METS LOSE TWO-TIME ALL-STAR FOR REST OF THE REGULAR SEASON
Mets second baseman/outfielder Jeff McNeil had to leave Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch on his right wrist, and tests revealed a wrist fracture, as manager Carlos Mendoza told the New York Post’s Joel Sherman and other reporters Saturday. McNeil will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks, so he’ll miss the rest of the regular season and potentially the playoffs unless the Mets reach the postseason and make a deep run.
McNeil will be placed on the 15-day injured list at some point over the weekend, but the official news of the injury came close enough to the Mets’ 4:10 p.m. ET start time that Mendoza said the team will play a man short against the Reds on Saturday. Jose Iglesias figures to take over second base for the remainder of the season, and Mendoza said infield prospect Luisangel Acuna is one of the candidates to be called up to take McNeil’s spot on the active roster.
New York is right in the thick of the wild-card race, sitting in a tie with Atlanta for the third and final NL wild-card slot but also within three games of San Diego for the first wild-card position. Passing any of the Braves, Padres or Diamondbacks will be a lot trickier for the Mets without a lineup regular like McNeil, who has gotten the bulk of time at second base this season while also playing at both corner outfield slots.
McNeil will finish his 2024 season with a .238/.308/.384 slash line and 12 home runs over 472 plate appearances, translating to a 98 wRC+ that matches his seesaw of a year. Hitting just .214/.271/.308 over his first 300 PA, McNeil’s bat finally caught fire in July, and he proceeded to hit .294/.368/.566 in his next 163 PA before cooling off again in September. McNeil has remained one of baseball’s toughest hitters to strike out, but not much of his contact has resulted in hard-hit balls, and a .256 BABIP also hasn’t helped his cause.
It is possible McNeil’s numbers could be related to the partial UCL tear in his left elbow that was revealed near the end of last season, but McNeil only received a PRP shot rather than surgery and was able to be part of the Mets’ Opening Day lineup. Or, it could be that a traditionally soft-contact hitter like McNeil is reliant on batted-ball luck to be especially productive at the plate, and it isn’t any surprise that his best seasons have involved BABIPs all north of the .330 mark. When McNeil isn’t finding holes in the field, he has been closer to a league-average bat, as evidenced by the 99 wRC+ he has posted since the start of the 2023 season.
This downturn followed the signing of McNeil’s four-year, $50M contract extension, so the Mets haven’t gotten what they were expecting following McNeil’s All-Star season in 2022. However, as a left-handed hitting who can play multiple positions, McNeil has still been a useful player to have as a regular part of the lineup, and his absence forces New York to fill a couple of holes. Iglesias has been excellent in part-time duty this season and now faces an extra challenge in an everyday role, while Tyrone Taylor and Jesse Winker figure to get more outfield time.
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