Mets fans were hoping Cedric Mullins would bring a spark to the lineup when the team traded for him at the deadline, but so far, the results just haven’t been there.
In Monday’s 1-0 loss to the Phillies, Mullins went 0-for-2, extending his hitless streak to 26 at-bats. His last knock came back on August 24, a ninth-inning single against the Braves — meaning he hasn’t recorded a hit in over two weeks.
With Jose Siri working his way back from a fractured left tibia and described by manager Carlos Mendoza as “getting close” to returning, the pressure is building on Mullins to produce. The veteran outfielder knows it.
Check out Mullins at about 2:30 talk about his recent slump and what he’s doing to get back int this groove.
“I think I’m just trying to focus on contributing to a win,” Mullins said. “That could be adding a little pressure, but it comes with the territory. Working diligently each day to get better.”
Mendoza has been clear about what he’s seen at the plate. “I don’t know about pressure, but we haven’t seen the results,” he said. “He’s a really good player and I know he wants to contribute, but we’ve got to help him. Because I feel like he’s missing good pitches to hit.”
Before his slump, Mullins was swinging the bat fairly well, going 16-for-66 (.242) with a .716 OPS across 20 games. That stretch included six extra-base hits, six RBIs, and five stolen bases, which is exactly what the Mets envisioned when they brought him in. But now he’s striking out at a 27.3% clip, nearly seven points higher than his career mark of 20.4%, and four points higher than the 23.4% he carried through his first 20 games with New York.
Mullins knows where things have gone wrong. “A combination of some things,” he said. “I’m late on the fastball, chasing a little bit. Things I can kind of clean up to see the ball a little bit better, and keep working on the swing.”
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns is standing by the trade and believes Mullins will come around. “He’s a good player who hasn’t gotten his stride here quite yet, and that’s going to happen sometimes,” Stearns told Jon Heyman of the New York Post. “But we’ve got a lot of baseball left and he’s going to keep playing, and we think he’s going to be a big part of it. Players are going to go through ups and down through the course of the year. It’s part of doing business at the trade deadline that you are dealing with a smaller portion of the season. And it might not be going perfectly right out of the chute. But he’s a good player and we’ve got faith that he’s going to help us.”
The optics of the Mullins deal don’t help, especially with division-rival Philadelphia picking up ex-Met Harrison Bader at the deadline. Bader has been hot for the Phillies, only adding to the frustration in Queens as Mullins tries to snap out of his funk.
A former All-Star and Silver Slugger with Baltimore, Mullins is no stranger to adjustments. He made history in 2021 by joining MLB’s 30-30 club, becoming just the 65th player ever to hit 30 home runs and swipe 30 bags in the same season.
Now, with the Mets battling for a Wild Card spot, they need him to find that form again and quickly. As Mullins himself put it, “I’m trying to find that adjustment that gets me going. I feel like I had it at one point and just lost it … but I’m going to keep working.”