Against a vulnerable Miami Marlins pitching staff over the weekend, the Mets scored 25 runs in three games, a higher output than the combined tally from their prior nine games. On Monday, however, they backslid against a strong pitching staff. In the Mets\u2019 3-2 loss in 10 innings to the Seattle Mariners, they managed just two hits, a pair of solo home runs.<\/p>\n
Despite going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, Ewing\u2019s .316 on-base percentage, hardly an impressive figure, is higher than half of the Mets\u2019 starters from Monday night\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Ewing appears to have everything you would want from a leadoff hitter. (Al Bello \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
When asked during an interview ahead of Monday\u2019s game about lineup construction and why Ewing doesn\u2019t bat first, Mendoza began the conversation with the Mets\u2019 other rookie outfielder.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more with Benge, having so much success in that spot,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cI try to give the guys as much consistency as possible while understanding they\u2019re comfortable with whatever the team needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Consistency matters to Mendoza. Injuries, most notably to Francisco Lindor, the Mets\u2019 usual leadoff batter, combined with overall poor production, forced a change. Mendoza has placed Benge atop the Mets\u2019 order every game since May 12, the same day Ewing debuted.<\/p>\n
Since then, the Mets are 11-9. From May 12 to May 31, Benge slashed .317\/.378\/.402. He led off Sunday\u2019s game with a home run. On Monday, he went 0-for-4, though the seven pitches in his first at-bat were the most any Mets player saw in a single plate appearance against Emerson Hancock (the result was a fly out to the warning track).<\/p>\n
Mendoza first tried Benge leading off each game during a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs in mid-April. It did not go well. The Mets were swept, and Benge went 1-for-10. At the time, he had a .435 OPS.<\/p>\n
Soon after, Benge picked things up. Throughout the ups and downs, Mendoza said, Benge showed the same demeanor. His ability to bounce back gave Mendoza confidence to reinstall him as the leadoff hitter.<\/p>\n
Along the way, Benge has lifted his OPS to a more respectable .663, though still below league average. On the Mets, however, he is second only to Soto (.970) among lineup regulars. Lately, a combination of Jared Young (left-handed batter) and Mark Vientos (right-handed batter) has offered power production behind Soto. But a lack of lineup length is a season-long theme.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt depends on personnel and a lot of different things, (but) if we have to make an adjustment and put Benge in the middle of the lineup and use A.J. as a leadoff guy, I am comfortable doing both,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
In the upper levels of the minor leagues, Ewing almost exclusively batted leadoff. In 132 plate appearances across Double A and Triple A this year, he had a .447 on-base percentage. He is at the same point (20 games) of his rookie season as Benge was when Mendoza first tried Benge at leadoff. When the Mets first promoted Ewing in an aggressive attempt to give the team a spark, Mendoza said that since the club was already asking so much of him, it wouldn\u2019t be right to also bat him leadoff. Ewing had played just a dozen games in Triple A.<\/p>\n
At this point, however, that thinking has changed. Ewing\u2019s position in the batting order is solely about what\u2019s best for the team. Lately, he has mostly batted fifth or sixth and last week started once at cleanup.<\/p>\n
For his part, Ewing said he is comfortable at any spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always just me versus the pitcher,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mendoza and Mets coaches have stressed to Benge and Ewing that the approach shouldn\u2019t change regardless of their respective spots in the batting order.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very pleased with how they\u2019ve handled that part of the situation,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, health is going to impact the Mets\u2019 offense more than any potential lineup change. The Mets are waiting on Jorge Polanco, Francisco Alvarez and Lindor to return (Luis Robert Jr.\u2019s situation is much murkier). Polanco may rejoin the Mets later this week while Alvarez is set to begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday. Lindor (calf) remains without a firm timetable, though he is performing baseball activities. Perhaps in a few weeks, the Mets\u2019 lineup will feature a drastically different look.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the door isn\u2019t shut on changes at the top. As it pertains to Ewing, a move to leadoff may or may not happen in the near future even if it appears part of his long-term outlook. The reason it isn\u2019t happening yet has less to do with him and more to do with others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 A.J. Ewing\u2019s skill set screams leadoff hitter. The New York Mets\u2019 rookie center fielder makes pitchers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,1830,85],"class_list":["post-711069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}