With winning hit, Mets' Jeff McNeil keeps showing off new offensive identity

New York Times

a day ago

NEW YORK — It was in the middle of last season, with his average in the low .200s and his OPS starting with a five, that Jeff McNeil decided enough was enough.
McNeil had made his name in the majors with his bat-to-ball skills. Throw him a pitch near the strike zone, and McNeil could put it in play as well as anyone in the sport. He rode that approach to consistently high averages and even a batting title in 2022.
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But for a season and a half, it had ceased working. McNeil's unique ability to get wood on the ball was actually harmful, as he put quality pitches into play softly early in counts, rather than waiting for something better to hit with authority.
And so, the plan changed.
'I'm trying to hit it hard,' McNeil said Tuesday night, after his 10th-inning single lifted the Mets to a 5-4 come-from-behind walk-off win over Washington. 'I'm not trying to guide the ball out there.'
.@JeffMcNeil805 FTW!!! pic.twitter.com/W4Bl4HATpf
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 11, 2025
That was the distinction he made around last summer's All-Star break, and it propelled him to a significantly better second half — an average closer to his career norms with power well above it. McNeil went into last offseason looking to solidify those gains by working on improving his bat speed and generating better rotation through the ball.
Despite missing time early this season with an oblique injury, all of that work has paid off. McNeil's winning hit Tuesday was his second RBI knock of the night.
'This,' McNeil said, 'is who I am.'
'He had a really good mindset going into the offseason and who he wanted to be,' co-hitting coach Jeremy Barnes said. 'He has a clear plan. He's trying to get good pitches to hit and hitting it hard, relative to it all.'
After Tuesday, McNeil's hitting .266 with a .359 on-base percentage and .532 slugging percentage. In recent years, McNeil might lament an average that far below .300; he mentioned Tuesday 'searching for hits' in the past. Now, he's pleased with a slugging percentage that would represent a new career high — one that's outpaced teammates Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto to this point.
'You know, it's pretty hard to hit for average in this league,' McNeil said, echoing a point Brandon Nimmo made back around the time of his approach changes in 2023. 'The pitching is so good and so tough that when you do get a good pitch, you have to try to do some damage on it. That's what I've been trying to do lately.'
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'He's not just trying to put the ball in play or flick balls the other way,' manager Carlos Mendoza said. 'He's not only hitting, but doing damage.'
From a league-wide perspective, McNeil's peripheral stats don't jump off the page; there's a reason Barnes said he's hitting it hard 'relative to it all.' But place McNeil's 2025 bat speed and hard-hit rate next to his numbers from last year, and the jump is real.
While McNeil's average exit velocity is right in line with 2024, he's hitting more of those balls in the air (46 percent to 41 percent) and to right field (54 percent to 44 percent).
McNeil's done that while cutting his already meager strikeout rate further and nearly doubling his walk rate — proof that being less eager to put the ball, any ball, in play can be beneficial in multiple ways.
'He's just dictating at-bats and swinging the bat with conviction,' Mendoza said.
For a guy whose everyday role seemed in jeopardy at times last season and early this year, this has been a resounding statement of value — one that lengthens the Mets' lineup considerably. Barnes called the player who homered three times in Colorado over the weekend 'the ideal version of Jeff McNeil.'
'The first half of last year is not who I am. It was tough, it was frustrating, it was not very fun,' McNeil said. 'This game is about adjustments, and I'm the type of player that can adjust on the fly, do what I need to do and get the job done.'