Andres Chavez

Image courtesy of © Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images Decline is every superstar’s worst fear. Father Time, after all, remains undefeated in professional sports, and every player, impactful or not, will start experiencing skills erosion at some point. Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets is no exception. No, we don’t necessarily think Lindor has reached the point of no return. He has had a rough year from the word "go," getting hamate bone surgery done in February and racing against time just to be ready for the start of the season. Then, he suffered a moderate left calf strain in late April. Lindor is hitting a rather mediocre .228/.312/.422 with 16 home runs and a 105 wRC+. In the second half, however, the 32-year-old shortstop is slashing a much better .238/.324/.464 with a 118 wRC+. Since the start of July, he has hit 13 home runs, so he has gotten better as he has been further removed from his injuries. Funnily enough, Lindor hasn't necessarily rediscovered his peak form since the All-Star break, with a 46 percent hard-hit rate in the second half. That would be well above the league average, but it’s actually lower than his 50 percent mark in the first half. So, why has he been able to put up some impressive power numbers after the Midsummer Classic? Well, basically, it's because he has taken the power-hitting book and applied its two most basic principles: pulling the ball very often and lifting it. Breaking Down Francisco Lindor's Latest Makeover For the season, Lindor has a 0.78 ground-ball-fly ball ratio and a 49.8 percent pull rate per FanGraphs. The latter is actually a career-high. He has taken things to another level since the All-Star Game, though. After the break, he has hit 0.61 balls in the ground for every fly ball and has a pull rate of 51.1 percent. Hitting the ball in the air and pulling it has given a lot of folks a remarkable career at the MLB level, but it’s much harder to achieve than it seems, at least consistently. Lindor, a seasoned and talented veteran who knows everything there’s to know about the game and the nuances of hitting, is doing it. What’s the sacrifice with this approach? Contact, essentially, and a lower batting average as a direct consequence. Basically, his power is up, and his batting average is down. Even if his overall production has been undoubtedly better since the break, his average is still a rather low .238. Is this the new Lindor, though? Is it safe to assume this is what we will see from him as he ages? It all depends on health, specifically given the injuries sustained this season. Calf strains are particularly tricky and can limit lower-body explosiveness, and hamate bone surgery almost always saps power in the following weeks or months because the muscles and tendons around the area are debilitated. Perhaps a healthier Lindor can produce closer to what he has done for his entire career rather than this low-average, high-power version. Or, maybe he decides this is the best path for him going forward. Perhaps this is what his body will allow him to do from this point on. Home runs are, after all, the quickest avenue to run production in the majors. View full article

Image courtesy of © David Richard-Imagn Images In late June, the New York Mets moved struggling pitcher Kodai Senga to the bullpen. Since then, the only game he started was when the team decided to scratch the soon-to-be-traded Freddy Peralta, so he’s officially a relief pitcher now. To be fair, the experiment hasn’t gone terribly well from a results standpoint in the strictest sense, as he has a 5.40 ERA in 20 innings with a 23:12 K:BB ratio and a 4.53 FIP. However, most of those frames came as part of outings in which he was asked to give the club more than three outs. Of the nine games he pitched in since he became a full-time reliever (including that unexpected start), Senga has pitched exactly one inning in four of them. Here are his stats in those appearances: no hits, no runs, two walks, five strikeouts. There’s a reason behind this dominance: Senga can throw much harder in one-inning spurts, without pacing himself over four, five, or six frames. His four-seamer is sitting in the 96-99 mph range in his new role, and the velocity of his secondary offerings is also up. Now that he seems keen to get most of the save opportunities while Devin Williams is on the injured list, we will see the Mets deploy Senga more frequently in this manner. Besides the obvious increase in velocity, it allows him to focus on the ‘ghost fork’ as the main secondary offering almost exclusively. The formula worked to near-perfection on