A Letter to Mets Fans

Let me just say right here at the top: I’m not usually an emotional person. 

Anyone who knows me will tell you that. I’m not someone who’s running around giving out hugs or telling people I love them all the time. It’s just not who I am. 

But with baseball? When it comes to the game I love?

It’s just different for some reason. 

Even going all the way back to high school, if we’d lose in the playoffs, I’d get really emotional at the very end. I’d cry my eyes out. I wouldn’t want to. But I couldn’t help it. I feel this game so deeply, you know what I mean? Always have.   

So, this time around? Playing in the big leagues, biggest games of my life, alongside a group of guys I truly respect and love, and to come up just short? I mean, I don’t know what to tell you….

Hell yes, I was sitting at my locker crying my eyes out after that game was over and we were eliminated by the Dodgers. Absolutely. 

It was a combination of a bunch of different feelings. Almost like my mind didn’t know exactly how to feel about it. 

Guys were coming up to me and telling me to hang in there and being like, Hey, it was such a great season! And I heard them. I agree! But in that moment….

I wasn’t there yet. 

The type of person I am, when I’m in on something, I’m all the way in. I don’t think about what’s next, or what if we lose, or anything like that. I’m zoned in. So, when we made that last out, it just kind of hit me all at once. Like, Whoa. We lost. It’s over. And then just seeing them … watching the Dodgers celebrate out on the field? It sucked. 

I came back into the clubhouse and that emotion, it just kind of needed to come out. It had to. I couldn’t just turn the page like that. It was all so quick: Boom, we lost. Boom, everybody’s saying goodbye. Boom, it’s all over.  

I definitely needed some time to think and process everything. 

Coming back home 1–1, after that big win in Game 2, I really felt like we had all the momentum in the world. We all did. And playing in front of our fans, knowing we didn’t lose playing at home against the Phillies, we all felt like we were gonna do it. In my mind, I was 100% sure that we were going to get two at home. At least two! I was positive. 

But, you know what? The Dodgers are a great team, let’s be honest. We played good baseball. Sometimes it doesn’t happen for you. I get that. We lost.  

But then, as a player, it’s like … What do I do now? 

It was so weird waking up and not having a game that next day. It’s actually still weird more than a week later. I feel like I’m still in go mode. When you play a season and you do something for so long, every day for a year, you get so used to doing what you do. And then suddenly, it’s all done. I’m still trying to get used to it being over.  

I keep telling myself that even though it didn’t end the way we all wanted, this has truly been an incredible season. 

It’s something I will never forget. And, more than anything, it has me hungry for more.  

I’m so pumped for what the future holds. I can’t wait to be a big part of this franchise going forward and to help make sure we give our fans amazing moments to cheer about for years to come.  

I feel like that’s what’s next for us. And looking back on this season, I’m just so happy that I got a chance to begin building my story with the Mets this year. It’s already been an incredible journey.  

I gotta say … it feels like I was born to be a New York Met.

Like it was meant to happen. Destiny, or whatever you want to call it. 

My dad was born in the Dominican Republic, and then moved to New York when he was nine and became a huge Mets fan right away. He always talks about Keith Hernandez, and Darryl Strawberry, and Doc Gooden, and all those guys. Bring up the ’86 World Series and he won’t let up. He’ll tell you the story of that Mookie Wilson roller under Bill Buckner’s glove like he’s broadcasting the game. Super dramatic, like….

“All hope was lost. Mets fans were about to have their hearts broken again. But then, Mookie Wilson steps up to the plate….” 

My dad’s a New Yorker through and through. A straight-up New York City baseball fan. 

And so how could that passion not trickle down to me, right? When I was little, growing up in Florida, I became a huge David Wright fan. Him and José Reyes were my guys. I had a David Wright poster hanging up in my room. I collected his baseball cards. And Reyes, being from the Dominican, it was so fun for me to watch him play.   

At our house, we’d have Mets games on the TV all the time. In Florida. I don’t even know how we were able to watch those games. My dad, he’d just figure it out and get the game to come in every night like magic. Then, when the Mets were in Miami, we’d go to the Marlins’ stadium … to root for New York. 

Now, fast-forward eight years. This April. I’m playing in Citi Field. Just called up, coming off the bench to pinch hit against the Cards. Eleventh inning. Tie game. Two outs. Harrison Bader on first. And it’s like….

Go big or go home!

I wasn’t gonna walk or hit a bloop single. It was win it or go down swinging. In my head it’s: You’re either hitting a homer, putting a ball in the gap, or striking out. That’s it. 

I’m down to my last strike, and I get a heater up in the zone and outside, and … everything after that is kind of a blur. But it was one of the coolest moments of my life.

A walk-off home run? As a member of the New York Mets? In extras? In front of the best fans in the game?   

Unreal.

I remember I started screaming at the top of my lungs as soon as I hit it. And then I’m pretty much floating around the bases. At one point, I think I blacked out. Like legit blacked out. But when I got to home plate, I do remember screaming to our fans … just screaming, screaming, screaming, completely filled with energy and emotion. 

After the game, it took me six hours to come down from that moment. No joke. I was so amped up that I was shaking. I was still lightheaded. Still out of breath. Still excited. 

It felt like a dream.

