Weekly Statistical Spotlight: Francisco Lindor

Are the Mets turning it around? After a sweep of National League East foes the Washington Nationals, the New York Mets are still try to contend in a wide-open National League race. The bats are starting to wake up, and the Mets are receiving a huge boost in the lineup from Francisco Lindor batting in […]

The post Weekly Statistical Spotlight: Francisco Lindor appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Are the Mets turning it around? After a sweep of National League East foes the Washington Nationals, the New York Mets are still try to contend in a wide-open National League race. The bats are starting to wake up, and the Mets are receiving a huge boost in the lineup from Francisco Lindor batting in the lead-off spot. He is this week’s Statistical Spotlight.

For games from June 1 to June 7, Lindor slashed .250/ .350/ .450 with an .800 OPS. Lindor also drove in two runs and accounted for two more runs during this span. While Lindor is a switch hitter, we are going to take a look at the stark contrast in his plate approach batting right-handed versus left-handed.

Let’s start with the positives. Batting right-handed while facing left-handed pitchers, Lindor slashed a whopping .444/.667/.889 with a very impressive 1.556 OPS. Lindor has squeezed the zone in which three of his four hits came from pitches in the zone. This includes a home run and a double, both of which came off Nationals’ pitchers. His home run was a moonshot of 428 feet.

Lindor batting left-handed facing right-handed pitchers is like night-and-day compared to him batting right-handed. Lindor slashed an abysmal .090/.090/.090 with an .181 OPS from the left side of the plate. He only recorded one hit in 11 at-bats which was a single. The positive from this is that he had only two strikeouts, so he’s been putting the ball in play. The balls in play, however, have been hit directly at fielders resulting in eight putouts.

Lindor’s success from the right side of the plate has propelled his yearly slash line to .235/ .302/ .410 with an OPS .712 (prior to the London Series). He is consistently getting on base either by contact or by walks from the right side of the plate, which is excellent for his new spot as lead-off hitter in the lineup.

The same cannot be said from the left side of the plate for Lindor. His low average and on-base percentage from the left side of the plate is a liability in the lead-off spot. An interesting move that might be considered is to continue batting Lindor lead-off against left-handed pitching but move him down in the lineup against right-handed pitching. Keep an eye on this move from skipper Carlos Mendoza if Lindor continues to struggle against right-handed pitching.      

The post Weekly Statistical Spotlight: Francisco Lindor appeared first on Metsmerized Online.