Mets' Francisco Lindor repeats he's gifting a car to Jeff McNeil

Fans and other outsiders were recently reminded how New York Mets star shortstop Francisco Lindor previously promised to buy teammate and infielder Jeff McNeil a car if McNeil won the batting title for the 2022 season. 

ESPN stats show that the competition got close on the campaign's final day but that McNeil prevailed over Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers by one point to finish with the highest batting average in all of MLB at .326. Following Wednesday's regular-season finale in which the Mets crushed the Washington Nationals 9-2, many were wondering if Lindor still intended to keep his word. 

"You guys are going to find out with the car," Lindor insisted, per Andrew Tredinnick of NorthJersey.com. "I won’t tell you guys. He don’t even know, I don’t even know. I guess you guys will find out, maybe spring training, maybe offseason, maybe the title, maybe the new year. We’ll see."

Lindor also assured reporters he never doubted McNeil. 

"He’s a really good hitter and very smart," Lindor added during his comments. "He goes all over the field. I knew he had a pretty good chance of doing it. I think at the time he was probably hitting .330 or something like that."

Mets manager Buck Showalter kept McNeil out of the starting lineup on Wednesday, and the 30-year-old watched as Freeman collected a pair of hits before he made an out that essentially eliminated any doubt. 

"At that time, you get a little nervous," McNeil admitted. "He’s swinging the bat well. It’s Freddie Freeman, four hits is normal for him. His third at-bat right before the game, a good number of us were sitting in the locker room here watching it. He put a good swing on it and I was lucky that one stayed in the park." 

McNeil, Lindor, and the rest of the Mets will open the three-game wild-card series against the San Diego Padres at Citi Field on Friday night.