The New York Mets made some major roster moves this offseason, completely reshuffling their lineup in the process.
Only four players returned from last season’s starting lineup: Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, Juan Soto, and Francisco Lindor. The other five spots went to new faces, including Bo Bichette and Carson Benge getting Opening Day starts.
Against Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates, this revamped Mets lineup made quite an impression.
“The Mets made the Pirates throw 192 pitches in 8 innings of work yesterday. That 24 pitches per inning is more than they saw across any game last season.”
That’s according to SNY Mets on Twitter/X, citing Will Sammon of The Athletic. The Mets did something they never accomplished once during the entire 2024 season – and they did it against Skenes on Opening Day, no less.
It’s an impressive development. Sure, scoring runs is the primary goal, but there’s real value in working deep counts and seeing lots of pitches.
Long at-bats wear down pitchers within individual innings. More importantly, they force starters out of games earlier than planned.
The strategy worked perfectly against Skenes. The reigning Cy Young winner threw 37 pitches before getting pulled in the middle of the first inning.
The run total played a role in that decision, but so did his pitch count. Pittsburgh wasn’t about to let their ace labor through one inning on Opening Day.
Averaging 24 pitches per inning is excellent plate discipline. The fact that last year’s Mets lineup never reached that mark in any game tells you something about the offensive approach.
This new group – featuring Luis Robert Jr., Marcus Semien, and Jorge Polanco alongside the returning core – managed to do it against arguably the best pitcher in baseball.
It’s only one game, but the early returns suggest this lineup construction might create more consistent offensive pressure than what the Mets had last season.
