Francisco

Lindor

It seemed like Lindor exercised some demons – both his own and the Mets’ – with an upper-deck three-run home run in the third inning. That moment of serenity eventually faded as the Mets blew yet another game, but Lindor appears to finally be on the right track. He has a .259 average and .805 OPS over his last seven games. Any hint of a breakout is much appreciated after the first few weeks that he’s had.

Semien is getting the nod at the top spot with Francisco Lindor moving down to second. This doesn’t seem so much a promotion based on good work by Semien — he’s hitting just .234 with a .606 OPS — as it is a shaking up of the lineup for a team that hasn’t won a game since April 7.

Benge is still hitting just .151/.237/.226 on the season, but he has hit in five of his last six games, and with how the Mets are currently swinging the bats right now, that makes him a viable leadoff candidate. Francisco Lindor is batting third as the Mets try to shake out of a doldrum in which they’ve scored two runs or less in five of their last six games.

Lindor got on the board with his first home run of the season on Tuesday, taking Yoshinobu Yamamoto deep for a solo blast on the third pitch of the game. He later added a base hit, but the solo homer would be all the Mets could put on the board as they continue to scuffle at the plate. Following the two-hit game, Lindor is hitting .194/.301/.306 with 11 runs scored and two steals.

This has been a bad time for Lindor to have one of his patented slow starts. The Mets have gone scoreless for 17 consecutive innings and are finding it difficult to create any kind of offense while Juan Soto is out. Even worse – and uncharacteristic of Lindor – are some mental lapses. He had a base running gaffe during the Mets’ best chance to score in this one. With runners on first and third and down 1-0, he danced a bit too far off third base on a ground ball hit to first baseman Nick Kurtz with no outs. Lindor shot down the line expecting Kurtz to turn a double play and then froze when Kurtz looked towards him. Kurtz then fired a throw to third and got Lindor as he tried to scurry back. Again, mistakes like this are uncharacteristic for Lindor who will still expect to go on a tear at some point soon and wind up with his numbers in the same spot we’re used to by season’s end.

Lindor walked in the first, third and fifth and came around to score each time. His other two plate appearances produced a popup and a groundout. It’s the first occasion in his career in which he’s scored three times without a hit. He hadn’t even had a game with two runs scored and zero hits since Sept. 2019, when he was still with Cleveland.

What looks like the only exception is that it’s Ben Rortvedt behind the dish instead of Francisco Alvarez. Carson Benge is starting in right field and batting eighth for the Mets. He has been battling Mike Tauchman for the starting gig there throughout the spring, though Tauchman left Saturday’s game with a knee injury and is heading for an MRI. The 23-year-old outfielder has certainly earned the job this spring, hitting .368 (14-for-38) with zero homers, five RBI and one stolen base. Here’s the full lineup that you’ll see from the Mets on Sunday: Francisco Lindor SS, Juan Soto LF, Bo Bichette 3B, Jorge Polanco 1B, Luis Robert Jr. CF, Brett Baty DH, Marcus Semien 2B, Benge RF, Rortvedt C.

Lindor made his return to spring action over the weekend and has provided zero indication that he won’t be ready for next week’s opener. The 32-year-old fantasy stalwart is back at shortstop defensively and has looked like his usual self at the plate after undergoing hamate surgery last month. He remains an early-round building block in all fantasy drafts.

It’s the first time that Lindor has been in the lineup on the big league side since undergoing hamate bone surgery on his left wrist. He’ll get as many at-bats as possible over the next week and a half and barring any setbacks it sounds like he should be good to go in time for Opening Day.

Lindor expressed confidence afterwards that he’ll be ready for Opening Day, which is just over two weeks away. The 32-year-old fantasy superstar, who recorded a 31-homer, 31-steal campaign last year, played four innings at shortstop in his first game action since undergoing hamate surgery on his left wrist back in early February. He’s yet to progress to swinging a bat in a game setting but the expectation is that he’ll be able to do so in the coming days. Neither the Mets or Lindor have committed fully to being ready for the season opener but he appears to be trending in that direction.