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Francisco Lindor was out of the Mets¡¯ lineup on Monday following the birth of his son, Koa. It wound up being an early off-day that came at perhaps an opportune time for Lindor, who went 0-for-11 over the team¡¯s first three games in Houston. (He should be back in the lineup on Tuesday night.)
Without context, that may look like just a bad few days at the office -- and it very well may have been. But in this case, the context does seem to matter.
Consider Lindor¡¯s recent history:
? In 2024, he was slashing .193/.268/.348 as late in the season as May 20.
? In 2023, he was slashing .211/.291/.411 as late as June 17.
? In 2021, he was slashing .194/.292/.303 on June 1.
Those starts included some of the longest 0-for streaks in Mets history, including an 0-for-24 spell last April. Lindor rebounded from that to play MVP-caliber baseball over the final four-plus months of the season, and he¡¯s always done well to separate the offensive part of his game from his baserunning and defense.
Still, the slow starts are frustrating for Lindor, who doesn¡¯t have a great explanation for why they happen.
¡°That¡¯s a fantastic question,¡± Lindor said. ¡°I¡¯m sure everyone is asking that, and I¡¯m sure everyone is trying to figure it out, and I¡¯m right there with everyone.¡±
Since joining the Mets, Lindor¡¯s OPS is roughly 100 points higher after the All-Star break than before it. March and April have historically been his worst months, followed closely by May. June is better, giving way to his best month, July. From that point on, Lindor is generally either solid or spectacular.
Asked how he might be able to avoid this sort of thing, Lindor shrugged: ¡°I guess I¡¯ve got to put the ball in play, focus on not hitting it to the opposing players.¡±
His 0-for-11 aside, it¡¯s far too early to assume Lindor will once again look sluggish for a third of the season or longer. As manager Carlos Mendoza was sure to point out, three games is not enough of a sample size to assume Lindor¡¯s pattern will repeat itself. He hit some balls hard during the series in Houston, with nothing to show for it.
Still, results are what matter. Well aware of his propensity for slow starts, Lindor tweaked his Spring Training routine to prepare for the season, appearing in Grapefruit League games a couple days earlier than he normally would. The hope was that he would find his timing a bit quicker -- to avoid, in other words, exactly what happened last weekend in Houston.
¡°I had a couple of at-bats where I hit the ball right at people,¡± Lindor said. ¡°So [I¡¯ll] just continue to work and grind, and hopefully, this is not a month-long thing.¡±