An article on the website, Beyond the Box Score, states that "the #4 hitter comes to bat in the most important situations out of all nine spots." Roster Resource puts LF Michael Conforto in that spot. Historically, the hitter in the cleanup spot was the "power bat," the team's best slugger, the best guy at driving in runs. Is Conforto that guy?
Two stats measure power hitting: ISO and SLG. SLG includes singles; whereas, ISO includes only extra-base hits.
Last season, of the Mets position players who played in at least 100 games, Conforto had the second-highest slugging percentage, .448, behind Brandon Nimmo, who had a SLG of .483. Further, in the MLB SLG ranking Conforto ranked 66th while his ISO of .204 was 48th best in MLB.
Given that Nimmo is assigned the first spot in the order, Cano, the third, and Cespedes won't be available on opening day, another option would be new Met Wilson Ramos who in 2018 had an ISO of only .181 but an SLG of .487, almost 40 points higher than Conforto. However, given that Conforto's career ISO and SLG were .225 and .476 versus Ramos' of .166 and .439, it makes sense to stay with the way Roster Resource has their lineup: Conforto bats fourth and Ramos hit fifth.
The bottom line is that the Mets opening day lineup will lack a top cleanup hitter.
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