MLB: 8 hitters poised to bounce back from ugly 2020

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Feb 22, 2021; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) throws to first base during the first day of full-squad spring training workouts at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Fransisco Lindor

The former Cleveland Indians shortstop, like Nolan Arenado, has found a new home via trade. He now hopes to lead the New York Mets back to the postseason for the first time since 2016. In order to do that, though, he’s going to have to bounce back from a down 2020 season.

In reality he didn’t really have the worst season in a confusing 60-game campaign. His biggest problem was that he lacked the normal power he usually displays. He did admit to getting tired and complacent by the end of the year and that could be a reason why his power numbers lacked.

The biggest difference last year was his barrel rate. It went from from 7.5 percent all the way down to 5.6 percent. Now he’s not going to project out to the nine percent barrel rate he posted in 2018, but even then he usually sits around the 7.5 percent he posted in 2019 and 2017.

His whiff rate did increase last year which isn’t anything to be alarmed at, and he did hit a lot of line drives last season. Outside of being tired, a lot of what plagued Lindor at the plate could be simply chalked up to bad luck. Outside of barrel rate his quality of contact remained mostly unchanged, but he underperform his xwOBA by .014 points which a decent amount.

Things should return to normal for Lindor in 2021.

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