Musings
This may seem irrational. It’s most likely premature, but in reality, the Mets can’t keep languishing away with Jose Reyes at third base. Last night should be the last straw.
In the game, Reyes dropped a routine flyball that set the stage for the game tying rally. He got on base, and then he was caught between first and second on a pitch in the dirt. He got lucky that Cesar Hernandez hit him in the back.
It’s at the point where Reyes can’t make routine baseball plays. He’s fighting it. He’s hitting .100/.182/.140. Those numbers are unfathomably low. It’s really difficult to justify playing him right now.
He’s fortunate that Wilmer Flores is a platoon bat that can’t hit right-handed pitching. He’s also lucky that Flores is also a poor fielder. T.J. Rivera is also a poor fielder at third base. Rivera is also stuck in Triple-A until next week, and he doesn’t draw enough walks to play everyday.
This leaves the Mets looking for out of the box options. Even if the Mets were to bring back Kelly Johnson, he still needs time to get ready for the season.
The common refrain is for Amed Rosario. It’s still too soon for him. The Mets likely don’t want to call him up before the Super Two deadline. Moreover, he only has 51 plate appearances above Double-A. He still needs more time.
That leaves the Mets looking at Gavin Cecchini.
The Mets 2012 first round draft pick has thrived in Triple-A. Entering last night’s game, he played 130 levels in Triple-A hitting .320/.389/.451 with 31 doubles, two triples, 10 homers, 62 RBI, and seven stolen bases.
During Cecchini’s cup of coffee with the Mets last September, he showed he wasn’t intimidated playing in the majors. In four games, he was 2-6 with two doubles and two RBI.
The issue with Cecchini is where does he play? With his throwing issues and the rise of Rosario, he had been moved to second. The plan was also to have him work at and expose him to short and third this year.
The early returns of Cecchini at second are good. He’s played well at the position, and he has started the season playing 12 errorless games. The issue is the Mets have a second baseman in Neil Walker.
On that front, the Mets could move Walker to third base. Entering the season, Walker indicated he would be willing to play wherever the Mets needed him to play. (Anthony DiComo, mlb.com). Given Reyes’ play, Walker may be needed at third.
The other option could be playing Cecchini at third. However, with so little time there, and the concerns over his past throwing errors, Cecchini is probably not the best bet for third. Then again, it’s hard to argue that the Mets have there right now is any better.
Yes, this is a drastic move, but seeing Reyes play and with David Wright likely not close to returning, the Mets have little choice but to pursue the drastic measure. The choices now are really either continue playing Reyes, play a guy who can’t hit right-handed pitching, or roll the dice on a former first round pick.
At a minimum, it’s hard to argue Cecchini would be any worse. In fact, if Cecchini were to go 1-5 every night while playing mediocre defense, he would be an immeasurable improvement over Reyes. For that reason alone, it’s time to give Cecchini a chance.
Last year, Lucas Duda and Neil Walker suffered significant back injuries that caused them to miss significant time. Duda missed a total of 107 games due to a fracture in his lower back. With the Mets in a postseason push, and with James Loney being James Loney, he came back in September and wasn’t the same hitter.
For his part, Walker was having a good year and a hot August when he was shut down. That happens when you complain of not being able to feel your lower extremities during games. With Walker needing season ending back surgery, his last game of the season was August 27th.
Despite both players having back injuries, the Mets not only brought both players back, but they also planned on him being significant contributors to the 2017 Mets. This meant the Mets brought back Duda despite his being an arbitration eligible player, and the Mets gave Walker the $17.2 qualifying offer, which he accepted. While their respective paths back to the Mets this season are similar, their play this season has been disparate.
In 11 games this season, Duda is hitting .256/.356/.615 with four homers and seven RBI. This is not too far off his career averages of .246/.343/.452. Since becoming the everyday first baseman in 2014, Duda is a .246/.345/.478 hitter. The long story short is Duda is getting on base like he has in his career. While he’s slugging at a much higher clip that we can reasonably expect, Duda has inspired confidence that his 30 home run power is back. Overall, Duda has done just that. He has given everyone confidence that he is the same player he was before the back surgery.
Walker has had a different return from his back injury. In 12 games so far, Walker is hitting .239/.333/.304 with three doubles and three RBI. The problem is Walker has done his damage almost exclusively from the right-hand side of the plate. As a right-handed batter, Walker is hitting .389/.450/.556 with all three of his extra base hits. From the left-hand side of the plate, he is hitting just .143/.265/.143. Essentially, Walker is playing like Wilmer Flores right now except with much better defense. The question is whether this is the back or the continuation of something we saw happen with Walker last year.
