2 underrated Mets hitters help their Opening Day roster chances
For most New York Mets fans, going into the 2023 regular season, a season with anticipation of the World Series, the biggest concern is offense.
The Mets have really hurt their team throughout 2022. It resulted in a league title blowout and a first-round playoff exit.
This season, no major additions were made to the Mets lineup because most of their big acquisitions were pitchers, either starters or relievers.
Entering spring training, a large amount of the Mets’ Opening Day guaranteed offensive personnel was well known.
However, in terms of deep innings, there have been a few people entering preseason business this year who have played so far in spring training. Let’s take a look at two specific Mets players who helped their Opening Day roster hopes.
Two underrated Mets batsmen to improve their roster chances:
Tim Locastro:
The Mets signed Team Locastro this off-season. He has spent most of the past two years with the Yankees. Locastro is 30 years old with six years of MLB experience (247 games played and 549 plate games) and is out of options.
227 career batting average and seven home runs. However, his calling card is his speed on the bases and the positional flexibility he provides across the field. Lucastro stole eight bases in 38 games for the Yankees in 2022. His best year was 2019, when he recorded 17 stolen bases in 91 games. From a versatile standpoint, defensively, Locastro has played 74 games at center field, 69 in left field, and 47 in right field.
So far into spring training, Locastro is off to an encouraging start. He has played in 10 games and has a . 350 batting average (7-20, four doubles) with five RBIs and a 1.008 OPS. Also, Locastro stole a whopping five bases. No other Met has two.
Finally, with Tommy Pham in tough spring training both offensively (. 105 batting average) and defensively, there’s a chance Locastro could be the Mets’ fourth baseman and also the right-handed designated hitter option to start the 2023 regular season. His speed and versatility make Locastro valuable to the Mets, and if he keeps hitting, he can make the team very well.
Abraham Monty:
Abraham Almonte also signed with the Mets in the off-season. He is 33 years old with 10 years of experience in the MLB. He played 455 matches and has 1363 matches.
Almonte has a career-low batting average of . 235 with 24 home runs. He is a striker who, like Locastro, offers great positional flexibility on the field. Almonte has played 166 career games in center field, 124 in left field, and 94 in right field.
Up to this point in spring training, Almonte has the Mets’ best batting average, hitting . 500 (7-14, doubles). Almonte also has the best OPS (1.293) of any Met up to this point. He drove in three runs in the eight games played. Finally, Almonte is also tied for most walks on the Mets during spring training so far, with four.
Similar to Locastro, with the great Famé struggling both on the plate and on the field, there is ample opportunity for Almonte to take a spot on the Opening Day roster. He has experience, versatility on the field, and provides the Mets flexibility offensively as a switch hitter. If Almonte continues to dominate the plate and settle into the rest of spring training, he will certainly be in a position to be on this list. It will be great to see how Locastro and Almonte play out the rest of spring training.
