McNeil blasts two homers (and robs one) to bolster Mets' lineup

MIAMI -- Prior to the Mets’ series opener against the Marlins on Friday night, there was some big news: Starling Marte, who has been out for almost a month with a right knee bone bruise, had begun baseball activities.

In another time, the Mets would be anxiously awaiting Marte’s return and the contributions, both offensively and defensively, it would bring. But as New York begins its second half of the 2024 season, the club is not in any rush for Marte to get back into game action.

Why? Well, because of Jeff McNeil and Jose Iglesias, of course.

“[Iglesias] continues to play well, he continues to get big hits -- it doesn’t matter whether it’s [against] lefties, righties, he’s giving us good at-bats,” manager Carlos Mendoza said pregame. “I like where McNeil is at offensively as well. … Today I thought it was a good day to have Iglesias and McNeil. … I think it’s a combination of a lot of things, but I could see them both getting a lot of playing time.”

The Mets have been turning to a few combinations to fill the gap that Marte’s absence leaves. With left-handed-hitting McNeil in right field against right-handed starters, Iglesias slots into the hole at second that McNeil usually fills. There’s also the lefty-hitting DJ Stewart and right-handed-hitting Tyrone Taylor who can both slot into the outfield, depending on the best matchup mix.

On Friday, though, it was McNeil -- with an assist from Iglesias -- who salvaged what could have been a shutout loss to the Marlins, instead giving the Mets a fighting chance. They still lost, 6-4, but not before McNeil made an impressive catch, then demolished a pair of homers for his second career multihomer game.

“It felt good, felt good at the plate,” McNeil said. “Seeing the ball well -- I feel like I've been seeing the ball well for the last couple of weeks, hitting some balls hard that, you know, aren't getting through. So it's nice to have a little bit of success tonight."

McNeil set the tone early -- not with his bat, but with his defensive skills. In the bottom of the second inning, McNeil robbed Bryan De La Cruz of what could have been an extra-base hit. He popped out in his first at-bat, in the bottom of the third, but came to the plate in the fifth inning ready to hit.

The Mets were down, 4-0, when McNeil led off the fifth. After working a 2-2 count on five pitches, McNeil began the process of clawing out of the hole New York had dug, smashing a 401-foot homer (per Statcast) to center field. New York plated another run in the inning to cut the Marlins’ lead in half.

The next time McNeil stepped to the plate, he repeated the task -- this time against a southpaw. With Iglesias on second thanks to a one-out double, McNeil roped an 82.8 mph slider from reliever Andrew Nardi over the wall in right-center field.

It’s been a tough season for McNeil so far, with a fair share of bad luck (well-hit balls that don’t fall for hits) and just lacking at-bats. His batting average has hovered around .215 for the past month, and he entered Friday having hit just two homers in his previous 40 games.

So what has been changing for McNeil?

“I've been playing this game for so long, you know, in '22 when they were shifting on me, I just kind of [had to] go the other way,” McNeil said. “I was just trying to hit line drives, just trying to keep the ball out of the air, trying to hit line drives. And I feel like your swing kind of gets a little bit messed up once you're trying to like, guide the ball. If you're trying to guide the ball out there, it's tough. So lately I've been trying to hit the ball wherever it's pitched and hit it hard.”

If McNeil can continue to deliver at the plate, it may be a sign of things to come for the Mets (49-47), who are tied for the third and final NL Wild Card spot.

“It’s huge,” Mendoza said postgame. “We've been talking about our lineup being deep, and if you add a guy like that who's not too far removed from winning a batting championship hitting in the bottom of the order for us -- and from the left side -- it's just going to make our lineup a lot better, obviously, and a lot deeper.”