Monday, when he notched his first MLB save. That day, he threw 18 pitches: 11 four-seamers, four forkballs, two sweepers, and a cutter. The heater touched 99.9 mph, and even though it just earned him one called strike and no whiffs, it helped him get a weak 85.5-mph fly out. He got two strikeouts with his signature ‘ghost fork’, a pitch that clocked 2.9 mph faster than his yearly average in the outing. As Mets fans probably know by now, everything will come down to command with Senga. Even his most dominant version, the one that earned him second place in the NL Rookie of the Year Award voting in 2023, walked 4.17 batters per nine innings. This year, the number is up to 6.42. That’s just not going to cut it. It would certainly help if Senga got more called strikes or whiffs on the four-seamer. The forkball is an excellent put-away pitch, but we would love to see the primary offering, which is the fastball, become more consistent. The velocity is there, particularly in his new role as a reliever, but this probably isn’t sustainable if it can’t generate more strikes. For now, it will at least keep hitters hones. There are always pitfalls in the transition from starting to relief—not to mention the inherent loss of value once a pitcher stops consuming huge gobs of innings at once—but Senga has the raw stuff to succeed in his new role. With the Mets already planning for 2027 and beyond, it'll be useful to keep experimenting with him in these high-leverage, one-inning situations. View full article

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images The New York Mets’ season has been a mess on all levels, but there are certainly some positives to take away from the disappointing 2026 campaign. One of them is, without a doubt, Carson Benge’s continued growth as a player. A few months ago, on April 9, we were all discussing Benge’s rough start. His batting average started with a zero, and his slugging percentage was below .200. No, that’s not a typo. It was tough to watch at times. Fast-forward to mid-August, and the guy has completely turned his season around. He has become an outfield cornerstone, a highly productive young player with a 109 wRC+, a healthy .272/.332/.412 line, 13 home runs, 18 stolen bases, and 60 runs scored in a highly dysfunctional offensive environment. The Game Has Slowed Down For Carson Benge The game has finally slowed down for Benge, and that has been the case for a while. Take, for example, his performance between June 1 and August 7: .279/.335/.455, nine home runs, eight stolen bases, six doubles, three triples, and a 120 wRC+ in 242 plate appearances. The situation improves even more if we focus on his offensive play since the start of July: 296/.358/.472, four home runs, six stolen bases, five doubles, and a 132 wRC+ in 120 plate appearances. What we see over these two separate samples is continued evolution in nearly all hitting departments: bat-to-ball skills, power, and on-base ability. Benge only played 32 games in Double-A and 24 in Triple-A last year. That’s the extent of his upper-minors experience. It was logical to assume that there would be an adjustment period over his first few weeks of exposure to MLB pitching. The Mets remained patient, and that patience is now paying off. Benge Is A True All-Around Star Benge is, quietly, one of the most complete young players in MLB. Not only is he among the leaders in xwOBA, ranking in the 71st percentile, but he also ranks in the 92nd percentile in Baserunning Run Value. Benge’s range in the outfield isn’t the best, but he more than makes up for it with a strong and accurate arm, one of the best in baseball. In fact. he rank in the 98th percentile in Arm Strength and is in the 96th percentile in Arm Value (3). He is also very fast, ranking in the 82nd percentile in sprint speed. As you can see, Benge has turned into quite a solid ballplayer. He does almost everything well on a baseball field, and the best news is that he’s only 23. The Mets and their fans have every reason to believe he can hit another gear in his development. We are already witnessing it, and the sky is the limit for him. There aren’t really many reasons for the Mets and their fans to be excited about the 2026 campaign, but Benge is definitely one of them. He represents the future of the organization, one in which he could potentially compete for some of the most prestigious individual awards. Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor provide the floor, but the 2027 Mets could go as far as Benge wills them. View full article

