CLEVELAND -- Jorge Polanco arrived early to work on Wednesday, ready to work his way out of a career-worst slump. Prior to the game, Polanco took around 300 swings of batting practice, looking to slough off whatever had been burdening him throughout an 0-for-26 stretch -- by far the driest spell of his professional life.
“Sometimes, the sweat equity gets you rolling again,” interim manager Andy Green said.
Sometimes it does.
About two and a half hours after Green attempted to speak a breakout into existence, Polanco snapped alive with a solo homer at Progressive Field, going back-to-back with Brett Baty in a 6-5, 10-inning win over the Guardians. For Polanco, it was an isolated hit in the latter third of a trying season. But it was at least something.
“It feels great to come through after putting a lot of work in,” Polanco said.
At this point, Mets officials cannot argue the folly of signing Polanco to a two-year, $40 million contract and making him their Plan A replacement for Pete Alonso at first base. Mistakes were made. Their job now is to try to salvage some sort of production from Polanco, who still has half that money coming to him next season.
That can start with a resurgent August.
April through July were not kind to Polanco, who began complaining of left ankle soreness in the early days of the season. When his pain lingered into mid-April, Polanco landed on the injured list. He spent three months there, battling not just what the team eventually diagnosed as Achilles bursitis, but also a wrist injury. At times, it seemed almost inevitable that Polanco would be shut down for the season, perhaps even undergo surgery. Yet Polanco kept pushing to make it back to the field as a DH, which he eventually did on July 7.
It didn’t go well. Over his first 15 games back, Polanco hit .078/.130/.098, culminating with his 0-for-26 stretch. He looked nothing like the player who hit 26 homers with an .821 OPS last season, let alone the one that received down-ballot MVP votes back in 2019. It was all enough to wonder whether Polanco, at 33, might ever find his way back to relevance.
One home run won’t change that narrative arc by itself. But when Polanco smashed an 81.3 mph Tanner Bibee sweeper over the right-field fence on Wednesday, he at least offered a smidgen of hope that he can still help the Mets. Six innings later, Polanco one-hopped a double to the fence in left field, setting the Mets up to tie the game with an unearned run off Guardians closer Cade Smith. Bo Bichette later put the Mets ahead for good with an RBI single in the 10th.
“That at-bat in the ninth was unbelievable,” Green said of Polanco. “That’s as live of a fastball as you’ll ever see. He managed to recover from a tough first swing. The homer was great. Good at-bats all day. Really happy for him.”
Now around five months removed from the onset of his injury, Polanco says he’s healthy outside of some residual soreness. While Green isn’t necessarily convinced, knowing that underlying injuries can affect a player’s swing even if they’re asymptomatic, the Mets believe Polanco is more than well enough to take the field. Which means, theoretically, that he can produce.
For the first time in a long time, Polanco did so on Wednesday. Thursday will provide another opportunity for a player who will continue getting chances regardless of whether he’s hitting. Eventually, the Mets could ask Polanco to play first base, increasing his degree of difficulty. But they may not. Their most important mission is getting Polanco to the offseason with a base of success underneath him.
“We want to be successful at this game,” Polanco said. “That’s why we’re here. That’s what we’re working for. Sometimes, it goes the wrong way, but you’ve just got to keep going. You’ve just got to keep putting the work in.”
To his credit, Green said, Polanco “has been the same person every day” throughout all of this.
“He’s a good teammate,” Green continued. “He’s upbeat. This is hard. I don’t think anybody’s going to tell you any differently, and most people go through stretches like that, and it affects confidence to a degree. I don’t think it affects long-term confidence in him. He knows he’s going to be good again.”