Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Brandon Nimmo surprisingly were not named among the National League reserves for the 2024 MLB All-Star game.
Instead, first baseman Pete Alonso is headed to his fourth career All-Star Game as the team's lone representative.
Elly De La Cruz and CJ Abrams beat out Lindor while Nimmo was left off in place of Jackson Merrill, Heliot Ramos, Teoscar Hernandez, and Bryan Reynolds.
"I'm surprised we didn't have more guys," Carlos Mendoza said. "There's a lot of names that you could make a strong case for. I still hope they get a chance to get in, there's always injuries and things that happen, because they certainly deserve to be there."
Both Lindor and Nimmo got off to an extremely slow start this season, but they've quickly returned to form and have been performing like stars towards the top of New York's high-powered lineup.
Mendoza deciding to flip-flop them in the order is one of the key components that led to the Mets turning things around and getting back into the thick of the Wild Card race.
After his three-hit game and heroics on Sunday afternoon, Lindor is now hitting .298 with 18 doubles, eight homers, 25 RBI, and an .883 OPS out of the leadoff spot. He sits behind only All-Star's Shohei Ohtani, Elly De La Cruz, Bryce Harper, and Ketel Marte with the fifth-most wins above replacement (3.5) in all of baseball.
"I'm happy for Pete," Lindor said. "I would've loved to have made it but that's part of the thing that not everybody can make it, I'm sure the ones that did make it are having great years and congrats to them."
Nimmo also provided some heroics on Sunday afternoon as his run-scoring double in the top of the eighth broke a scoreless tie and gave him his team-leading 53rd RBI. He ranks second among NL outfielders in WAR (2.8), he has 13 homers, 17 doubles, eight stolen bases, and a .368 on-base percentage through 88 games this season.
“They’ve played their tails off,” Alonso said. “Those guys are playing at a super-high caliber and have proven that they could be there. There’s still time so I think if there’s any late adds they’ll be on the roster for sure.”
That scenario seems like a possibility, with injured stars Mookie Betts and Fernando Tatis Jr. unable to play and needing replacements at their respective positions.