Mets' Superstar Named Top Defensive Player for 2024

The Mets’ shortstop is putting up an MVP-caliber season both at the plate and in the field.

Sep 9, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) throws to first for an out during the sixth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images / John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

If it weren’t for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor would be a shoo-in for the National League MVP award this year. 

Ohtani is no doubt having a historic season at the plate, tallying 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases heading into Tuesday’s action. His 1.023 OPS is second in the majors only to Yankees captain Aaron Judge.

The one area where Lindor excels over Ohtani, who is strictly a designated hitter, is on the field playing defense. While offensive stats make the headlines, Lindor is having his own historic season with the glove. 

In his recent article on this year’s top defensive players, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller named Lindor as the best defensive shortstop in the majors, and for good reason. 

Lindor, who won the Platinum Glove at his position in 2016, has the fourth-best Outs Above Average (OOA) metric in the league. This season’s score of 17 to his right side is the highest that any defender has had to either side since the stat was introduced in 2016. 

Another statistic, Fielding Run Value (FVR) has Lindor as the top shortstop in the league. FVR is an amalgamation of Statcast’s individual defensive statistics that shows how many runs above average are scored when that player is in the field. 

Recency bias has likely clinched the NL MVP award for Ohtani. Last week, Ohtani was named NL Player of the Week while Lindor has missed the past eight games with a back injury. 

For what Lindor has lacked at the plate compared to Ohtani, he has more than made up for in the field. Lindor’s WAR on both Baseball Reference (6.6) and Fan Graphs (7.4) are just slightly lower than Ohtani’s which are 8.4 and 8.3 respectively. 

By all metrics, Lindor has had an MVP-caliber season and is a major reason why the Mets have posted a 65-37 record since May 30th and are a half game up in the second NL Wild Card spot with just five games left to play.