Image courtesy of © Angelina Alcantar/ News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The New York Mets went through with their projected fire sale before Monday’s trade deadline, offloading multiple players and netting some interesting pieces for the future. One of those transactions saw them flip starting pitcher Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor in exchange for Cubs’ infield prospect Jefferson Rojas. The Mets made some questionable deals, such as the Luke Weaver trade, but getting Rojas in exchange for a 33-year-old injured pitcher and a part-time outfielder was a coup. What exactly are they getting in the 21-year-old infield prospect? Jefferson Rojas Is Equipped To Be An All-Around Star With Mets The Dominican shortstop, who has mostly played third base this season, is slashing a cool .270/.339/.461 with 15 home runs and 17 stolen bases in Double-A, walking 9.0 percent of the time with a 16.4 percent strikeout rate. His wRC+ is a solid 114, which is quite strong for a 21-year-old in Double-A. The 15 round-trippers already represent a career-best for him, and that’s not all: he also has 19 doubles and a triple. Evidently, Rojas has some power, and he is still young enough to think that he could add more beef to his frame and get a bit more power. Rojas hits lots of line drives (22.6 percent), which is excellent for his batting average prospects, and he has been hitting fewer ground balls, too. Little by little, he is learning to hit the ball hard in the air. MLB Pipeline had this to say about his defensive home, speed, and athletic tools: “Rojas has average speed with good instincts and picks his spots to steal bases. There's some question about his long-term position after he split time between shortstop and second base last year before seeing the majority of his action at third base in 2026. He's an average defender with quick hands and a solid arm capable of making throws from a variety of angles.” It looks like he could be a shortstop early in his career, with a move to third base at some point likely in the cards. He won’t be a liability with a glove on his hand, and he might even become an above-average defender if he slides to second or third. Rojas is athletic but isn’t quite a burner on the bases. Despite this, he has shown he can be an effective, smart baserunner who could steal 15-20 bases per year at peak. The potential for him to become a perennial 20-20 threat from a premium position is there. Rojas went from the Cubs, where he was the second-best prospect behind outfielder Josiah Hartshorn, to the Mets, where he is the clear-cut top guy ahead of Jonah Tong, Jonathan Santucci, and Elian Peña, among others. The Mets are not going to rush him this year, but it will be interesting to see if they challenge him with a move to Triple-A at some point in 2026. In any case, Rojas looks like a future regular on the left side of New York’s infield, or possibly second base. There is a good chance Rojas makes his MLB debut at some point in 2027, probably in the second half if all goes well. Holmes has been excellent in Queens, and Taylor has had his moments, but it’s easy to see why the Mets are being lauded for getting this trade across the finish line. View full article

Image courtesy of © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images On Monday, the New York Mets completed another deal in which they acted as the sellers, sending 36-year-old reliever Huascar Brazobán to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for two prospects: Double-A right-hander Gabe Davis, who was the White Sox’s 18th-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline, and Triple-A righty Zach Franklin. Brazobán has multiple years of cheap control remaining and had posted a solid 2.56 ERA in 52 2/3 innings with the Mets in 2026, but it makes sense to bet on the two young arms they got in the deal to contribute in the near future. How good are they? Can they be counted to help when the Mets are contenders again? Let’s take a look: Gabe Davis Davis was taken in the fifth round of the 2025 MLB Draft by the White Sox, out of Oklahoma State. His college numbers weren’t all that impressive, but his 6’9’’, 234-lb frame and power stuff were enough for Chicago to give him an over-slot deal last year. According to MLB Pipeline, he sits in the 94-97 mph range and touches 100 with his fastball, “which features more downhill plane than arm-side run, so it can get hit when he doesn't command it. His tight upper-80s slider climbs as high as 92 mph, and he can turn it into a harder cutter. His mid-80s changeup lacks consistency but will flash some intriguing fade and tumble.” The scary thing is that Davis can still add some beef to his frame and, perhaps, throw a bit