McNeil proves to be Amazin’ly versatile ‘Star’
One in a series.
The Mets went hard after Ben Zobrist before the 2016 season, valuing his versatility as one of the first players to wear the “super-utility” label.
Zobrist ultimately signed with the Cubs, leaving the Mets to wait a few years before receiving a true superutility option: Jeff McNeil adequately played four positions last season and brought a potent bat to the lineup.
McNeil, selected to the National League All-Star team for the Mets with Pete Alonso and Jacob deGrom, had a .318/.384/.531 slash line with 23 homers and 75 RBIs in 133 games divided among left field, right field, third base and second base.
The 28-year-old McNeil figures to receive most of his action at third base should there be a 2020 season, belonging to an infield that could be a team strength (at least offensively), joining Alonso, Robinson Cano and Amed Rosario.
Any doubts the Mets had about McNeil — he was included in one iteration of the trade with the Mariners before last season that brought Cano and Edwin Diaz to Queens — have been replaced by wonderment about his ceiling. McNeil remained in the hunt for the NL batting title deep into last season before watching his average drop and home-run total surge. It came after a season in which he finished sixth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting.
“Boy, this guy has fooled everybody,” a talent evaluator from a National League team said. “When I first saw him in the minor leagues he was a really good player, just a real grinder and had great hand/eye coordination and then he disappeared for a while and he got hurt, so he kind of fell off the radar. When he came back he not only looked as good as he did when I first saw him, but he looked better.
“He’s just got amazing hand/eye coordination that just allows him to barrel balls and it doesn’t matter where they are thrown: In, out, up and down, and probably his greatest attribute as a hitter is he really wants to hit. He’s not looking to work the count . ... He’s convinced, if you throw it near the strike zone, ‘I am going to hit it,’ and that’s a really good attribute to have as a hitter.”
Of McNeil’s 23 homers last season, 14 came on the first pitch of an atbat. McNeil posted a 1.371 OPS on the first pitch of anbat. He spent most of the season hitting in the leadoff spot, getting on base for Alonso behind him.
“The biggest concern I have about [McNeil] is how hard he is on himself,” the talent evaluator said. “He really punishes himself when he struggles and he doesn’t even try to hide it. This is a game that is totally set up for failure and he obviously wants nothing to do with it, but it hasn’t stopped him yet. I just wonder if he goes into an 0-for-20 or 1-for-40 slump, how is he going to emerge from that?”
McNeil’s best position is probably second base, according to the talent evaluator, but Cano, who has four years remaining on his contract, appears locked into the position. Even so, the implementation of the DH in the NL, as soon as this season, could change that dynamic, moving Cano away from second base. But the Mets might also have a prime DH candidate in Yoenis Cespedes, should he be deemed healthy enough to play.
“[McNeil] could be one of those guys that falls into that Ben Zobrist mode, where he is valuable as long as he’s in the lineup every day, whether it be first, second, third, left or right,” the talent evaluator said. “He could be a five-position everyday quality regular.”