Inside The Mets

How Mets' Jeff McNeil Can Return to His 2022 Batting Champion Form

The New York Mets need the versatile former batting champion Jeff McNeil at his best— can he find his 2022 swing again?

Lindsay Crosby

New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil (1) warms up before game six against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium.
New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil (1) warms up before game six against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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The New York Mets lineup next season needs to be more than just Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos and "the boys."

Former batting champion Jeff McNeil is working his way back after a broken wrist essentially ended his underwhelming 2024 season in early September. McNeil did return in the NLCS and went 2-for-11 in five games. However, in the regular season he hit just .238, which was eye-opening for a player who hit .326 two seasons ago. But McNeil's optimistic that a strong spring training can turn the page and have him primed for a strong 2025 season.

"I want to see some good numbers in spring training this year,” McNeil told the New York Post last month. “I think that will help me out. I didn’t have the year I wanted, so you want to do well in spring training. You haven’t played in four or five months, so it is tough to get off to a hot start in spring training, but those last few weeks of camp you want to be hitting the ball well and driving the ball a little bit and have that rollover.”

Driving the ball well is something that McNeil started doing later in the 2024 season, improving his numbers closer to respectability with every passing week before the hit-by-pitch by Brandon Williamson of the Cincinnati Reds ended up sending him to the injured list until late in postseason play.

Statcast's new bat speed and swing length metrics illustrates McNeil's mechanical changes that unlocked his old form. Prior to the All-Star Break, which saw McNeil hitting just .218, his swings were both shorter (7.0 ft swing length) and slower (68.3 mph average bat speed) than MLB averages. But a move to both a longer (7.5 feet) and faster (69.5 mph) swing by McNeil helped him rebound in the second half, improving his OPS by 333 points - .591 to .923 - and more than doubling his first-half homer pace.

McNeil had five homers in the season's first 88 games but added seven in just 41 second-half games before going down with his injury. The homers were mostly due to McNeil's embrace of pull-side power, with his pull rate going from 33% pre-July 4th to 56%, one of the largest in-season increases in MLB last year.

McNeil's second-half OPS+, which improved from 68 in the first half to 156 in the second after his swing changes, was higher than his 2022 batting title year's mark of 140. Last season's team leader (among qualified players) in OPS+ was MVP runner-up Francisco Lindor at 138.

But it's not just mechanical changes that are required for McNeil to thrive in 2025. A needed improvement for McNeil is to rediscover his old two-strike approach. Typically the ultimate pitcher's count, McNeil's batting title season of 2022 saw him hit an astounding .251 in two-strike situations, well above the league of .168 that season. But in 2024, his two-strike performance cratered to just .187, barely beating the rest of the league's .171 in those situations.

While there are calls among the fanbase to trade McNeil and the $33.5 million remaining on his four-year, $50 million extension signed prior to the 2023 season, New York's proceeding as if McNeil will be back in the lineup in an everyday capacity next season. Infielder Brett Baty, blocked at his natural position of third base by rookie sensation Mark Vientos, has worked more at first base and left field than second base this offseason and was slated for a utility role in December, per reports.

Luisangel Acuña, who was called up for his major-league debut after McNeil's injury, will reportedly have a "huge role" on this year's team and has been taking ground balls at third base, per manager Carlos Mendoza, but might be better suited as the keystone of a trade package to acquire Dylan Cease from the San Diego Padres or another frontline starter thought to be available.

Acuña played only two of his 30 Venezuelan Winter League games at second, being deployed most often at shortstop and the outfield.

If McNeil can regain his 2022 batting title form, the Mets' new-look lineup—now built around Juan Soto—has the potential to be one of the league's deepest and most prolific offenses outside of Dodger Stadium.

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Lindsay Crosby
LINDSAY CROSBY

Lindsay is a contributor for Mets On SI. He is an IBWAA award-winning baseball writer and podcaster living in the Southeast, covering Auburn University baseball since 2021 and the Atlanta Braves since 2022. He can most commonly be found in a baseball press box and you can follow him on Twitter/X at @CrosbyBaseball."

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