This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo's Mets Beat newsletter, with MLB.com’s Jared Greenspan writing this version. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Early-season statistics are often worth ignoring, considering the small sample size.
Still, there are a few statistics that may be meaningful, even after just a handful of games. These stats can tell us something, and, at the least, are worth paying attention to.
Here are four that could bode well for the Mets as the season continues.
1) Kodai Senga: 96.7 mph average four-seam fastball velocity
It’s no secret that Senga is an X-factor for the Mets this season. At his best, he’s shown he can be a legitimate ace; at his worst, he’s been demoted to the Minor Leagues in the heat of a playoff race. A healthy Senga turned heads this spring, with those around the club expressing optimism that the 33-year-old could still pitch like the All-Star who burst onto the scene in 2023.
Through two starts, things are looking up. The most encouraging development is Senga’s fastball velocity -- a metric that can be fairly predictive quite quickly. In his first start of the season on Tuesday against the Cardinals, Senga topped out at 99.2 mph; he’s only thrown two faster pitches in his MLB career.
The right-hander averaged 97.4 mph on his heater, the fastest average four-seam velocity in a single game in his career. And Senga held his velocity, too, throwing five pitches at least 96 mph in the sixth inning or later. He did that just five times all of last year.
In his second start on Sunday against the Giants, Senga averaged 96.0 mph with his four-seamer, which was still well above the 94.7 mph that he averaged last season. The velocity, if anything, is validation that Senga is truly feeling like himself.
2) Luis Robert Jr.: 74.9 mph bat speed
In a few different ways, Robert gives the Mets a different look -- the dynamic center fielder is a true five-tool player. Robert also swings the bat faster than almost everyone, and as fast as any Mets player since Statcast first released bat-tracking data in the second half of the 2023 season.
Last season, Robert’s average bat speed was 75.6 mph, which ranked tied for 18th best among 222 qualified hitters. The only two Mets players with an average bat speed faster than 74.0 mph were Pete Alonso (75.1 mph) and Brett Baty (74.8 mph).
Since the advent of bat-tracking data, Alonso is the only qualified Mets player to post an average bat speed of at least 75 mph in a single season. Robert -- whose 74.9 mph bat speed so far in 2026 ranked 34th in the Majors, through Saturday -- stands as a good bet to change that.
3) Clay Holmes: 128 Stuff+ on his curveball
It’s probably reasonable to expect more from Holmes this season, given that the righty is no longer acclimating to the rigors of being a starting pitcher. Through two starts, Holmes looks sharp, especially on the heels of tossing seven scoreless frames on Saturday night.
He’s also doing something different. A year after working three new pitches into his repertoire, Holmes has again tweaked his arsenal, revamping a curveball that he last threw in 2021. As DiComo wrote in Spring Training, the idea was that the curveball would help Holmes against left-handed hitters, considering they posted a .317/.667 BA/SLG combo against his other breaking pitches (sweeper and slider) last season.
So far, the pitching models like what they’ve seen. Stuff+ gives us an idea of how good a pitch is based on factors like velocity, spin and movement. Models like these are especially relevant amid small samples, which are often noisy -- Holmes, for instance, has thrown just 12 curveballs through two starts.
Still, the new pitch has a 128 Stuff+ grade, which is the same as teammate Nolan McLean’s curveball. Holmes’s curveball has 2.9 inches more drop than average, and he’s mixed the pitch into both lefties (8%) and righties (6%). It's very early, but this has the makings of a successful offering. Holmes is reaping the benefits.
4) Jared Young: 113.5 mph max exit velocity
This one doubles as a trivia question: Do you know who owns the hardest-hit ball by a Mets player this season? If you guessed Jared Young, you’d be correct.
Young, 30, made the team out of Spring Training in one of the club’s final roster decisions. So far, he’s made the most of his limited playing time. On Tuesday, he roped a 113.5 mph double; entering play on Sunday, only seven players have hit a ball harder in the Majors this season. Young owns two of the three hardest-hit balls by a Mets player this year, along with a 111.8 mph single.