Jeff McNeil’s break also ‘mental’ as absence from Mets lineup may continue

MLB

By Mark W. Sanchez

WASHINGTON — This extended break for Jeff McNeil might reach a full week.

McNeil, who did not see any time against three lefty Nationals starting pitchers, has not played since Sunday.

The Mets left the capital city with a sweep and flew off to London, with off days Thursday and Friday and the beginning of a two-game set with the Phillies on Saturday — the first of which they will face off against another southpaw in Ranger Suarez.

So it is likely that McNeil, who played in 55 of the team’s first 56 games, now will go a full week between at-bats.

Manager Carlos Mendoza has said that McNeil was sitting not just because recent call-up Jose Iglesias has been the better option against lefties, but because McNeil needed to “work on some things.”

In sitting an everyday player for a full week in the middle of a season, Mendoza acknowledged that the team’s intention is about more than a physical break.

“Yeah, it’s mental [too],” Mendoza said. “It gives him an opportunity to continue to work on the things he needs to be working on, which he is.”

McNeil has yet to speak publicly about a benching that followed a rough 2023 season and a poor few months of this year. The previously regular Mets second baseman has seen his batting average tumble from .326 in 2022 to .270 in 2023 to .227 through 57 games this season.

Every sign of life from McNeil — like a solid road trip from Philadelphia to Miami to Cleveland in mid-May — has been followed with another slump.

McNeil is just 4-for-28 in his past eight games. It does not help that the 2022 National League batting champion derived most of his value from his batting average: He does not offer much pop and has just three home runs all year.

It also does not help that McNeil’s downturn has not only been seen with the bat. Among 38 qualified second basemen, McNeil entered action Wednesday ranking 33rd in Outs Above Average.

He has committed four errors at second base, but the bigger problem has been a loss of mobility.

At his fastest, in his rookie season of 2018, McNeil registered an average of 27.8 feet per second at full speed.

Last season, he was in the same neighborhood at 27.4 feet per second. Through two months of this season, the 32-year-old has fallen to 25.6 feet per second.

The Mets continued to play him primarily in the infield during April and May largely because they did not have an alternative.

Since they called up Iglesias, they not only have another option but one who has been renowned for his glove since debuting in 2011.

Iglesias has fielded well, hit lefties well and made several hustle plays.

His infield single extended a ninth-inning rally in a loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday; he never stopped sprinting and turned a ball that only reached shallow left into a double on Tuesday.

“Guys are feeling it,” Mendoza said of Iglesias’ boost. “He brings positive energy. He’s engaged, he’s talking. He does some of the little things — not just the result because he’s playing well — but he’s also bringing that energy, and guys are feeding off each other.”