Mets 2025 midseason report card
Written by John Fox
It’s the All-Star break, which seems like as good a time as any to determine midterm grades for the Mets players and management. This is a subjective process, which will factor in not only performance but also how the individual is doing compared to expectations.
We’ll list batter, pitcher, and management sections, each done alphabetically. Batters must have accrued at least 50 PA and pitchers 30 IP, and players must still be on the active roster to be graded.
Luisangel Acuna - As a utility infielder, he has flashed some good glove work, and he has excellent speed. He’s still young, but a major leaguer needs more of a bat than the ugly .235/.285/.275 slash line he has. Grade D+.
Pete Alonso– He has had a tremendous bounce-back season, producing great power and good OBP. He’s been an RBI machine with 77 so far. Defense was never his strong point, but he’s been pretty good, especially in scooping errant throws. Grade-A+.
Brett Baty - He still has potential, but he has not lived up to expectations. He’s probably the best defensive 3rd baseman on the team, and he has shown a little power with a .403 SLG. But he does not get on base enough as is shown by his OBP of .282. Grade C-.
Francisco Lindor - The starting All-Star shortstop is an excellent defender at that premium position, and is still speedy. He hits with power, but his numbers have dropped off since his broken toe. Grade A-.
Ronny Mauricio - He rakes at triple A, not so much at the big league level. He has hit some real moon-shot homers, but his defense is spotty. He’s still young with plenty of potential. Grade C-.
Jeff McNeil - He’s provided much-needed power from the bottom half of the batting order by slugging .465. His positional flexibility has proven to be very valuable. His defensive stats are not overwhelming, but he has a knack for making big plays in crucial spots, like his homerun-robbing grab of potential two-run homer against the Braves, and a recent game- saving infield stab against Baltimore. Grade- B
Brandon Nimmo - The long-tenured Met has retooled his game some, with a decrease in OBP but a bit of a boost in SLG. He played center field for a few years, he is now a left-fielder and he plays that adequately. Grade B-.
Juan Soto - After a slow start he caught fire and was NL player of the month for June. He’s among the leaders in OBP and SLG. His defense is below average. Grade- A.
Tyrone Taylor - He’s a fine outfielder and a good base runner, but his offense has disappeared with abysmal OBP and SLG numbers. Grade-D.
Luis Torrens - He is a good defender at catcher, especially at throwing out runners. However, he has regressed at the plate with an OPS of only .585. He is more suited to be a backup, not a starter. Grade D+.
Mark Vientos - After a marvelous 2024 season, he has taken a big step backwards this year. His OPS is only .641, and his defense is very poor at third base. He is almost comically slow when running the bases. Grade D-.
Huascar Brazoban -He’s been a decently effective reliever, with a couple of saves and an opponent’s BA of .211. Grade B-.
Griffin Canning - He has turned into a respectable back-of-the-rotation SP, with a 7-3 record and an ERA of 3.77. Grade-B.
Edwin Diaz - Diaz is an elite closer with electrifying stuff. He has racked up 19 saves. He has an excellent 1.66 ERA, and opposing batters are only hitting .157 against him. Grade A+.
Reed Garrett - He’s been the team’s most reliable setup reliever. He’s got a 2.87 ERA and opponents have been held to a .213 BA. Grade B+.
Clay Holmes - He has made the transition from reliever to starter pretty well. He’s 8-4 with a 3.31 ERA. As you might expect from a career reliever until this year, he does not go much past 5 innings pitched most of the time. Grade B.
David Peterson - He made the All-Star team, his been consistently excellent in the starting role with a 6-4 record and a 3.06 ERA. He’s made 18 starts and he’s been excellent at pitching deep into games. Grade- A.
Kodai Senga - The ace of the staff with 7-3 mark and a microscopic 1.39 ERA. His WHIP figure is also superb at 1.13. He’s overcome a hamstring injury that cost him some starts. Grade-A+.
Ryne Stanek - The veteran reliever has been inconsistent and hurt by wildness at times. He’s 2-5 with a 4.55 ERA. Grade C-.
Carlos Mendoza - The second-year manager has had his team at or near the top of the NL East standings all year. The players seem to like and respect him. His bullpen management has been a little shaky at times. Grade-A-.
David Stearns - The head man of baseball operations has improved the roster and found some contributors in the free-agent market like Canning and Holmes. His pitching lab has helped the pitching staff become very effective.The Mets also signed Soto, but that was mostly attributable to Stee Cohen’s big check book. Grade-A.
Mets fans- The home attendance has been spectacular this year, despite some less- than- desirable weather. The team has drawn 1,814,366 fans so far, good for 5th in MLB. In contrast, the 2024 Mets finished 18th in attendance, behind teams like the Rockies and Angels that year, with neither of those teams in contention at all. Very impressive was the attendance on May 28, it was a midweek day game against the woeful White Sox, and it had been rescheduled from the day before. Yet the turnstiles showed 34,021 fans showed up that day, very impressive considering the various headwinds that had to be overcome. Grade A+.
Thanks for doing this, John. I know how hard this piece is to do and then after you spend all of the time on it, everyone nitpicks the grades.
So, here are my nitpicks...
Alonso was an A+ thru the first 36 games and 160 PA of the season. Since then, he has a .772 OPS in 263 PA. That's not as good as Nimmo's year-long production and you gave him a B-. My opinion is that Alonso should get a B+
Mauricio started off 0-8 but since then has a .784 OPS - or more productive than Alonso. And his fielding is better than you describe. Given that very few expected him to be in the majors at this point - remember he was supposed to get 250 PA in the minors after missing all of last year - I feel like this is possible "A" territory, more likely a B+
Nice job Brian and agree with nearly all your choices, even the grade for Alonso, who carried this team through the beginning part of the season. I'd have given Torrens a C since he has done a great job defensively which is what you want from a strong backup. The problem with backups starting in the lineup on a regular basis is that you learn quickly why they are generally slated to be backups. I would give Stearns a B+ only because if we had not been going down the pitcher reclamation route perhaps they would still be in first place by a nice margin. I'd give the Mets 360 group a grade of A++ because we are worth it.