When you look at the New York Mets offense, it seems everyone is worse than they were last year. The fans are starting to point fingers at Eric Chavez again. As is usual with hitting coaches, they shoulder the blame . . . fair or not.

Chavez or not, two players make you question how good Chavez has been – Mark Vientos and Francisco Álvarez.

Vientos came up from Triple-A Syracuse and raked. He had a 133 wRC+. Among Major League third basemen, only Jose Ramirez was better offensively. That success carried into the postseason where Vientos was great.

That success hasn’t carried forward into this year. There’s a number of reasons including inconsistent playing time and injuries. All told, he’s at an 81 wRC+.

There’s enough there, including a sophomore slump, where you don’t have to even consider Chavez. That brings us to Alvarez.

Like Vientos, Álvarez struggled out of the gate. There were also reasons like a new swing and being injured entering the season. Being a first time father also shouldn’t be discounted.

Since Álvarez has options remaining (Vientos didn’t), he was sent down to Syracuse to work with hitting coach Rick Guarno to get his swing right. He was also there to get his defense back on track.

Álvarez fixed his swing and defense in Syracuse. Since being recalled, he’s hitting .278/.395/.500 with three doubles, a triple, homer, and four RBI.

It’s telling that Álvarez couldn’t get the help he needed at the Major League level. That’s not unusual for young players. That said, looking at him and Vientos, it should make you at least question what they’re doing right in Syracuse that’s not translating in Queens.

Again, it may not be Chavez’s fault. Different messaging helps. On that front, it’s notable Pete Alonso is having his best year since 2022.

The 2022 season was Chavez’s first as the Mets hitting coach. In the subsequent two years Alonso had a significant drop-off. He’s now back at his 2022 level of production. Part of the reason is his agent Scott Boras:

For the first time in his seven-year career, Alonso is using external help to assist him with research, digest data and create personal plans against pitchers. The information comes from people affiliated with his agent, Scott Boras, and from people at his Tampa, Fla.-based workout group, Diesel Optimization, among others. He explained it as something like a front office just for him.

The Athletic, Will Sammon

It’s telling Alonso went outside the organization to get the assistance he felt he needed to get back to his level of production. It’s more telling that it worked.

Seeing how the outside help brought Alonso back to his best, we should at least look at some of the Mets other hitters.

Juan Soto had a 181 wRC+ with the New York Yankees. He’s now at a 143. That 143 would be his worst season mark since his first full professional season.

Soto is still awesome. He’s just a little less awesome than he’s been over the past four years.

Brandon Nimmo was an elite leadoff hitter with a great walk rate. In 2022, he had a 132 wRC+ (down from the previous two years) and a 10.5 BB%. He’s now down to a 117 wRC+ and 8.0 BB%.

Francisco Lindor finished second in MVP voting in 2024. He had a career best 137 wRC+. Being fair here, Lindor has been his best at the plate with Chavez as hitting coach.

Yes, Lindor is having a down year at the plate, but we all saw a drop off after the broken toe. You can’t pinpoint that on anyone.

Looking at the Mets top players, it appears only Lindor has been at his best with Chavez at the helm. Young players like Alvarez and Vientos were better working with the Triple-A hitting coaches.

Moreover, we’re not seeing Brett Baty or Ronny Mauricio develop into the hitters they were promised to be. Coupled with Álvarez and Vientos, something is just off here.

That’s not to say Chavez is at fault. It’s possible what he’s conveying is helping, but it’s also clear there’s a gap where players aren’t getting what they need to produce at the levels we’ve seen them produce.

At some point, Chavez is going to have to be addressed and scrutinized. The Mets offense is too talented for these results. The best hitters have seen a drop off in production working with Chavez.

Something is very wrong here. If it’s not Chavez, it’s something. It’s well past time the Mets figure it out.