Mets give Daniel Vogelbach mental break as fan frustration grows over slump

Daniel Vogelbach’s disappearance over the past week has involved more than a slumping player receiving a seat on the bench.

Before his team played Wednesday in the Subway Series at Citi Field, the struggling Mets designated hitter confirmed The Post’s report from earlier in the day that he is receiving a mental break of sorts as he attempts to get back on track with his swing. Vogelbach, entering play, hadn’t received an at-bat since the previous Wednesday in Atlanta and was considered unavailable from the bench in recent days after team brass late last week decided he could benefit from the break.

“Buck [Showalter] just wanted to give me kind of a mental break — I am not necessarily going to use it that way,” Vogelbach said before the Mets beat the Yankees, 4-3 in 10 innings, at Citi Field. “I am just trying to get my swing back with the ultimate goal of helping the New York Mets win. I feel like when my swing is where it needs to be and I am swinging the bat the way I am capable, I can make this lineup better.”

Vogelbach entered the day with a .203/.343/.297 slash line with two homers and 14 RBIs. Included was a 1-for-19 drought before his break, during which Vogelbach was booed by home fans.

“He’s frustrated that he hasn’t given [the fans] something to embrace him for,” Showalter said. “He’s done some good things here, just not obviously as much as you would like and he has done in the past.”

Showalter, citing competitive reasons, declined to say in what, if any, situations he would consider using Vogelbach. In the previous two games, the manager used Luis Guillorme to bat in the late innings as Vogelbach remained on the bench.

The Mets have found reasons to place players on the injured list as needed this season, but Showalter said the IL wasn’t an option in this case because the player didn’t warrant it.

“There is nothing wrong enough with him,” Showalter said.

The Mets value Vogelbach for his on-base percentage and hard-hit ball rate, but a failure to establish launch angle has largely limited him to hard-hit grounders.

“I’m not going to get into exactly what I’m doing or not doing,” Vogelbach said. “But just go back to watching your swings and obviously, it wasn’t that far off. Because if you look into the data, if we’re getting technical, I have over 50 percent hard-hit rate on the year. I’m still walking at the clip that I normally walk at.

“It’s just something small that can lead to me not getting the ball in the air like I like to get the ball in the air. And just being able to get in the cage and really dive into stuff that I can really go after and not have to worry about repeating it in the game that same night. I always use the term muscle memory — just trying to repeat swings so that you don’t have to think about it and you just go back to doing what I do.”

The Mets acquired Vogelbach at the trade deadline last season as part of a deal that sent reliever Colin Holderman to the Pirates. For his career, the 30-year-old Vogelbach has been productive against right-handed pitching, but this season he’s struggled against all comers.

“This game’s tough,” Vogelbach said. “It’s the reason that it’s so hard to play, and then you start putting pressure on yourself because you want to produce and you want to perform, because the ultimate goal is to win. And when you feel like you’re not at your best and you’re not helping the team win, it sucks.”