CHICAGO – Francisco Lindor’s slow start has left Mets officials searching for answers.
It’s true, the Mets only had 12 games in the season as they arrived at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, but never mind – for any early shortstop who recently extended a $ 431 million contract – a .171 / .327 / .198 slash line. unacceptable.
Lindor won the first game of a doubleheader in Colorado on Saturday for the Mets in a Jacob DeGrom victory, but otherwise went invisible to the team, which ranked 30th in runs scored per game.
“I look for a kind of treatment [Lindor] Like I would be David Ortiz, ”the Mets told coach Chili Davis, who worked with the Red Sox sloggers for 2015–17. “Lindor has had a lot of success in his past and is so young that he is a great hitter, he is still a great hitter.
“I think I have to obey him, because he is the same man who realizes what is going on.” But if I can help him and show him some videos and say, ‘Remember when you felt this and that,’ and a little suggestion with him, but you don’t want to be on his face every day. You want him to feel it and find it. “
Looking for clues, Davis recently spent two hours watching the video of Lindor with Cleveland, which dates back to 2017. Davis has also spoken to the Indians’ assistant coach Victor Rodriguez and has been told what kind of pregame drill helped Lindor the most during his game at the Slam in Cleveland. .
Davis dismissed the notion that Lindor’s bat speed had decreased.
“His batting speed is not a problem,” Davis said. “It’s just a feeling. We have not played enough games in a row. He left spring training feeling really good. We go to Washington and we don’t play a game, we mimic BP, it helps, but it’s not like competing against another team. “
The three games in Washington that were postponed due to COVID-19 concerns were only the beginning of a month of hell. Since then, four other games have been postponed or suspended for the Mets, who have already played two double headers.
“It affects your time,” Davis said. “Plus, he’s in a different league this year and there are a lot of pitchers he doesn’t know right now and maybe he’s faced some time. But it’s not like facing people again and again. He’s like a man , And [Jeff] McNeil, that once they are leaving, you have nothing to say to them because they are just going to roll.
He said, ‘We need to get on the field and be more baseball-like. I am not overly worried. … I know [Lindor] And people like McNeill, once they get that feeling and lock into it, are just going to roll with it for a long time. “
The fact that the Mets 7-5 – without a lineup in sync – was a relief for Davis.
“Try to cowboy and try to win some ball games,” Davis said. “We are winning some ball games, even though the way we are doing it is not positive, because I know that when we start clicking we are going to win a lot more ball games.
“I think if we can get two or three hot months then we can win this division. This is the main objective: to win the division and advance to the playoffs. “
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