NEW YORK — After ending a five-game losing streak on Sunday, the New York Mets started their week with a postponement. Their series opener Monday against the Los Angeles Dodgers was rained out.
So they will play a doubleheader on Tuesday. Tylor Megill and Jose Quintana are the scheduled Mets starters to kick off the important post-Memorial Day portion of their schedule. As some executives like to say, April and May are for seeing what clubs look like whereas June and July are for addressing issues.
As the baseball calendar shifts into a higher gear, here are a few takeaways on the Mets (22-30).
Prospect snaps back into form
A few adjustments have paid off for Mets prospect Luisangel Acuña.
On May 1, Acuña’s batting average was .216.
Now, it’s .254.
A few weeks ago, Triple-A coaches J.P. Arencibia and Collin Hetzler worked with Acuña on tightening his swing and lowering his leg kick. They also wanted him to stay back more instead of trying to go out and get pitches. It worked. Acuña, a right-handed batter, is racking up more hits — and hitting more balls in the air to left field.
The Mets like how Luisangel Acuña worked his way out of a slump. (Gordon Donovan / Associated Press)
“He got off to a rough start,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It says a lot for a young player playing on the Triple-A level that is going through struggles and they continue to fight and now we’re seeing results.
“There’s been some adjustments with him, but basically sticking to his routine. It is important for him to go through those struggles and get through it and fight through it. You hate to see players get to the big-league level and never have to face adversity. So, for him to start getting results as of late is good to see.”
Acuña, the brother of Atlanta star Ronald Acuña Jr. (out for the season because of an ACL injury), is on the Mets’ 40-man roster. He has split time this season at shortstop, second base and center field, playing all three positions well, according to evaluators.
Hot corner update
The Mets’ experiment of splitting time between Mark Vientos and Brett Baty at third base continues but still carries an expiration date.
With both third basemen on the roster, the Mets don’t have a backup middle infielder. Mendoza said on Friday that at some point in the middle of the Mets’ stretch of 13 straight games, he intended to check in with players like second baseman Jeff McNeil about how they were feeling regarding availability. The postponement gives the Mets an unplanned day off, but they play two games on Tuesday.
The Mets discussed carrying an infielder as the 27th player for the doubleheader, but they decided against it and opted to go with a pitcher.
For the most part, Vientos has drawn starts against lefties with Baty playing against right-handers, but that hasn’t always been the case. In Cleveland, Vientos (1.167 OPS, 36 plate appearances) started two straight games against right-handed pitchers. He then started the first game against the Giants and hit a home run. Baty (.640 OPS, 159 plate appearances) then started the next two games against San Francisco and hit a home run on Saturday. Baty has made a few outstanding plays recently while completing all the routine ones. Vientos hasn’t made the amount of spectacular plays at third base like Baty, but he has at least looked fine at the position.
Before games, Baty has continued to take groundballs at shortstop and second base, but he would only see action there if the Mets lost Francisco Lindor or McNeil during a game.
“My job is to put them in a position to have success,” Mendoza said. “There’s a balance to it. Right now, that’s what we’re working through.”
‘I could have fixed some things’
Kodai Senga’s comments Monday regarding his lengthy rehab and latest setback sounded cryptic — and they revealed some frustration.
“I think that I understand my body well, and I think things could have gone better,” Senga said on Monday through an interpreter. “I’m not overly surprised at where I am currently. I think I could have fixed some things.”
The natural follow-up: Like what?
“I think the point is that in order to get back to 100 percent, you have to hit each benchmark,” Senga said. “You have to be at 100 percent at each benchmark to get to the ultimate 100 percent. That’s what I mean by that.”
When Senga strained his posterior right shoulder capsule in February, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said he still expected Senga to “make a bunch” of starts this season. That always lacked specificity, but whatever that number of starts was, it’s lower now. After ramping up his throwing program to the point where he was facing batters, Senga halted his progress to hone his mechanics. After that, he had triceps discomfort and nerve inflammation resulting in a shutdown lasting three to five days. He plans to resume playing catch on Wednesday, which would be the fifth day.
When Senga’s comments about regret were relayed to Mendoza, the manager attributed them to a player being frustrated and unable to help the team. Senga has dictated a lot of his rehab, which is normal for players in Japan. Mendoza said Senga and the club have been on the same page and that the pitcher has never been rushed at any stage. At this point, considering Senga will need to start over with his throwing program (which usually requires approximately six weeks), it seems unlikely that he will pitch for the Mets before the All-Star break.
“It’s hard to put a timetable here,” Mendoza said. “We got a pretty frustrated player here that he’s not able to contribute to the team.”
“It’s obviously not ideal,” Senga said. “A lot of regretful feelings. But I just want to get back out there. I’m here at the stadium. I see all the guys fighting, and it really makes me want to have the urge to get back out there and pitch for the team.”
Catcher comeback continues
The Mets, who have one of the oldest average roster ages (30.6) in the majors, have sorely missed the young, energetic and talented catcher Francisco Alvarez (thumb). He could be back within the next month and he has taken batting practice the past couple of days, consistently hitting balls with exit velocities over 100 mph. Still, he was wearing a splint and may do so whenever he is activated.
If that’s the case, the Mets must be all the more mindful of his playing time — it won’t be easy catching fastballs wearing a splint. Either way, the Mets also should be mindful of how Alvarez positions himself behind the plate, one rival evaluator said; Alvarez is eager to frame pitches and steal strikes, but that makes him susceptible to contact on a swing.
Eyes on Orze
The Mets have used a bunch of relievers and don’t need to add anyone to their 40-man roster yet. But when the time arises again, it’s worth keeping in mind right-hander Eric Orze. He’s an under-the-radar arm impressing some evaluators, who love his whiff rate. Baseball Savant has tracked 414 of Orze’s pitches. Batters have swung and missed at 66 of them. That’s good for 15.9 percent, which is top among the dozen Mets minor-leaguers who have thrown at least 400 tracked pitches via Baseball Savant.
Orze’s splitter is his best pitch, but he increased velocity on his four-seam fastball to 95 mph and improved command of his slider. In 24 1/3 innings, the 26-year-old has a 3.70 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 15 walks (over his last 17 innings, he has walked just five).
(Photo of Luisangel Acuña on May 5: (Jonathan Tenca via Associated Press)
