The Mets have backed themselves into a corner with Daniel Vogelbach. The team hasn’t used Vogelbach for the last week, having benched the designated hitter for the last five games.
The situation with Vogelbach is particularly strange. The Mets are choosing to play a man down each night without their left-handed hitting designated hitter despite opportunities to use him, especially in late-game situations.
It’s strange to carry a player without using him at all, but Vogelbach isn’t injured and the team didn’t want to find an injury for him, so he continues to work on finding his stride again with the team.
“I’ve been working on stuff that can hopefully lead to me getting the ball in the air like I like to get the ball in the air,” Vogelbach said Wednesday before the Mets hosted the Yankees in the second Subway Series game of the year. “Just being able to get in the cage and really dial into stuff that I can really go after and not have to worry about repeating it in the game the same night. I always use the term muscle memory and I always try to repeat swings so that you don’t have to think about it and you just go back to doing what I do.”
An analytics darling with an ability to get on base and take pitches, the Mets have continued to play the slugger even when though he hasn’t slugged much this season. The club and their analytics team like his exit velocity, but as Vogelbach himself noted, he isn’t hitting the ball in the air right now. He’s been hitting it on the ground. The 30-year-old Fort Myers, Florida native is walking more than he did last season but he’s also striking out more. He’s hit only two home runs this season.
The situation became untenable and the Mets had to do something, but wasting a roster spot wasn’t what anyone expected. The Mets would have to designate him for assignment to get him off the 40-man roster, but they’d risk losing him on waivers. General manager Billy Eppler and his analytics team feel very strongly that Vogelbach can help the team, but even Vogelbach understands he isn’t helping much right now.
“That’s probably the ultimate goal, boil things down to winning,” Vogelbach said. “To win, you need everybody. I need to be at my best, just like everybody else needs to be at their best. When you’re not, you get down to why you weren’t your best and try to get through it.”
The Mets aren’t going to use him until they think he’s able to get the ball in the air regularly again, but it’s tough to know exactly when he’ll be ready when he isn’t taking any competitive at-bats.
“I think the problem with saying when exactly it’s going to end is, what’s making you do that?” Showalter said. “Are you seeing something that’s getting back, progressively, to what he’s capable of doing and has done in the past? So just to put a closed lid on it and then not meet some criteria to get there is probably not very wise. But he’s in the process of meeting that criteria and he’s getting close.”
Francisco Lindor debuted a new version of his signature shoe, the Lindor 2 Summer Storm, this week at the Subway Series. The Mets shortstop has long been a fashion enthusiast but thanks to his partnership with New Balance, he’s been able to add shoe designer to his resume — sort of.
“New Balance does a lot, but I do tell them what I want, what I’m thinking and my vision,” Lindor said. “Then they draw up the shoes and we go from there.”
Lindor lets the professionals take care of the engineering of the two shoes — a cleat and a pre-game performance sneaker — but he designed the new color schemes and included specific elements, like a cord in place of laces and velcro straps. Using a cord and straps helps him get them on quicker before going out to take batting practice, and he felt it would be helpful for parents of kids who are trying to get their shoes on quicker to get out the door or go to practice as well.
Right-handed depth starter Elieser Hernandez has been sidelined once again. While rehabbing from a right shoulder strain, Hernandez recently reported side discomfort. He had previously been on a rehab assignment but has taken a step back and is now going through a throwing progression.
Right-hander Stephen Nogosek cleared waivers and outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse. However, he rejected the assignment and elected free agency.
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