The Mets’ lineup choices continue to be puzzling.
Here’s the lineup for the Mets heading into Game 3 of the NLCS:
Francisco Lindor – SS
Mark Vientos – 3B
Pete Alonso – 1B
Brandon Nimmo – LF
Starling Marte – RF
J.D. Martinez – DH
Jose Iglesias – 2B
Harrison Bader – CF
Francisco Alvarez – C
Some things immediately stick out in this lineup with the Mets set to square off against right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Both Jesse Winker and Jeff McNeil remain on the bench, while Harrison Bader—who is typically best used as a short-side platoon bat—starts in center over Tyrone Taylor. Behind the dish, Francisco Alvarez remains in there for defense despite his struggles with the bat.
Needless to say, there are some odd choices here. Yamamoto does have reverse platoon splits this season (.237 wOBA from lefties, .317 from righties), but 90 innings is probably not a large enough sample size to establish that as a true talent difference rather than just noise. Presuming that Jesse Winker and Jeff McNeil are healthy – and their presence on the NLCS roster would suggest they are – leaving the struggling J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias in the lineup with a platoon disadvantage is puzzling.
As for Harrison Bader, it’s possible there are some more subtle matchup-dependencies that led the Mets to start him over Bader, or the team tried to optimize defense with Jose Quintan’s contact-heavy profile on the mound. Bader did have three hits against Yamamoto in a game in April (not a truly meaningful data point), so maybe there is some magic to be captured here.
