Opinion: Mets Need to Embrace Analytics
It’s no secret that the Mets’ offense was underwhelming in 2021. They finished 12th in the NL in OPS, 13th in runs scored and dead last in hits.
In a recent article by John Harper of SNY, it was revealed that multiple Mets players were frustrated with all the analytical information being pushed on them. As one Met apparently put it: “We leave every hitters meeting thinking we’re about to go face Cy Young.”
As the Mets enter a leadership tenure with Steve Cohen in the owner’s chair, Billy Eppler in the GM spot and Buck Showalter managing the team, one area they’ve significantly bolstered is the analytics department. As MMO‘s Michael Mayer pointed out in December, the Mets had one of the smaller analytics departments in 2018 with only six members. Now, they feature one of the bigger ones in baseball with more than 30 people. One of the biggest gets was Ben Zauzmer, who boosted the analytics department in a short time and was promoted to Mets assistant GM.
Gone are the days of the painfully dull Wilpon era. While it’s impossible to fix a baseball team overnight, it’s clear things are heading in the right direction on the front office and leadership side of things.
That makes it even more perplexing as to why Mets players aren’t more welcoming of the new information they’re receiving. The article describes the “drumming of analytics into the heads of hitters” as creating “negative vibes around the ballclub.” An extra wealth of information should not be creating “negative vibes.” Clearly, there’s a problem or miscommunication somewhere if that’s the case.
Hitting coach Chili Davis, who preached a more old-school way of thinking, was abruptly fired early last season. This seems like it would be a positive move for the sake of the organization, but it caught players like Pete Alonso off guard. This is indicative of a problem that stems back to the Wilpon days: a disconnect between the players and the front office. While steps in the right direction are a good thing, it can’t come at the expense of the players’ satisfaction. For a baseball team to truly prosper, the players and the front office need to be on the same page.
While change can understandably seem like a foreign thing, the players need to buy into what Cohen and company are doing in order for this to work. This doesn’t mean they have to abandon their old approaches entirely or ease up on their strengths. Jeff McNeil should still utilize his contact abilities, for instance. Analytics should be a guiding tool to make the Mets’ hitters even better than they already are, not a crutch that drags them out of their comfort zones. Obviously, these players are talented and they know what got them here. But some more open-mindedness could go a long way into establishing some sort of identity for this crop of Mets players in the long run.
Sources allegedly told SNY that the hiring of new hitting coach Eric Chavez will cause a “dramatic shift” after last year’s “analytics overload.” First off, calling last season an “analytics overload” is a bit of a stretch. They parted ways with Davis and brought in Hugh Quattlebaum. It’s no surprise that Quattlebaum didn’t mesh with the Mets’ hitters considering how surprised and taken aback they were by Davis’ firing. Again, it goes back to the players being on the same page as what the higher-ups are trying to accomplish. A decision like firing Davis should have been something that was better communicated to the players, and also something that wasn’t enacted seemingly randomly a month into the season. The line of communication simply needs to improve.
Starting the 2022 season with a fresh hitting coach in Chavez could be a step in the right direction. He said to The Athletic earlier this month, “There’s certain things that I thought were valuable that are not valuable, like batting average. We’re trying to get some of that old thinking out of players’ heads.”
The article also cited Chavez’s MLB experience as something that will help him relate to the players. While that shouldn’t be an end-all-be-all for the qualifications of a hitting coach, it definitely can’t hurt, and anything to get the hitters on the same side as their hitting coach is obviously a positive. But he isn’t just a grizzly old veteran; the quote above signifies that he’s on board with the analytic overhaul of the organization. Someone who can connect with the players and the front office — two areas which clearly seem disconnected — might be just what this team needs.
The players are still going to have to buy in, though. That’s the bottom line. The Mets can make all the new hires they want, but if the players don’t embrace all the new information.and insights they have access to, they’re not going to be a successful team. Everyone has to be on the same page and fighting for the same goal.
Otherwise, it’s just going to be last year’s communicative and structural mess all over again.
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