Before Tuesday’s game was called, the two youngest players on the Mets’ active roster were set to hit fourth and fifth in the lineup, a shake-up for a club that has lost its first four games of the season and has seen slow starts from several veterans.
Francisco Alvarez already had risen to cleanup, and Brett Baty slid in behind the catcher amid a solid start to his season.
The rise of Baty coincided with the fall of Jeff McNeil, a lefty hitter who was bumped all the way down to No. 7 against Detroit righty Casey Mize.
Francisco Alvarez, who is off to a hot start, has been moved up to the cleanup spot. John Jones-USA TODAY Sports McNeil began his season 1-for-12 after a shortened spring training in which he was briefly shut down with left biceps soreness — and in which he went 0-for-13 in the Grapefruit League.
The 2022 batting champion hit just .270 with little power last year and has begun this season with more concern.
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Manager Carlos Mendoza said he hoped the lineup tweak might “get him going here.”
The 31-year-old McNeil is accustomed to hitting at the top or the middle of the lineup, and Mendoza said he had talked with McNeil about lineup possibilities this spring.
“He just doesn’t care where he is in the lineup,” Mendoza said before the Mets’ game against the Tigers at Citi Field was rained out.
The Mets’ offense has been the largest problem of many to begin the year, with eight runs in four losses. The only bright spots have been Starling Marte (who was batting sixth), Alvarez and Baty, a trio that had knocked three of the club’s first four homers.
Jeff McNeil, who is off to a rough start, is being moved down in the Mets’ lineup. Corey Sipkin for New York Post The 22-year-old Alvarez already had emerged as a major piece of the present. It is possible the 24-year-old Baty, who struggled to adjust to major league pitching in his rookie year last season, could join Alvarez in the youth movement.
“Asking these young hitters, especially early in the season, to hit in the middle of the lineup could be a lot, but I like the at-bats,” Mendoza said. “I like how aggressive they are with pitches in the strike zone. They’re not chasing as much. Baty had a really good game [Monday], hit two balls hard. Alvarez continued to have good at-bats.”
J.D. Martinez got “seven or eight” at-bats in Port St. Lucie on Monday and was expected to get around the same number Tuesday, Mendoza said.
The earliest the Mets can call up the designated hitter (without a corresponding injury to another player) would be Sunday, when they finish a series in Cincinnati.
A series in Atlanta begins Monday.
Mendoza said the team would discuss in the next few days whether Martinez would be summoned once eligible, whether he would get extra at-bats at the Mets facility or whether he would go to an affiliate.
Mendoza said the decision would largely lie with Martinez, who was not officially signed until March 23.
“This is a pretty quick ramp-up for him,” Mendoza said. “He knows his body better than anybody.”
Kodai Senga felt good after throwing for a second consecutive day Monday for the first time since suffering a right shoulder strain.
Senga is still throwing from flat ground and said he was not sure when he will graduate to a mound.
