Drew Smith throws during a baseball game on May 9. (Aaron Doster, AP)
ATLANTA — The Mets are in a tough spot with struggling role players they might have relied on a little too heavily.
Daniel Vogelbach isn’t giving the Mets much of anything at the designated hitter spot right now. Drew Smith hasn’t shown that he has what it takes to be a high-leverage reliever on a consistent basis. The good news is that the club may have an internal option for a high-leverage, seventh-inning arm. The DH spot might not be as easy to figure out.
The Mets have continued to roll with Vogelbach, the left-handed hitting slugger acquired before the All-Star break last season, as the primary DH against right-handed hitters. Mark Vientos and Tommy Pham have platooned with Vogelbach, but the results haven’t been great for anyone: The Mets have received only four home runs at the DH spot this season, the second-fewest amount in baseball, and the team’s .309 slugging percentage is the fourth-worst.
Coming into Wednesday, Vogelbach was slashing .209/.345/.304 with a .650 OPS. He has 24 walks, which the Mets continually point to, as the club views his discerning pitching eye as an asset. But he’s only hit two home runs and five doubles, and the Mets are paying him to hit for power and drive runners in, which he isn’t doing. Tuesday night in Atlanta, he didn’t even get on base. Vogelbach went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park.
“Anytime somebody is not following their track record you try to get them back to it,” said manager Buck Showalter. “He’s frustrated. He knows how much better he’s capable of and really wants to help the team win and it really hasn’t happened for him consistently yet. But he’s not the only one.”
Showalter isn’t wrong in saying Vogelbach isn’t the only hitter struggling. Just about every hitter on the roster with the exception of Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo is underperforming. A lineup built on length doesn’t have a whole lot of it right now, which brings into question the systems and processes the Mets have installed at an organization-wide level.
The Mets are 23rd in the league with a .237 batting average with runners in scoring position. You’d think the most expensive lineup in baseball could buy a few more hits.
When it comes to the bullpen, Adam Ottavino and David Robertson have been extended, taxed and overworked. They’ve cracked at times. But that’s what happens when the relievers have to pick up the workload of the starters, and when it becomes difficult to trust relievers like Smith, who has a 7.36 ERA over his last eight appearances.
Smith has come up big in pressure-packed situations, like when he converted his first save in Washington last month, but far too often he’s looked like he did Tuesday when he couldn’t hold inherited runners on base and gave up one of his own.
“It’s baseball, man,” Smith said. “You throw some bad ones and they get hit right at people. You throw some other bad ones that find holes. I try to not to think too much about it, just try to throw good ones and try to throw better ones.
“But it’s definitely frustrating when you feel like every bad pitch you throw is getting hit and you’re not getting many breaks.”
Smith is focusing more on the process because he said he doesn’t want to get too hung up on the results. His high fastball has been good, but his breaking stuff has been getting hit as of late.
The Mets could use Smith in lower-leverage situations and use Jeff Brigham in the middle innings instead. His 0.72 WHIP is the lowest mark in the National League and tied for the third-lowest mark in MLB among relief pitchers with 20 appearances. Despite his drastic road and home splits (1.46 ERA in 13 road games, to a 6.30 ERA in nine home games), the right-hander seems to have moved into Showalter’s circle of trust.
“We’ve got some other guys,” Showalter said. “It depends on how you define it. I think Brigham has worked his way into that and Smitty is capable of that if we can get him on a consistent role, which he’s shown signs of. I feel good about the depth. Those guys are capable of pitching in those situations.”
The Mets made one tough decision by cutting catcher Tomas Nido this week. They may have to make another soon.
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Originally published at Tribune News Service