#Francisco Lindor will be ‘great hitter’ again

CHICAGO — Francisco Lindor’s slow start has left Mets officials searching for answers.

True, the Mets were only 12 games into the season as they arrived at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, but for any starting shortstop — never mind one who recently received a $431 million contract extension — a .171/.327/.195 slash line is unacceptable.

Lindor delivered a go-ahead RBI single for the Mets in Jacob deGrom’s victory Saturday at Colorado in the first game of a doubleheader, but otherwise has been invisible for a team that entered play ranked 30th in runs per game.

“I kind of look at treating [Lindor] like I would a David Ortiz,” said Mets hitting coach Chili Davis, who worked with the Red Sox slugger from 2015-17. “Lindor has had so much success in his past and he’s so young he’s been a great hitter, he’s still a great hitter.

“I think I have got to listen to him, because he is the guy who is feeling what’s going on. But if I can help him and show him some videos and say, ‘Remember when you used to feel this and that,’ and little suggestions with him, but you don’t want to be in his face every day. You want him to feel it out and find it.”

In search of clues, Davis recently spent two hours watching video of Lindor with Cleveland, that dated to 2017. Davis has also spoken to Indians assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez and was told what kind of pregame drills helped Lindor the most during his slumps in Cleveland.

Davis dismissed the notion that Lindor’s bat speed has diminished.

“There is no possible way that his bat speed is an issue,” Davis said. “It’s just a feel. We haven’t played consistently enough games. He left spring training feeling really good. We go to Washington and we don’t play a game, we do simulated BP, it helps, but it’s not like competing against another team.”

The three games at Washington that were postponed because of COVID-19 concerns were just the start of a hellacious month. Since then, four other games have been postponed or suspended for the Mets, who have already played two doubleheaders.

“It affects your timing,” Davis said. “Plus, he’s in a different league this year and a lot of the pitchers, he doesn’t know right now and he’s probably faced them a few times. But it’s not like facing guys over and over again. He is the kind of guy, and [Jeff] McNeil too, that once they get going, then you don’t have anything to say to them because they are just going to roll.

“We need to get out on the field and be more baseball-like. I’m not overly concerned. … I know for [Lindor] and guys like McNeil, once they get that feeling and lock it in they are just going to roll with it for a long time.”

The fact the Mets were 7-5 — without the lineup in sync — was a relief to Davis.

“Try to cowboy up and try to win some ballgames,” Davis said. “We have been winning some ballgames even though we haven’t been hitting the way we can so that’s a positive, because I do know when we start clicking we are going to win a lot more ballgames.

“I figure if we can get two or three hot months in here we can win this division. That is the main objective: to win the division and move on to the playoffs.”