Here’s the thing, though, a big thing I’ve learned along the way: Just because something feels destined to be … doesn’t mean that it’s gonna come easy.

That’s been my story with the Mets.

Two weeks before that walk-off, I’d been sent down to the minors despite having a super solid spring training. There wasn’t a spot for me anymore at DH, so I had to start the season in Syracuse instead of Queens. Then I get called up, and hit that home run, and two days after that, just 48 hours later … I was sent back down to the minors again.  

I knew it was coming. When I was called up, the team told me I’d only be up for three days, until Starling came back. But…. 

It still sucked. 

I’d worked relentlessly during the offseason. I was raking all spring. I had big goals for 2024. Crazy goals. It was like: I’m going to be an All-Star third baseman this year! 

So when we signed J.D. at the end of spring, and I was the odd man out, I was like….

Why is this happening? What did I do to deserve this? 

I was salty. For sure. But at the same time … I still had total confidence in my ability. I went to Syracuse knowing that it’d be my time soon enough.

When I got back to Queens a few weeks later, I think something had changed with me. 

I’m someone who’s obsessed with this game, and I’ve always been a perfectionist, always focused on doing everything I could to be great. It’d be like: I need to be an All-Star. No, a 20-time All-Star! But if things weren’t going my way, I’d be really hard on myself. There were times in the minors when I’d call up my parents crying. Just basically second-guessing myself or thinking maybe I wasn’t good enough.

But this summer? After I started getting playing time? I honestly just began rolling with a “f*** it!” mentality.   

I took a step back and realized I was kind of driving myself crazy with all the expectations. And recognizing that … it was super freeing. It was like….

I’m gonna do everything with confidence, everything all-out. If I suck, I suck. If I’m good, I’m good. But you know what? F*** it! I gotta trust that I left it all out there! 

And from there … things just seemed to get better and better. 

We hit. We pitched our asses off. We had more fun than anyone else in the league. We found ways to win. A lot. And I was fortunate enough to be a part of more celebrations than I can count with this incredible group of teammates.  

My favorite celebration, my favorite moment of the season really … probably won’t surprise you. 

But what you don’t know is that I actually predicted it would happen….

Before Game 4 of the Phillies series, I had this gut feeling that I couldn’t shake. Gameday. I head into the clubhouse, and for some reason this thought keeps popping into my head. It’s unmistakable.

Lindor is going to do something big today.

All pregame it was there. 

Lindor. This is his moment. This game.

I even told some teammates about it. Like, “Francisco is about to win us this series today, bro. I can feel it.”

Then, a few hours later, I’m in the on-deck circle, bottom of the sixth. Bases loaded. Lindor up. 

In my head, I repeated it: He’s about to do something big. It wasn’t even a question of if. No way! It was: Oh, man. Watch this! This. Is. Actually. Gonna. Happen. Right. Now.

And then it did.

As soon as he swung, I knew it was gone. I didn’t need to watch to see where the ball was going. I just saw the swing, how perfect it was, and I was like: Ball game! The end. We just took the soul out of Philly….

We just ripped their hearts out.  

I knew we weren’t losing after that. I knew our guys wouldn’t let that moment go to waste. That we’d pull together and get the win no matter what.

That’s what we’d been doing pretty much since the weather started heating up. The chemistry we built since the summer, it was just absolutely incredible. This was the most fun team I’ve ever been around. It’s just a great group of guys, a great mix. And what I loved most was that we could all be ourselves. The coaches let us show our personalities. They weren’t holding any of us back. So, we vibed with Grimace, and we fully embraced the OMG, and we took luck from a mini pumpkin. 

We had fun. And I feel like our fans could tell, and they had fun right along with us. Everyone was having fun together. 

Which reminds me … let me just say: Our fans, all year long, but especially during the playoffs? You guys were absolutely incredible. I love New York so much. I love playing in this city more than I could ever explain. Just the energy that our fans bring to the game, the passion. It’s something I can feel, and it honestly makes me a better player. I love everything about it — the pressure, the expectations, the way that baseball is seen as more than just a game, all of it.

So, now I’m ready to get back at it. Obviously, I’m going to give myself a little bit of time. Everyone needs to take some time after something like that. But it’s not going to be long. I’m going to get right back to training in the next week or so. 

This past season, honestly, for me … it was like a movie. 

I wish someone would have documented this whole thing from the start to the finish, because it basically had everything — highs, lows, incredible moments, improbable heroes, so many twists and turns. It would be a killer movie. 

But at the same time, maybe it’s best that they didn’t do it this year. Because, you know what, here’s the thing….

The best is yet to come. 

I am so excited for the future of this team, and everyone here, everyone in that clubhouse, we all can sense that something great is in store. That we’re building something special. 

We don’t shy away from it. We embrace it. We’re not afraid to be thinking big, and right now we’re looking to create a legacy of Mets baseball. We want to make it so people come into this organization and know there’s a certain level in terms of how you need to play and dedicate yourself to winning. We want to mold that mentality in New York and do big things.

And it’s not something that’s in the background or just some vibe or something. No! We’ve talked about this. It’s a real thing. 

We’re not messing around. And I’m 100% here for it. I’m excited.  

Opening Day can’t get here soon enough.

LFGM!!!!!!!!!!!