WASHINGTON — Jeff McNeil appeared to have turned a corner on the Mets’ last road trip, but his latest turn is toward the bench.
After a 5-for-32 (.156) homestand, the slumping second baseman was on the bench as the Mets began their three-game series against the Nationals on Monday.
It was the second time in four games that Jose Iglesias started in McNeil’s spot, but unlike the last instance the desire to give McNeil a rest wasn’t cited by manager Carlos Mendoza.
“We’re giving Jeff another day to continue to work on some things and get back on track,” Mendoza said at Nationals Park.
What types of things?
“Impacting the baseball,” Mendoza said. “Hitting line drives — I think he’s lifting the ball a little too much. He’s a guy that won a batting title by hitting line drives from line to line and right now we’re not seeing that consistently. There’s been stretches of a couple of games where you go, ‘OK, he’s back,’ and then he goes some games where he is just missing pitches. We want him to square baseballs and hit line drives the way he is capable.”
McNeil homered in consecutive games two weeks ago in Cleveland as part of 7-for-23 (.304) stretch, but entering play had only one extra-base hit since then and was without a multi-hit game.
The fact lefty MacKenzie Gore started for the Nationals likely weighed into Mendoza’s decision.
But McNeil has equally underperformed against lefties and righties this season.
Against righties entering play he had a .618 OPS. Against lefties he had a .613 OPS. Overall he owned a disappointing .227/.296/.320 slash line with three homers and 14 RBIs.
The Mets selected Iglesias from Triple-A Syracuse before Friday’s game and are still evaluating what they might have in the veteran, who received praise for hustling out a ninth-inning infield hit on Saturday in a lopsided game.
Iglesias’ hit extended the inning and helped the Mets score three runs.
“[Iglesias] gives you a little bit of flexibility, especially with guys going through stretches where it’s hard for them,” Mendoza said. “It’s important to have that flexibility, a guy that can play multiple positions and I feel good with that.”
Mendoza was noncommittal about the possibility of a platoon between McNeil and Iglesias.
“When [McNeil] is on it doesn’t matter who is on the mound,” Mendoza said. “He’s pretty good against lefties when he’s on. When he’s feeling right … this is not strictly a righty or lefty matchup. It’s just more getting Jeff back on track. Right now he is working through something.”
McNeil is still among MLB’s toughest hitters to strike out — he’s whiffed in just 11.2 percent of his plate appearances this season — but his metrics in regards to solid contact are low in all categories.
Though an emotional player, Mendoza said McNeil was understanding about the decision to start Iglesias in his spot.
“We know he shows emotions at times when things are not going his way,” Mendoza said. “But he will continue to work, that is what we have seen. He’s out there. He’s battling. He’s playing hard.”