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Hoerner has struck out nine times this year in 97 plate appearances. He struck out 8% of the time last year, 10% of the time in 2024. If you need a ball in play -- say, when the winning run is on third with one out -- Hoerner is absolutely the guy you want up there. Only Arraez has a better contact rate since 2024. Behind him was Michael Busch, a good player off to a poor start who, even at his best, has twice Hoerner’s strikeout rate, Even taking into account the platoon advantage Busch would have, the Mets’ best chance of getting out of the inning was to intentionally walk Hoerner and try to strike out Busch. In the event Kimbrel walked Busch, that would bring up Alex Bregman. Bregman is also a good contact hitter, but not as good as Hoerner, and if he were batting, there would be a force available at every base, making some of his contact good for the Mets.
There won’t be two times a year I advocate for an intentional walk, but this is one of them. Mendoza needed to maximize the chance of a strikeout, and instead he minimized it. Hoerner flied out to right, PCA scored, and the Mets lost their 11th straight contest.
