Given his NLCS appearance and second-place NL MVP finish, it’s easy to forget how abysmal New York Mets superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor looked last spring.
In fact, “abysmal” may be too generous a word.
Lindor opened the season 1-for-31 and had a sub-.200 average in late May. However, he and the Mets caught fire in the summer, and all was forgotten amid Lindor’s latest sensational campaign.
Lindor, who finished 2024 with a stellar 6.9 bWAR, still knows how badly he struggled in the early going.
So, how do the Mets win their first NL East title since 2015? How can Lindor finally earn All-Star honors as a Met?
“I just gotta play well in April,” Lindor told the New York Post.
Slow starts are nothing new for Lindor, who owns a career .245 average and .753 OPS in March/April. His May numbers are far better, boasting a .273 average and .811 OPS over the last decade.
Interestingly, Lindor is at his best in the dog days of summer. According to Baseball-Reference, Lindor has lifetime averages of .301 and .300 in July and August, respectively.
Lindor’s .886 OPS in July easily marks his highest of any month.
If Lindor intends to get off to a quick start, he may want to find his groove soon. Lindor recorded just two hits in his first 15 spring at-bats.
Luckily for Lindor, he at least now has perennial MVP candidate Juan Soto by his side. However, for Mets fans’ sake, let’s hope at least one of the two has a strong first month.
Otherwise, we shudder to think what the Citi Fields will sound like come May.