put together a strong roster with realistic World Series expectations.
Things, however, started to go wrong from the beginning, with the injuries to Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, and other key contributors.
In reality, the Mets had a talented, but fragile roster.
They ended up being sellers at the deadline and retooling with the hope of competing in 2024 or 2025.
They have replenished their farm with talent and have lots of resources to bring in free agents or make some trades.
The past campaign evidenced a tough issue with the Mets: they fell behind many times early in games because their first-inning offense wasn’t producing enough.
The numbers don’t lie.
Per Codify Baseball, they scored the fewest first-inning runs in 2023.
FIRST INNING RUNS SCORED IN 2023:
146 ATL
116 LAD
112 TB
110 HOU SD
100 WSH
94 PHI
92 KC MIL
90 ARI
89 STL
87 CHC SEA
85 MIN TEX
84 BAL
83 BOS CIN
81 LAA
80 COL
76 DET
75 NYY
73 CWS
72 MIA
71 OAK SF
70 CLE
69 PIT
64 TOR
58 NYM
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) November 24, 2023
It’s somewhat odd because the names were there to have a productive top of the lineup: Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte, Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, and others.
Still, the Mets could score just 58 runs in the first frame of games this year.
That’s not going to cut it.
If the Mets’ first-inning offense is to rebound, a lot of it will depend on McNeil and Marte.
The former, a batting champion in 2022, had a mediocre .711 OPS this past season.
The latter was affected by injuries and checked in at a paltry .625.
If those two are healthy, locked and loaded, the Mets could potentially produce more consistently early in games next season.
Marte is in his mid-30s now, so there are no guarantees.
Still, they are expected to bring in a hitter or two to improve the outlook of the unit.
The post Stat Shows The Mets Have A Major Problem To Solve appeared first on The Cold Wire.