On the morning of July 1, the Mets ranked as one of the worst defensive teams in baseball. According to defensive runs saved, New York was 28th in the majors, costing itself 24 runs with its gloves.
A little more than a month later, the Mets have turned that negative into a positive. They’ve saved 28 runs in the time since, more than any team in baseball. They’ve made huge strides in the battery and solid ones almost across the board, which shouldn’t be undone by a couple of sloppy plays in the field Sunday in Seattle.
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It’s not just DRS that shows this improvement, by the way. Statcast’s outs above average had the Mets 11 outs below average through three months and 14 outs above average since.
What’s changed?
Different personnel
This is the obvious one. The Mets have been better on defense because they’ve given more time to good defenders. That means José Iglesias on the infield, Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens behind the plate, and Tyrone Taylor in the outfield.
Back in early May, when everyone in baseball owned a stolen base against the Mets, I wondered if it was largely attributable to Omar Narváez’s struggles behind the plate. With Narváez out of the picture, the combo of Alvarez and Torrens has been significantly better at limiting the running game. Opposing teams were 52 for 55 stealing against the Mets when I wrote the linked story on May 10; they’re 50 for 73 in the three months since.
Torrens has been ridiculous here, catching nine of 15 attempted steals. Alvarez has been solid as well, catching nine of 27 since his return.
In the outfield, Taylor is credited with eight defensive runs saved on the season despite irregular playing time. He leads the Mets in that category.
“Tyrone just does a good job fundamentally getting ready every single pitch, really coming hard out of his breaks,” said outfield coach Antoan Richardson. “He puts in the work daily to make sure he stays on top of it.”
Tyrone Taylor made this catch and plenty of others which is why he leads the Mets with eight defensive runs saved. (Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)
It will be interesting to see how the Mets mete out playing time in right field once Starling Marte returns. Marte has graded as one of the worst outfielders in the majors this year (-9 DRS) while Jesse Winker is playing right field for the first time in several years.
The coaching staff knows the players better
Richardson and infield coach Mike Sarbaugh both talked about their increased familiarity with the roster as the season goes on. We probably focus more on that learning curve for new hitting coaches or pitching coaches than we do for the fielding coaches, but that getting-to-know-you process still exists for them.
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“We’re probably a little more direct with each other at this point in time,” Richardson said. “Early on, we were just trying to understand how best to communicate with each other. Now you know how to have the conversation.”
“The one thing is knowing when to address something and when not to,” said Sarbaugh. “You get a feel for how they understand what they’re doing out there and where you, as a coach, can help.”
More focus on preparation
One thing both Sarbaugh and Richardson have placed a premium on? A player’s pre-pitch routine.
“You can have the best hands, you can have the best feet, but if you’re not on time, you’re not going to be able to maximize those strengths,” Sarbaugh said. “I try to get across to the guys it’s being consistent from the first pitch to the last pitch, as much as you can. That’s when you’re going to make the consistent plays.”
“It’s equally as important (in the outfield),” Richardson said. “Mistakes on the outfield seem to be more detrimental than mistakes on the infield. Being engaged on every single pitch is something we constantly talk about.”
How difficult is that for 150 pitches a night, 162 games a year?
Sarbaugh cited a Vince Lombardi line about chasing perfection; you know you won’t get all the way there, but you can find excellence en route.
“It’s not going to be perfect every time,” he said, “but if we can be consistent more times than not, that’s when we’re going to make the plays.”
That explains some of the individual growth since early in the season. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, in particular, have made some strides over the past six weeks.
(Top photo of Harrison Bader: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)
Tim Britton is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the New York Mets. He has covered Major League Baseball since 2009 and the Mets since 2018. Prior to joining The Athletic, he spent seven seasons on the Red Sox beat for the Providence Journal. He has also contributed to Baseball Prospectus, NBC Sports Boston, MLB.com and Yahoo Sports. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBritton
