David Stearns not blaming hitting coaches for Mets’ offensive woes

MILWAUKEE — As much as the Mets have struggled offensively, the club’s president of baseball operations isn’t blaming his hitting coaches.

David Stearns on Friday essentially absolved Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes for the collective slump at the plate that has encompassed much of the season, with it perhaps being most glaring lately.

Speaking before the Mets opened their series against the sizzling Brewers at American Family Field, Stearns indicated he remains committed to Chavez and Barnes, who have shared the hitting coach position for the past two seasons.

“I have confidence in our hitting coaches,” Stearns said. “I think we have good hitting coaches. They have track records of helping to lead and putting together really quality offenses. This is, at times, baseball, and it will drive you crazy when you have talented players who go through stretches like this.

“Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve really had a lineup that has gone through stretches like this where we haven’t performed up to our capabilities, and it’s frustrating, and everyone is working as hard as they possibly can to get this turned around, and I think we will.”

The Mets began the day with eight losses in nine games and averaged just 3.9 runs per game over that stretch. Overall, the team was 15th in MLB in scoring at 4.35 runs.

The frustration level was evident during the most recent home stand, in which the Mets scored four runs or fewer in four of the six games against the Giants and Guardians. In the home stand finale, the Mets were nearly no-hit, avoiding the indignity on Juan Soto’s ninth-inning home run against Gavin Williams.

Chavez told The Post he’s encouraged by the commitment players are showing. He said “eight or nine” players were out for early hitting Friday, a participation level he hadn’t previously seen.

“I love talking, that’s great, but the only message from me is ‘work,’ ” Chavez said. “Just work at it. I told them: If you are struggling with your backhand, what are you going to do? You are going to take backhand ground balls. If you are struggling with breaks in the outfield, it’s the same thing. I just asked them to put in the work. I have asked them for the next two months to get completely committed to what we are doing and just keep grinding it out.”

Underachievement has been evident in all quarters, starting with the team’s stars: Soto, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso all have slumped in recent weeks.

Soto, after earning National League Player of the Month honors for June with a 1.196 OPS, has since returned to a level far below expectations. Entering Friday, he had a .761 OPS since June 29.

“He’s been one of the unluckiest hitters in all of baseball,” Chavez said. “And when you are going bad [as a team], you kind of need those to fall for you and kind of get things going. We have just had a really hard time getting things going collectively.”

If Chavez can find any solace in the situation, it’s that the Mets, despite their offensive struggles, entered Friday only 2 ½ games behind the Phillies in the NL East race and 3 ½ lengths ahead of the Reds for the third wild card.

“I think we all feel good as a group that we haven’t played offensively at our best yet, and we have been able to do some pretty good things as a team,” Chavez said. “Our best offensive output is still on its way. Everything is just really hard for us right now.”