Steve Cohen tweets about 'unproductive' hitters as Mets coaches, players try to figure out scoring woes

SAN FRANCISCO — Mets owner Steve Cohen took a swing at the team’s hitters Wednesday morning, expressing the same sentiment as many fans and some with the club: utter bafflement over why they are so bad at scoring runs.

"It’s hard to understand how professional hitters can be this unproductive," Cohen wrote on his verified Twitter account. "The best teams have a more disciplined approach. The slugging and OPS numbers don’t lie."

The Mets have a .380 slugging percentage, good for 26th in the majors, after their 6-2 win in 12 innings against the Giants. Their OPS, which is on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, is 24th at .692. They are averaging 3.80 runs per game, 28th.

When someone replied to Cohen that Twitter is "not the place" and "you can’t be both fan voice and owner voice on here," Cohen responded: "Really, do you set the Twitter rules."

Manager Luis Rojas and hitting coach Hugh Quattlebaum had similar responses: The Mets are working hard and, yes, they need to do better.

"I understand where he’s coming from," Rojas said. "We all got to be held accountable for the team performance. I think the players are very vulnerable. They come here and say that they’re frustrated. Some of them feel that they’re underperforming and they’re working really hard. We’re all in this. It doesn’t single out one player, it doesn’t single out one coach . . . We don’t feel like a single person is being attacked. We’re all being accountable here."

Said Quattlebaum, who was promoted to the job from a player-development role when the Mets fired Chili Davis in May: "I don't think anybody's thrilled with the results for offense."

Rojas said he spoke about Cohen’s message with some individual players but did not address the team as a whole. Kevin Pillar said they discussed it among themselves.

"He’s a passionate guy, he’s a passionate owner," Pillar said. "He wants to see the best from us. He expects more out of us. I think we all expect a lot out of each other."

On an individual level, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and J.D. Davis have had solid seasons (when healthy). But Michael Conforto, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, Dominic Smith and James McCann have not, particularly relative to their recent track records.

The Mets’ offensive philosophy is to get on base and hit for power, Rojas said. A longtime manager in the organization’s farm system, Rojas said that is the same approach preached to the homegrown hitters as they climbed through the minors, sometimes with him.

"These guys have done it in the past," Rojas said. "We just haven’t done it this year a lot."

Nobody seems to actually know why the Mets stink at scoring.

"That’s all I’m thinking about every night. We need to do better," Quattlebaum said. "I need to do better for the guys there, they’re up there busting their butts, literally every day. It’s not a work ethic thing. They’re in the cages, they’re trying to stay healthy, they’re trying to do their homework on what’s going to work best on a daily basis approach-wise. It’s a constant process to try to get better."

He added later: "Honestly it's about avoiding having a sense of urgency. Anything that makes you panic in the box or chase results is not going to be beneficial."

The Mets’ struggles include a .239 average and .365 slugging percentage with runners in scoring position. Quattlebaum said he does not see hitters overthinking or getting anxious in those situations; Rojas has said that sometimes they do.

Rojas said he hadn’t talked to Cohen recently but wasn’t worried about how players would interpret his tweet.

"Steve is no stranger to the guys, they know how he is and they're taking it the right way," Rojas said. "They're just going to go out there and work."