When the New York Mets signed shortstop Francisco Lindor to a $341 million extension the day before the start of the season, fans envisioned a star-caliber player with the ability to impact every game with his bat, his legs, and his glove.
For the first month of the season, it is safe to say that wasn’t the case. In April, Lindor hit a meager .189/.299/.243 with a .542 OPS and just one home run. That was good for a 62 wRC+, well below his career norm.
Mets’ fans booed Lindor because of his bad performance, and the team as a whole wasn’t hitting in the early stages of the season. The situation appeared to improve for the Mets in the last few games, as they are coming off a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks and are starting to win some ballgames.
The Mets, and Lindor, are surging
Part of the reason the offense is starting to perform better is tied to Lindor. The shortstop was hitting .157 as recently as May 5, and was mired in a 0-for-26 slump that had everybody questioning his ability to carry a franchise. But baseball is a game of larger samples, and over the long haul, everything pointed out at the infielder being just fine: he is in his prime, has a track record of success, and is adjusting to new surroundings.
After breaking the 0-for-26 skid with a ninth-inning single last week, on May 6, he has gone 6-for-14 in his last four games, with a home run, a double, five runs, four RBI, four walks, and one strikeout.
The Mets’ shortstop would need to sustain that kind of performance over a larger sample size for us to really proclaim him as being back, but he is well on his way to start producing the numbers that his new team expect from him.