After Lucas Duda missed most of last year with a fracture in his lower back, there were obvious concerns about him this year. Those concerns are magnified when you consider he spent time in the DL in 2015 with a lumbar disc herniation. With him starting the year hitting .222 in the first six games, those concerns started to become out and out fear. 

Well, like most of the Mets offense Duda put those concerns to bed with a monster game last night. 

In last night’s game, Duda was just a triple short of the cycle. Overall, he was 4-6 with a double and two homers. One of those homers was an absolute bomb. It cleared the batter’s eye in centerfield and reportedly travelled 448 feet. Looking at it live, that seems short by 50 feet or so. 

What made the night all the more impressive was his double and his first home run came off left-handed pitching. In fact, this season Duda has five extra base hits, and four of them came off left-handed pitching. 

This is important because Duda has typically struggled against left-handed pitching. For his career, he’s a .226/.297/.372 hitter against them. Year-in and year-out Duda has struggled against left-handed pitching with the lone exception being 2015. 

In 2015, Duda changed his approach against left-handed pitching. He used more of the field focusing less on pulling the ball. He was at his best when he was driving it to center field. Overall, Duda hit .285/.333/.545 against left-handed pitching in 2015. 

As evidenced by Duda’s home run to dead center, he is returning to the form that permitted him to have a career best year against left-handed pitching. So far, Duda has two doubles and two home runs off left-handed pitchers. Each of these hits were to center or left field. 

It’s too early in the season to judge if this will continue for him. Still, you can’t help but feel hopeful seeing him change his approach at the plate. His changing his approach makes you believe he’s going to repeat his terrific season in 2015. 

If that is the case, Collins has more options in the lineup and on the field. This will permit Duda to not only play everyday, but also to be a force in the lineup.  

For now, it appears Duda is back (no pun intended). If he is, this team got infinitely better. This is great news for him and the Mets and terrible for the rest of the National League.