Francisco Lindor might be baseball’s most underappreciated star.
But the shortstop was the Mets’ MVP this season and belongs in any conversation about the best at his position.
Lindor’s season has ranked among the best in franchise history, even if it isn’t recognized by a segment of the fan base that would rather focus on what he is not. Such is life for a player carrying a $341 million contract.
Lindor isn’t the Mets’ best pure hitter — that distinction is reserved for Brandon Nimmo. And Lindor won’t be the Mets’ best power hitter as long as Pete Alonso plays for the team.
But, yes, the 29-year-old Lindor is the team’s top all-around player, and it isn’t particularly close. That fact gets overshadowed sometimes by the weight of expectations.
The Mets have three games remaining and perhaps part of a fourth on Monday should the Marlins have to return for a game that was suspended in the ninth inning Friday night. There isn’t much for which the Mets to play and Lindor is said to be running on fumes near the finish line of a season in which he has appeared in 157 games.
But Lindor, as is his nature, wants to keep going.
This week he joined the 30/30 club for homers and stolen bases in a season — joining David Wright, Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry as the only Mets to accomplish the feat. Now there’s one last carrot dangling: Lindor needs four RBIs to reach 100 for the second straight year.
“Think about it,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He’s four RBIs away from 100 RBIs, 100 runs scored, 30 stolen bases, 30 home runs and he’ll be in the top three in Gold Glove voting. Just say thank you for having him pass our way. … I hope he can get four RBIs. It would go down as one of the great seasons ever and people don’t even realize it.”
If that game against the Marlins resumes, by the way, Lindor is scheduled to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning. That is worth noting if he still needs one RBI to reach 100.
Overall, he owns a .254/.334/.468 slash line and his 5.8 bWAR ranked 10th in MLB for position players and first among shortstops as of Friday. Lindor won’t win the National League MVP award, but a top 10 finish seems likely.
Defensively, he remains elite.
“The stuff he does on defense, it’s a joke,” Alonso said. “It’s like he’s pulling rabbits out of a hat out there. He just invents stuff out there. He has this freeness, but also tenacity to his game. He plays the game defensively like he plays offense. He’s just as aggressive and locked in as he’s been at the plate.”
Lindor’s season hasn’t been seamless. There was a June slump, and his detractors will point to the Mets’ swoon during that stretch that ultimately sunk their season and wonder where Lindor was hiding.
But this was also a stretch in which Alonso was on the injured list with a wrist contusion after he was hit by a Charlie Morton pitch and then ineffective upon his return. Jeff McNeil wasn’t hitting. Starling Marte was scuffling. Francisco Alvarez was slumping after a spectacular May. The June swoon certainly wasn’t all Lindor’s fault.
In the clubhouse Lindor’s appreciated for his even demeanor as somebody always in good spirits. When a teammate misplays a ball it’s Lindor there to offer a pat on the back to remind the player it can happen to anybody
Lindor underwhelmed in his first season with the Mets — at least by his standards — but his last two have been superb.
“I have come to appreciate him and I am very proud that he’s had two good years since I have been here,” Showalter said. “I have got nothing to do with it.”
Lindor still has eight years remaining on his deal with the Mets. The time has long passed for wondering if the team is going to get stuck with an albatross of a contract.
Francisco Lindor is earning his keep.