Seriously, Alejandro De Aza is not as bad a player as he has seemed in his limited time with the Mets.  Up until this season, De Aza was a .267/.337/.405 hitter with a 101 career OPS+.  Essentially, he was an average major league baseball player.  You don’t necessarily want that in your starting lineup day in and day out the way it once appeared he was going to be.  However, a player like that could be a vital and important piece for your bench.

Unfortunately, it has not turned out that way.

It is quite possible this all started when the Mets signed Yoenis Cespedes in the offseason.  At the time the Mets signed De Aza two things were fairly evident: (1) the Mets didn’t have the stomach or money to give Cespedes a contract like the one he was expected to receive in free agency; and (2) he was going to be part of a center field platoon with Juan Lagares.  As it turns out, the Mets got very lucky.  No one really offered Cespedes a fair market value free agent contract allowing him to return to the Mets for what was effectively a one-year deal.  By extension the Mets seemed to be extremely deep in the outfield as their fourth and fifth outfielders, De Aza and Lagares, were major league quality everyday players in some capacity.  It was great on paper.  However, De Aza has clearly suffered from the lack of playing time – playing time he reasonably expected when he signed with the Mets as a free agent.

So far this year, De Aza is only hitting .165/.224/.241 with a 27 OPS+.  He has gone hitless in his last 20 at bats.  In his limited starts (13 games), he is hitting .128/.180/.213.  Keep in mind those stats are inflated due to a 3-4 game he had in a start against the Indians in May.  Other than that De Aza has been flat out terrible.  Things have gotten so bad for him that Terry Collins is starting Matt Reynolds over him in games, and Reynolds had never played a game in the outfield as a professional.  His stats are in Ty Kelly and Eric Campbell territory, and as we’ve seen with him, he’s a much better player than either of these players.  Overall, it is fair to say that De Aza has been affected by the lack of playing time.

As it turns out, De Aza might get a chance to leave an impression on the Mets and turn his season around.  Yesterday, Cespedes had to leave the game with what turned out to be a sprained wrist.  Right now, Cespedes is day-to-day, and in reality, De Aza is the only person on the roster right now who can play center field on a regular basis.  As a result, Collins has no choice but to put De Aza in the lineup until Cespedes is ready to return to the lineup.  As fortune would have it, the Mets are about to begin a four game series against the Atlanta Braves, who despite sweeping the Mets last weekend, are the absolute worst team in baseball.  There really is no excuse for De Aza not to seize this opportunity and start playing better.

Right now, there are some offensive issues overall with the Mets.  One of them is bench production, and De Aza is a large part of that.  Hopefully, De Aza is able to use these starts to turn his season around and help improve the Mets bench.  Both the Mets and De Aza need him to have a big weekend.