Renewed Eduardo Escobar, Mets may be getting hot at just the right time

Suddenly Eduardo Escobar is hitting like the guy the Mets thought they were signing as a free agent last winter and this team looks like a juggernaut again.

Is it that simple? Not entirely, but the lineup has had quite a different look and feel to it in the last several days, as the Mets have emerged from a team-wide slump to score 38 runs in five games, and Escobar’s hot bat has provided some needed thump toward the bottom.

The catching tandem has been the most surprising part of that equation as well, as Tomas Nido and James McCann have both contributed in a big way from the No. 9 spot, with Nido even going deep in Sunday’s 9-3 win over the Marlins in Miami for his first home run of the season.

But here’s the more relevant question: Is it sustainable?

In the case of the catchers, probably not. Any significant offense from Nido and McCann is likely always going to be a bonus, but as for Escobar, his emergence could be a huge development as the Mets try to hold off the Atlanta Braves for the NL East title and the important postseason bye that comes with it.

All season the Mets have been looking for more power, especially in comparison to the Braves, while being a little too reliant on the ups and downs of Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.

Meanwhile, as a switch-hitting third baseman who hit 28 and 35 home runs in his previous two full seasons, Escobar was supposed to take on some of that load after signing a two-year deal with the Mets. But his offense was so anemic, especially as a left-handed hitter, that he was finally demoted to platoon status in July, playing very little against right-handed pitching.

Then he injured his side, going on the Injured List while the Mets called up Brett Baty, but since returning to health, while Baty went to the IL, Esocbar received another chance and he has looked like a different hitter, especially against right-handed pitching.

Since Aug. 30, in fact, his second start back from the injury, Escobar is hitting .476 overall, going 20-for-42, and more remarkably, .533 as a lefty hitter, going 16-for-30. As part of all that he has hit five home runs in his last nine games, including a solo shot on Sunday.

As a result, Escobar’s slugging percentage is up to .428, the highest it has been since April, and his success hitting left-handed will give Buck Showalter some needed flexibility when Guillorme returns from his oblique injury, likely in the next couple of days.

After all, with Starling Marte out with his broken finger, Showalter played Darin Ruf in right field on Sunday because the Marlins started lefty Jesus Luzardo, and that’s just not a good idea.

The defensive part of it aside, Ruf is in a terrible slump, 1-for-34, and hitting just .143 since the Mets acquired him to be the right-handed half of the DH platoon with Daniel Vogelbach. As such Mark Vientos, who went 0-for-5 in his major league debut on Sunday, is likely to get more at-bats in Ruf’s DH spot in the coming days.

And more to the point, with Escobar now hitting righties as well as lefties, Showalter can play Guillorme at second base at times and move Jeff McNeil to right field, rather than play Tyler Naquin against left-handed pitching while Marte is out.

In short, there is no overstating the importance of Escobar’s return to form. Whether it’s more than a two-week hot streak remains to be seen, but during his time on the IL he says he came to realize, apparently from looking at video, that he was in more of a crouched stance at the plate as a lefty hitter than usual and it was affecting his swing.

“I needed to get back to my old way,” he told reporters recently through a translator. “I feel much more comfortable now from that side of the plate.”

I checked in with an NL scout on Sunday to ask if he’d noticed the change Escobar has made.

“I really hadn’t noticed until I saw where he’d said that,” the scout said. “It’s not dramatic but when you’re looking for it you can see he’s standing a little taller. It might just be something that makes him feel better mentally, but you can see he’s swinging the bat with more confidence from that side.

“It lengthens their lineup and give them more pop when he’s swinging it like this, and that’s something they need, especially with Lindor and Alonso going through a little bit of a lull. They’re not getting anything from the DH spot, so if Escobar picks up the slack for them in the lower part of the order, it should give them more consistency.”

Obviously the Mets are at their most dangerous when they’re getting contributions up and down the lineup. On Sunday it was Brandon Nimmo who had the biggest hit, a three-run home to open the scoring in the second inning, and it was Nido providing the feel-good moment, a home run that prompted such a long silent treatment that Showalter laughingly called it “cruel.”

When all was said and done, however, it was another home run, as well as a single, by Escobar that offered reason to believe the Mets are getting hot at just the time.