Mets' top 10 defensive gems of the 2010s

NEW YORK -- For much of this decade, the Mets ranked near the bottom of Major League Baseball’s defensive rankings, valuing offensive prowess over glovework in their player acquisitions. Still, the Mets employed some standout defenders in the 2010s, including a Gold Glove winner. He and others highlight this list of the team’s 10 best defensive plays of the decade:

10. Aug. 24, 2014: Puig Mets’ friend

A 5-4-3 double play became anything but routine when Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig, who began on second base, attempted to round third and score. Mets first baseman Lucas Duda fired home in enough time for catcher Travis d’Arnaud to sweep a throw across Puig’s leg, completing what still stands as the Mets’ most recent triple play.

9. Sept. 18, 2018: Turning two with style

Instincts -- and a little flexibility -- took over when Phillies outfielder Roman Quinn hit a low line drive to pitcher Steven Matz, who reached behind his back to snare the ball while falling to the ground. From there, it was easy for Matz to rise to his knees and flip the ball to first base, doubling off Rhys Hoskins.

8. May 12, 2013: So nice, he had to catch it twice

The Mets’ premium defender of the decade, Juan Lagares made one of his most memorable plays in his ninth career outfield start. Sprinting straight ahead in pursuit of a Jeanmar Gomez sinking liner, Lagares caught the ball for a brief moment, bobbled it, then lurched forward to catch the ball a second time before it reached the turf.

7. Aug. 1, 2019: The Flying Squirrel soars

Playing a rare Interleague series at Guaranteed Rate Field, the first Major League stadium with protective netting extended from foul pole to foul pole, Jeff McNeil used that to his advantage when Chicago’s Eloy Jiménez hit a fly ball down the right-field line. As he caught the ball, McNeil flung himself into the net, using it to slingshot himself back onto the field.

6. Oct. 17, 2015: Don’t run on Yo

Competing in their first National League Championship Series in nine years, the Mets found themselves in an early tie with the Cubs in Game 1. With the potential go-ahead run on second base, Javier Báez hit a grounder to right, where Yoenis Céspedes -- an American League Gold Glove winner that season, having started the year in Detroit -- corralled it and fired home to nail Starlin Castro at the plate. That preserved the tie, allowing the Mets to take the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. They would never trail in the series.

5. Sept. 5, 2015: Bringing Sexy back

Those who joked about Bartolo Colón’s physique tended to overlook his innate athleticism, even into his mid-40s. Colon offered proof in a late-season game against the Marlins, fielding a Justin Bour dribbler near the first-base line and flipping it behind his back for the out at first. Mets pitchers were so enamored by the play that the next spring, they set up a drill station just to practice it.

4. May 17, 2014: Lagares robs (another) homer

Feel free to sub in Lagares’ 2015 robbery of Jace Peterson in this spot, or his 2016 theft of Maikel Franco (Lagares broke off a piece of Citizens Bank Park’s outfield fence while making that catch). One of the best outfield defenders in Mets history, Lagares won a Gold Glove in 2014 and provided the Mets with a catalogue of highlight-reel plays -- both catches and throws -- along the way. Lest this list turn into a Lagares Greatest Hits album, here’s one home run robbery to represent them all: his sky-high catch of Jayson Werth’s shot at Nationals Park.

3. May 19, 2010: Shoestring triple play

Confusion reigned after Angel Pagan, one of the Mets’ best pure athletes in recent memory, made a running, shoestring catch of Cristian Guzman’s blooper with two Nationals on base. No one on the umpiring crew signaled whether Pagan had caught the ball, so neither runner made a move back to his original base. That allowed Henry Blanco, Jose Reyes and Ike Davis to combine on an easy -- albeit somewhat controversial -- triple play.

2. Oct. 18, 2015: Shades of Endy Chavez

Nine years after Chavez made his iconic catch in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, Curtis Granderson skied over Citi Field’s right-field fence to rob Cubs outfielder Chris Coghlan of a home run in the Mets’ return to the NLCS. The circumstances may not have been quite so dramatic this time around, with no one on base and the Mets leading both the game and the series. But the degree of difficulty was nonetheless high for Granderson, who took a sure homer away from Coghlan.

1. June 1, 2012: Mike Baxter saves Johan Santana’s no-hitter

For the rest of his life, Baxter’s name will conjure images of the catch he made to rob Yadier Molina in the seventh inning of Santana’s no-hitter against the Cardinals, running into the left-field fence and collapsing onto the warning track dirt. Baxter displaced his collarbone and tore rib cartilage making the catch, missing eight weeks and never quite returning to his previous levels of production. Such was the price for a Queens native to make one of the most iconic catches in Mets history, preserving the first and only no-hitter the franchise has seen.