harder. Since the Mets don’t really need him this year, they won’t rush him and will allow him time to develop. This year, the 22-year-old posted a 2.63 ERA in 27 1/3 innings in High-A, with seven walks and 33 punchouts, before struggling in Double-A with a ghastly 8.31 ERA in 34 2/3 frames. He has struck out 37 hitters in Double-A, but his 17 walks are a tad high. The biggest issue at that level, however, has been the 2.86 homers he has allowed per nine innings. Until he can get that number down, he won’t be able to keep advancing. Still, it’s easy to see that the talent is there for him to be a contributor in a year or two for the Mets. He could be a mid-rotation starter if he gets the walks and homers in check, but if not, he may be an impact reliever. Zach Franklin Franklin is not your hot, young prospect; he is 27 and wasn’t in the White Sox’s top 30 list, nor is he in the Mets’. However, you can say he is a polished pitcher who posted a 4.37 ERA in 45 1/3 innings in Chicago’s Triple-A team this year, with 14 walks and 60 strikeouts. Like Davis, Franklin has a bit of a home run problem, allowing 2.18 per nine innings in Triple-A in 2026. He is mostly a reliever, although he can pitch multiple frames per outing. Selected in the 10th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, Franklin was included among the White Sox’s top 20 prospects by FanGraphs’ James Fegan in late 2025. His thoughts on him are, at the very least, interesting: “Between COVID and a medical redshirt season, Franklin was a sixth-year senior at Missouri in 2023 with ugly surface numbers and an uglier delivery when the Sox took a $10,000 flier on him in the 10th round. But his short-armed, vertical-riding mid-90s heater has always piled up whiffs, and while the right-hander is entering his 40-man platform year at age 27, it also comes on the heels of a season that saw him strike out 35.3% of hitters in 56.1 innings while finishing the year at the end of the Triple-A bullpen,” he wrote. Baseball America says he has “a 94 mph fastball that has touched 99 this year with some carry.” He also throws a slider and a mid-80s splitter-changeup that has made strides in recent seasons. Per Fegan, the Sox added a leg kick to Franklin’s mechanics to help keep his weight back at the time of the delivery, and it has been a somewhat successful adjustment. View full article

Many contenders are looking for catchers ahead of Monday's trade deadline, but the New York Mets are still reluctant to flip Luis Torrens, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Catchers such as Tyler Stephenson, Ryan Jeffers, and even former top overall draft pick Adley Rutschman are all rumored to be on the market on Monday ahead of the 6:00 pm ET deadline, but the Mets are happy to keep Torrens despite what they could potentially get in return. Heyman specifically said that the Mets have "no plans to move Luis Torrens, one of the best defensive catchers in game." Francisco Álvarez is the unquestioned starter at the position in Queens, but the organization greatly values Torrens’ contributions, particularly behind the plate. Torrens had, as of Monday afternoon, a career-high +12 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) behind the dish in just 479 1/3 innings, and ranks in the 95th percentile with nine runs of Fielding Run Value (FRV). He hasn’t produced much offensively, slashing .216/.279/.314 with two homers and a 69 wRC+ in 203 plate appearances, but he does most of his work on defense. He is not super cheap, but his salary is manageable for most contenders, as he signed a two-year, $11.5 million deal that keeps him under control through 2028. Still, the Mets don’t want to deal him and don’t have to do it, either. View full rumor

The New York Mets, one of the worst teams in the National League with a 46-63 record, are one of the few true sellers heading into Monday’s trade deadline. One of the players drawing the most attention isn’t even healthy at the moment: starting pitcher Clay Holmes. Holmes, who suffered a fractured fibula in mid-May, tossed four scoreless innings on Tuesday’s rehab start at Low-A St. Lucie, hitting 94 mph on the radar gun. Multiple contenders were in attendance to see his progress. The 33-year-old Holmes has a $12 million player option next year, but should be able to get more than that in the open market, provided he gets the chance. The Mets, according to Jon Heyman, aren’t discussing an extension with the former reliever, so it’s safe to say that the pitcher extending his deal to stay in New York is highly unlikely. His fate seems to be sealed: the likelihood of Holmes pitching for a contender in the second half is quite high. “In this sellers’ market, with precious few frontline starters available, this is a big trade piece. Nearly every contender scouted him in his rehab game,” Heyman wrote on X. Holmes has a 2.39 ERA in 52 2/3 innings with the Mets this year, in nine starts. He has walked 18 and struck out 45, with a 4-4 record. View full rumor

