NEW YORK — Francisco Lindor stood in the Citi Field on-deck circle, studying the shape and speed of the opposing pitcher’s fastball. It was the fifth inning of the Mets home opener, and Lindor had not yet produced a hit before a crowd that occasionally jeered him last year. He did not want to keep them waiting. So he pinned his eyes on the batter’s box, and saw how new teammate Starling Marte stayed patient with the two-seam sinker of Diamondbacks pitcher Zach Davies. There was little need to rush, Lindor saw.
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“I realized: I’ve got more time than I gave myself at first,” he said a few days later, before the threat of rain postponed a matchup between the Mets and Giants on Monday.
Moments later, after a hit from Marte, Lindor put his realization to use. He let a full-count fastball approach his fists. He recognized the path of the pitch. His eyes triggered his hands, which prompted his legs, which generate the power for his swing, which launched the baseball into the second deck. He waved to his dugout as he rounded first base. It was his second homer of the young season — a minor milestone he did not reach in 2021 until May 7.
For the Mets, spurred into contention by the offseason spending of owner Steve Cohen, much went right during the season’s first 10 days. The rotation thrived despite the absence of Jacob deGrom. The offense withstood the dual COVID infections of outfielders Mark Canha and Brandon Nimmo. Marte, a $78 million addition, impressed with his bat and his legs.
The most encouraging piece of this snapshot, though, may be the early performance of Lindor. After a rocky debut in Queens, he has reminded fans why the club showered him with a $341 million contract last April. He has learned the perils of trying to justify a 10-year deal in its first season. The second year is off to a better start. Lindor scored five runs and drove in four on the first road trip. He homered twice in the home opener. On Sunday afternoon, as the Mets put away the hapless Diamondbacks, Lindor singled to open a go-ahead rally and squinted over his shoulder through the sun to secure a pop-up in shallow center field.
“He can do everything,” pitcher Chris Bassitt said. “He can literally do everything.”
And he can funnel that ability, say teammates and his new manager, into a more singular focus. “You can tell he’s comfortable with the challenge of playing shortstop for the New York Mets,” Buck Showalter said, “and not having to be everything to everybody every day and every second.”
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Showalter and a few Mets pointed to the offseason acquisitions of Marte, Canha, Max Scherzer and Eduardo Escobar, plus the return of Robinson Canó. All those veterans reduce the strain on Lindor both on the field and in the clubhouse. The weight of the franchise has been spread across their collective shoulders.
“He feels comfortable,” catcher Tomás Nido said. “And he’s just being himself now.”
Nido has known Lindor, 28, since they played together as boys in Puerto Rico. He recognized the pressure Lindor experienced as he adapted to New York and the nine-figure expectations after leaving Cleveland. “It’d be silly, with that big of a contract, to expect a guy to be cold-blooded and not experience emotions,” Nido said.
Two years after homering 32 times, stealing 22 bases and posting an .854 OPS, Lindor finished 2021 with 20 homers, 10 steals and a .734 OPS. His elusive second homer coincided with an altercation with second baseman Jeff McNeil over positioning. The two infielders pretended the spat involved a debate about whether a rat or a raccoon had invaded the tunnel behind the dugout. The spoof did not play well. It did not help that the main protagonist was hitting .170.
Lindor did not spend the entire season underwater. His .855 second-half OPS aligned much closer to his production in Cleveland. But he missed five weeks with an oblique strain as the Mets fell out of first place and sank below .500. The jeering at Citi Field stung. In late August, Lindor and teammate Javier Báez apologized for flashing a thumbs-down gesture at fans.
As the Mets spiraled and Lindor sputtered, he found himself pulled in different directions. “Life was fast,” he said. “There were a lot of things going on in my life.” He had just become a father. He was adjusting to a new city and a new team, with a new contract paying him more money than any shortstop in history. He was unsure how to conduct himself.
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“I wasn’t uncomfortable where it was like I was trying to be somebody else,” Lindor said. “That’s not accurate at all. It’s just there were so many things that I wanted to do and I wanted to say.”
To make his point, Lindor pantomimed a hug, but did not clasp his hands. He could not wrap his arms around all his perceived responsibilities. “I just couldn’t hug everything at the same time,” he said. “It was leaking.” He realized, he said, “that I can only hug one thing at a time. That’s No. 1. And that I’m better at leading by example, not by words. In life, in baseball, in everything.”
Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler reinforced the roster over the winter. Lindor kept busy as a member of the MLBPA’s executive council. In March, as the Mets filtered into Port St. Lucie, Fla., after the lockout, Showalter sat down with Lindor. Showalter had prepared an entire spiel. He had heard and read a bunch about his new shortstop’s 2021 travails. He wanted to streamline his worries and winnow his energy toward the diamond. He intended to emphasize as much.
But first, Showalter opened the floor to Lindor.
“I just want to play baseball,” Lindor told his manager, laying out how he hoped to thrive in 2022.
“He sat there and said everything I was going to say,” Showalter said with a chuckle. “Kind of ruined my whole conversation. He goes, ‘What do you have?’ I was like, ‘You just said it.’”
The five-tool ability of Lindor has long sparked envy among his peers. At the outset of this season, he has shown a proclivity for adjustments. On Opening Day in Washington, Lindor struck out three times. Between games that weekend, hitting coach Eric Chavez noticed a timing snag. Lindor was standing too upright, “and so by the time he got into his ready position, he was too late,” Chavez said. The defect caused Lindor to hurry decisions.
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The problem did not last long. In the season’s third game, Chavez watched Lindor pull ahead on a 2-0 count against Nationals reliever Andres Machado. When Machado pumped a fastball over the plate, Lindor took it. Chavez saw that as a good sign. “That told me his body, his mind was settled in,” Chavez said. On the next pitch, Lindor smashed a double.
Lindor applied the same insightfulness days later against Davies and the Diamondbacks. His teammates gush at his ability to aid with his bat, his arm, his legs. His manager pointed to Lindor’s situational awareness as another separator. In Philadelphia last week, Lindor sprinted down the line after rolling a grounder to second base. His speed prevented a double play and kept the inning alive. The Mets scored four runs.
After the play, Showalter commended Lindor for the hustle. Lindor told Showalter to scold him if he ever offered anything less.
“I chuckle when I see some of these top 10 lists,” Showalter said. His laughter stems from a certain shortstop’s absence. “I’m going, ‘OK. You got this wrong.’ He’s really good.”
Lindor has flashed enough, in these early days, to remind Mets fans why Cohen splurged for him. He will be here for a decade. He has more time than he gave himself at first.
(Photo: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)
