David Stearns sees one big area of improvement for his Mets to make

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.As the architect of a team that began Wednesday tied for MLB’s best record, there isn’t much Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns views as a club weakness. But Stearns knows there is room for improvement in one area, specifically. “I think we can play better defense,” Stearns said as the Mets prepared to conclude their three-game series against the Pirates at Citi Field.

“The players we have are capable of playing better defense.” Stearns didn’t list the offenders, but Francisco Lindor’s defensive play has been below his usual standard.Lindor, normally a Gold Glove contender at shortstop, entered the day at zero outs above average, according to Statcast — placing him in MLB’s 45th percentile.

Lindor already had six errors after committing 12 all of last season. Juan Soto was an American League Gold Glove finalist last season with the Yankees, but began play at minus-4 outs above average, according to Statcast, which placed him in MLB’s fifth percentile. “I think we have a couple of different players who are good defenders, very good defenders in certain cases who have made some mistakes this year,” Stearns said.“That’s going to happen and it gets magnified in smaller samples, like we’ve had over the first six weeks of the season.

But I would expect us to be a better defensive team over the next 4 ½ months this season than we have over the first month and a half.” Stearns said he uses a combination of the eye test, internal metrics and conversations with the coaching staff to evaluate the team’s play defensively.Stearns cited Brandon Nimmo’s play in left field as a position at which the Mets have excelled defensively. One area in which the Mets have excelled is limiting the opponent’s running game.

Entering play Mets catchers had thrown out 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) o...