Jeff McNeil New York Mets Signed Rawlings Official Major League Baseball – Fanatics Hologram & MLB Hologram

Description

Jeff McNeil, nicknamed “Squirrel” or “Flying Squirrel”, is an American professional baseball utility player for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). In 2022, he started the All-Star game at second base, won the MLB Batting Title and the Silver Slugger Award.

McNeil was promoted to the Major Leagues on July 24, 2018. He recorded his first Major League hit that night at Citi Field against Phil Hughes of the San Diego Padres on the first pitch he saw. He hit his first Major League home run off Tanner Roark of the Washington Nationals on July 31. For the season with the Mets, he batted .329/.381/.471 in 225 at bats. He led all MLB hitters (140 or more plate appearances) in batting average against right-handers, at .345. McNeil received one vote in the 2018 National League Rookie of the Year Award polling, placing him in a three-way tie for sixth place with Harrison Bader and Yoshihisa Hirano.

After playing second base in all but four defensive games during the 2018 season, McNeil spent the majority of 2019 in left field given that the Mets traded for second baseman Robinson Canó during the offseason. On June 30th, 2019, McNeil was named to the National League All-Star team, his first selection. On August 5, 2019, McNeil recorded his 200th career hit in his 599th career at bat, becoming the fastest player in Mets history to 200 career hits. In 2019 he batted .318/.384/.531 with 23 home runs and 75 RBIs. Of all Major League batters, he swung at the highest percentage of pitches (59.9%) and the highest percentage of pitches inside the strike zone (85%)

Heading into the 2020 season, MLB Network ranked McNeil the fifth-best third baseman in baseball. In spite of that, McNeil again spent the majority of his games in left field for the Mets. He batted .311/.383/.454 in the pandemic-shortened season. He became the first Mets player since David Wright in 2005–09 to have a batting average of .300 or more in three straight seasons.

On June 10th, 2022, McNeil was named to the 2022 MLB All-Star Game as a representative for the National League, the second selection of his career. Originally chosen as a reserve for the squad, he wound up as the starting second baseman after Miami Marlins second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. decided not to play due to injury. He was the first Mets’ position player to start an All Star Game since David Wright in 2013. McNeil went 0-for-1 with a HBP and a groundout in the game.

McNeil finished the 2022 regular season with a .326 batting average, the highest batting average of all qualified major league batters, winning the National League batting title. He was the first Met to do so since José Reyes in 2011. He also became the first Met to lead MLB in batting average. He had the lowest called strike plus whiff rate in the majors, at 19.0%. McNeil described the season as a “bounce-back year” from a comparatively poor 2021. It was described in The Athletic as “a massive rebound.”

On November 10, 2022, McNeil won his first career Silver Slugger Award for second basemen. He was the first Met to win the award since Yoenis Céspedes won it in 2016. He also became the first Met second baseman to win the award since Edgardo Alfonzo in 1999.

The featured Rawlings Official Major League Baseball has been signed by Jeff McNeil in blue. The Baseball includes an official MLB Authentication hologram as well as a Fanatics hologram for authenticity purposes.