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-Imagn Images The New York Mets will be one of the most active teams ahead of the trade deadline, just not in the exact way they envisioned before the start of the season. They are expected to be among the few sellers in baseball, looking to offload most of their veterans before August 3. They are expected to keep a short list of players off limits, though. Juan Soto, A.J. Ewing, Carson Benge, Nolan McLean, Francisco Alvarez, and Juan Soto are some of them. Is it time to add rookie left-hander Zac Thornton to that exclusive list? After tossing six shutout innings against the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this week, the southpaw now boasts a 1.93 ERA in four starts at the MLB level this season. Is he the newest Mets’ pitching star? Understanding What the Mets Have In Rookie Zac Thornton Thornton, a fifth-round pick out of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix back in 2023, averages 92 mph with his four-seam fastball. He also boasts a mediocre 19.5 percent strikeout rate in the extremely small sample of 23 1/3 innings. To make matters worse, Thornton had as many whiffs, six, as he allowed hard-hit balls in that start against the Brewers. Overall, his 21.3 percent whiff rate would rank him in the bottom quarter of the league if he qualified. The point, if you haven’t caught it by now, is clear: Thornton is no ace. He doesn’t have McLean’s ceiling, in case you were asking. That, however, doesn’t mean he can’t be a quality piece in a major-league rotation, which takes us to our point: Thornton is well worth keeping around. We are talking about a 24-year-old left-hander with six full seasons of cheap team control who has shown an ability to throw strikes in his first four MLB outings. He is walking just 2.31 batters per nine frames in the limited sample, so even though he is just striking out 6.56 hitters per nine, he has proven effective at keeping traffic off the basepaths. Before being called up to the majors, he had a 4.30 ERA and a 5.46 FIP in 37 2/3 Triple-A innings. He was a completely different pitcher, with 4.30 walks per nine and 9.08 strikeouts per nine. What could have happened is that the Triple-A coaching staff might have given him different indications than the Mets’ staff did once he was called up. Or, you know, he is still trying to find his identity. In any case, we have seen enough to be intrigued. Thornton uses six pitches: a cutter (41.4 percent), a four-seamer (27.4 percent), a sweeper (14.6 percent), a sinker (11.8 percent), a changeup (3.1 percent), and a curveball (1.6 percent). The sweeper has earned him a solid 34.8 percent whiff rate so far. The cutter is the foundation of his repertoire. He generally targets the low-and-in corner against righties, which would be the low-and-away part of the zone for lefties, and generally does a good job locating the pitch: Thornton is a pitcher who needs to show excellent command to thrive. That has mostly been the case so far in his first four starts, but MLB hitters will make him pay when he doesn’t because he doesn’t really have overpowering stuff. It’s what caps his ceiling. Here’s what MLB Pipeline has to say about him: “His fastball velocity only sits 89-92 mph (occasionally popping 95), but with some deception and ride on the heater, he can still put it past bats at the top rail. His 83-86 mph slider remains his best pitch. It’s a two-plane breaker that he can spot exceptionally well to the gloveside, and he isn’t afraid of bringing it in on righties. His upper-80s cutter gives him another chase-heavy pitch. His 82-84 mph changeup and slow mid-70s curveball occasionally get folded in but find the zone much less often than his other offerings.” The slider they are referring to is basically what Baseball Savant calls his sweeper. It helps that he can use it against both righties and lefties and that he has excellent command of it. All things considered, Thornton’s deep repertoire, solid control, and craftiness on the mound, not to mention a ‘bulldog mentality’ as described by MLB Pipeline, give him a chance to be a solid back-end starter for the Mets. As long as fans don’t expect him to be an ace, he can be a valuable piece of the next competitive team this organization fields. View full article