This is no longer simply a hot streak.
It’s not a few weeks of impressive at-bats.
This is now a prolonged stretch for Francisco Lindor, a good six weeks in which he has performed at an elite level.
“The biggest turnaround is he’s playing like the All-Star and MVP candidate we all know and love,” teammate Brandon Nimmo said after the two combined to drive in six runs in the Mets’ 7-5 victory over the Nationals on Tuesday night at Citi Field. “The production we’re getting from him now is unbelievable. … Him just being him, and the player we know he can be, has really jump-started this offense.”
Since May 21, a span of 43 games, Lindor has nine home runs, 26 RBIs, 27 extra-base hits, 10 stolen bases and 33 runs scored.
He’s batting .316 in that time with a .912 OPS.
As Nimmo said, it’s not a coincidence the Mets’ offense has come alive in that span, and the team has begun to win.
They are 23-12 since May 29, and even in the loss column for the final NL wild-card berth.
What is uncertain is how much Lindor moving into the leadoff spot has contributed to this scorching six weeks of his.
Manager Carlos Mendoza said he was looking for a way to ignite the offense, but doesn’t believe that move alone was some magic tonic for Lindor.
The shortstop is typically a slow starter, as he was again this year, hitting just .195 with a .634 OPS on the first day of May.
Those numbers have climbed considerably since, Lindor now batting .253 with an OPS of .776, a season high.
His move to the top of the batting order came on May 18.
Odds are, he won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
“I was getting hot at some point. I was going to get hot,” said Lindor, who had three hits including his 16th homer of the year on Tuesday. “I’m leading off and I’m doing pretty good, but at the end of the day, it was kind of the same thing last year and the year before and the year before. It seems like April hasn’t been on my side. I’m just glad the team is playing well and I’m playing well as well to help the team win.”