Sunday, July 06

Welcome back to the Mets Beat newsletter! Anthony DiComo has covered the Mets for MLB.com since 2007, including the past 16 seasons full-time on the beat.

NEW YORK -- Francisco Lindor was conducting an on-field interview with SNY late Wednesday evening when the subject of the All-Star Game arose. Hours earlier, Lindor had been named the National League’s starting shortstop for the July 15 game in Atlanta, marking the first All-Star start of his career and his first time representing the Mets in a Midsummer Classic. 

“I appreciate you guys,” Lindor said, speaking directly to the Citi Field fans. “Much love. I can’t wait to go represent all you guys, represent the Mets organization, represent my family. This is on you guys. You guys voted for me. You guys made me an All-Star.” 

For as well as Lindor has played this year, and as popular as he is with the fan base in Queens, there were no guarantees he would qualify for his first All-Star Game since attending four in a row as a reserve with Cleveland from 2016-19. Although Lindor received over 200,000 more votes than any other NL shortstop in Phase 1 of All-Star balloting, those totals reset for Phase 2 this week -- right as Lindor was staggering through his deepest slump of the season. 

But voters still showed up for Lindor, with 56 percent backing him compared to 44 percent for runner-up Mookie Betts. Upon hearing the final tally, Lindor said he called his wife, Katia, then his sister and mother, then finally his father to let them all know. 

“I was extremely happy,” Lindor said. “My heart was proud and full of joy.” 

Lindor will become the third Mets shortstop to start an All-Star Game -- joining Buddy Harrelson (1971) and José Reyes (2007) -- as well as the organization’s first fan-elected starter at any position since outfielder Yoenis Céspedes (2016). It’s also likely that Lindor will have company in Atlanta, with Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Edwin Díaz all strong candidates to make the team as reserves. 

The fact that Lindor had never previously made an All-Star Game as a Met was a matter of curiosity, given his stature as one of the league’s best players. But early slumps have affected Lindor most seasons since joining the organization in 2021, limiting his ability to crack a consistently strong pool of NL shortstops. 

This year, Lindor didn’t slump much until June, allowing him to jump out to an early lead in balloting. Nonetheless, he still ranks second among NL shortstops in both major measurements of WAR, as well as second in homers, third in RBIs and tied for fifth in stolen bases. 

The finals matchup was a particularly favorable one for Lindor, who has outproduced Betts in just about every meaningful metric. Once he reached the heads-up portion of balloting, Lindor no longer had to worry about Elly De La Cruz, Trea Turner or other shortstops who may have given him a stiffer balloting challenge. 

“Obviously, you have to give credit to him and everybody that supported him,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. 

Between now and July 15, Lindor would love to catch fire, making those first-half numbers look even better. Perhaps it came as little surprise that in his first game after the finalists were revealed, Lindor broke free from a 2-for-30 skid with a homer. He went on to collect a hit in each of his final three at-bats that night. 

“It’s been good, but there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement,” Lindor said of his season to date. “I have my ups and downs. My downs have been a little longer [lately]. I’ve just got to be consistent, and I’ve got to help this team win.” 

Soto was named NL Player of the Month for June on Thursday, two months after Alonso won the same award in April. It marked the second time in franchise history that the Mets have had two Players of the Month in a single season. Who was the other pair? 

A) Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter 

B) Mike Piazza and Edgardo Alfonzo 

C) David Wright and Reyes 

D) Alonso and Lindor

Given the Mets’ seemingly endless string of rotation issues, calls for top prospects Nolan McLean (the Mets' No. 4 prospect) and Brandon Sproat (No. 5) are only growing louder. 

It’s easy to see why. McLean has been nothing but productive since jumping to Triple-A Syracuse in May, with a 2.80 ERA over 10 outings at that level. He struck out a career-high 10 batters in his last start. Sproat, meanwhile, has been at Syracuse all season and is coming off arguably his best outing of the year. 

But even with Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill, Griffin Canning and Paul Blackburn all sidelined, the Mets view their rotation as a temporary problem. Manaea and Senga could both return before the All-Star break, bringing the Mets’ top two starters back into play. That means a long runway doesn’t necessarily exist in the Majors for someone like McLean or Sproat.

“My preference is to not bring up a top prospect for a spot start,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “I also understand this is a unique circumstance and that I can’t take anything off the table right now. But my preference would be to figure out a way to do it without doing that.” 

In Stearns’ experience, pitchers fare better both physically and psychologically when they know they’ll receive a string of starts regardless of how they perform. Plus, the Mets believe Sproat and McLean can both still benefit from Minor League development time. In Sproat’s case, Mets officials want to see him string together multiple productive starts in a row. In McLean’s, he must mitigate some of the damage left-handed hitters are doing against him. 

“It’s not easy to come up here and perform right away,” Stearns said. “Sometimes it takes two, three, four, five starts to get your feet under yourself at the Major League level. And I think allowing a pitcher -- especially a top prospect pitcher -- to have that runway can be helpful.” 

• It’s not just the Mets’ rotation that injuries have affected. The team also lost bullpen stalwart Dedniel Núñez this week to a potentially season-ending injury. 

A) Hernandez and Carter

Hernandez was the NL Player of the Month in July 1985. Carter won the award that September. 

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