New York Mets: Jeff McNeil’s situational hitting gives him staying power for 2019

Who the New York Mets will start at second base in 2019 is very much up for debate, but Jeff McNeil’s situational hitting should give him an advantage over anyone else.

Thanks to an injury plagued 2016 and 2017 season, Jeff McNeil was a relative unknown coming into the year.

However, the 26-year-old came out of nowhere thanks to an impressive season split between Double-A Binghamton and the Triple-A Las Vegas.

Naturally, his production eventually caught the eye of the Flushing Faithful and their calls to promote McNeil only became louder as the season went further off the rails.

Thankfully, the Mets finally called-up McNeil after dealing Asdrubal Cabrera to the Philadelphia Phillies and ever since his first Major League at-bat, the man has done nothing but rake in his time with New York.

As of this writing, McNeil is slashing an impressive .330/.390/.480 slashline in 112 plate appearances since his late-July call-up and he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.

In fact, he set the franchise rookie record for most consecutive hits and fell just one hit short of tying the franchise record earlier this week.

McNeil’s late rise through the Mets’ farm system and ability to hit is incredibly reminiscent of a young Daniel Murphy, except with a better glove (His .981* fielding percentage would be top 10 in the NL if qualified).

Well, that’s in this writer’s opinion anyway, but I digress.

The 26-year-old has proved that he has a top-notch bat, but his approach at the plate when his back’s against the wall is what makes him a truly special hitter.

In his short time with the Mets, McNeil has proven that pitchers will rarely get the best of him no matter how much of an advantage they may have.

Also as of this writing, the Mets’ second baseman owns a solid .275/.356/.350* when batting with a two-strike count. What’s impressive, however, is that McNeil is hitting an unreal .375* when he finds himself behind 0-2.

The splits above are more than you could ask for from a player, but McNeil’s ability to produce at an exceptional rate in high-leverage situations is what truly makes the man as clutch as they come.

New York’s rookie phenom is hitting an incredible .300* with runners in scoring position this season, which is 47 points above the MLB average.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, his batting average balloons to .364* when he’s at-bat with two outs and there are runners in scoring position.

To put that in perspective, Mike Trout is hitting just .261* when he comes to the plate in the same situation.

I can keep rattling off numbers here, but I think I’ve made my point: Simply put, Jeff McNeil is as clutch as they come.

Are his numbers sustainable, though? It’s unlikely, but he’s given us a big enough sample size to believe that his knack for coming up big in high-pressure situations is more than just an anomaly.

New York has other in-house options and a decent 2019 free agent class to work with if they believe they have a hole at second base.

Yet, if McNeil has shown us anything this season, it’s that his knack to produce when the Mets need it most should make management consider him for the starting job at the very least.

*Stats and splits recorded as of August 25th, 2018, courtesy of Baseball Reference