Only the Mets can start a month 8-3 and finish 12-15 overall. One minute, fans are already thinking about October, the next it’s a postmortem.  This time, the Mets have the talent to right the ship, and the minds in charge to fill the gaps.

The Mets’ top five hitters can rival anyone in baseball, but spots six through nine have been the Achilles heel of this lineup, and June proved even worse. In the past month, the lower half of the batting order supported a horrid .199 batting average with an OPS of .540.

To put it into perspective, the Colorado Rockies’ six through nine hitters batted .230 with an OPS of .655 during the same stretch, a team that infamously started this season 8-42.

Plenty of fans and analysts are eyeing third base as the fix for the Mets’ lineup woes. But the actual downfall of this lineup has been center field, and it’s the position in need of an upgrade.

Adding another center fielder has to be prioritized over adding a third basemen

The Mets’ issue isn’t third base, it’s production in center field. Tyrone Taylor, with all his defensive highlights, simply isn’t hitting enough to justify everyday playing time. His glove may shine, but his bat is dragging the lineup down.

Secondly, the Mets have a trio of third basemen in Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio all 25 or younger. While that group has underwhelmed in the first half of the season, there is still room to develop into consistent hitters. Collectively, the Baty/Vientos/Mauricio trio supports a .670 OPS and an OPS+ just 9% below league average. Tyrone Taylor, on the other hand, sits at a .606 OPS and an OPS+ that’s 25% worse than league average.

Among center fielders with at least 200 at-bats, Taylor ranks 22nd in OPS. Whereas the Mets’ third base tandem would rank 15th among third basemen. That’s not elite, but it’s not the automatic out that center field has become.

Even though the Mets still have Jose Siri, and carrying five outfielders isn’t ideal, his recent setback changes things. Imaging revealed the fractured tibia he sustained in April isn’t healing as hoped, and is now shut down from baseball activities with no timetable to return. With Taylor having played almost 90% of the games this season, the Mets can’t afford to wait around for Siri’s return.

Another center fielder also allows Jeff McNeil to return as the everyday second baseman, where his stats shine. Jeff would rank third in OPS, and fourth in home runs among qualified second basemen, in just 52 games this season.

Despite their setbacks in June, the story of the 2025 Mets is far from over, and the right move can drastically reshape the back half of this lineup that has been the worst in baseball for a significant stretch now.