Now, it is was too soon to say Walker is shot or is the new Flores. Walker’s play in the field should give every indication he is not limited by the back surgery. Hopefully, this means Walker should return to his career norms sooner rather than later. If that is the case, the Mets lineup will get a major boost.
Still, the question needs to be asked whether Walker will return to form. His inability to hit left-handed is alarming, especially when you consider he hits left-handed much more than he hits right-handed. To be fair, there are still questions about Duda. Will his back will permit him to continue to put up these numbers? We don’t know, nor can we be confident until we see a much larger sample size from both, and perhaps not even then.
Ultimately, the hope is Duda is back and Walker will improve. If that is the case, the Mets lineup will be even more dangerous, and the Mets will be in position to win the National League East once again. If it isn’t, the Mets will be stuck in limbo deciding when to move on from these players and to call up Dominic Smith, Amed Rosario, or even Gavin Cecchini. These situations rarely pan out well. That is why it is so imperative the Mets gamble on both Duda and Walker pays off.
We have been teased by Travis d’Arnaud‘s talent in the past. In fact, back in the 2015 season, d’Arnaud had the second highest wRC+ among catchers with at least 250 plate appearances. While he had always been knocked for his throwing, he caught 33% of base stealers, which was higher than the league average of 28%. d’Arnaud did this in conjunction with his terrific pitch framing skills behind the plate. Unfortunately, d’Arnaud did not build off of this terrific season. Instead, in 2016, d’Arnaud had another injury plagued year where he regressed in almost every aspect of his game.
This offseason saw the Mets hire Glenn Sherlock as a catching coach to help d’Arnaud sure up those aspects of his game where he regressed. He worked with Kevin Long to eliminate the wrap in his swing. While it is still early in the season, d’Arnaud not only seems to be back to his 2015 form, he appears to be better than that.
After his early season struggles, d’Arnaud is now hitting .323/.417/.645 with two doubles, a triple, two home runs, and nine RBI. His most recent home run was the game winning home run after he had already caught 15 innings. For all the concerns about his throwing arm, no one has been running against him this season. Through 10 games, there has only been one stolen base attempt against him. This includes two games against the Marlins, whose running game Terry Collins was so intimidated by he started Rene Rivera over him in one game.
Another aspect of d’Arnaud’s game that has been overlooked has been his adeptness around the plate when it comes to tagging out base runners. While both Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto deserve a lot of credit for making strong accurate throws, d’Arnaud deserves credit as well. Each time, d’Arnaud cleanly fielded the throw and got the tag down before the runner could touch the plate. Over the past weekend that stopped four runs from scoring.
But there is more to it than just that. We have seen d’Arnaud improve as a pitch caller. During Jacob deGrom‘s second start of the season, the two adapted on the fly and called a different game to much better results. And yes, he has continued his terrific pitch framing. He is adept at both making sure strikes are called strikes and in getting that extra inch on the corner for his pitchers.
Overall, d’Arnaud is excelling in each part of the game right now, and he is quickly becoming one of the best catchers in the National League. Because of this, he has started to move up in the lineup. If it continues, we may not be talking just about where he is in the Mets lineup, but where he will be in the All Star Game lineup.
When Michael Cuddyer played his one season with the Mets in 2015, the one lasting impact he had was the belt. However had the best game, got to wear the belt. Even with Cuddyer retiring after the 2015 season, it was a tradition the Mets carried on in 2016:
Walker given championship belt after Mets' first win https://t.co/fTK3FaDGvq pic.twitter.com/d3Oqgi7yiW
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 6, 2016
As noted by Travis d’Arnaud too many teams were copying the belt idea, so the Mets decided to do something different. The person who spear-headed it and came up with the crown was David Wright. It’s fitting that Wright came up with the idea given the fact that he’s a friend of Cuddyer’s, and he’s the team captain. However, Wright made a horrible mistake when selecting the crown:
A king always wears a ?. #LGM pic.twitter.com/XAr5uQNfMZ
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 12, 2017
The crown doesn’t fit Yoenis Cespedes‘ head. The man who’s walk-up music is actually the opening theme (The Circles of Life) to The Lion King should have a crown that reminds you of the power and regalness possessed by Mufasa or Simba. Instead, Cespedes in that crown looks more like Prince John:
Obviously, the Mets have gone with the wrong Disney lion in the selection of the crown. It’s time to go back to the drawing board on this and get a crown that is more befitting Yoenis Cespedes, Lion King.
Editor’s Note: this is an expanded verison of part of the 3 Up, 3 Down series I write for MMO.
Last season, the Chicago Cubs became one of the most versatile teams we have ever seen, and it played a large part in that team winning their first World Series in over 108 years.
National League MVP Kris Bryant is a natural third baseman also played first, short, and all three outfield positions last year. Javier Baez, a well thought of young defensive shortstop, showed off his talents at second base much of the season showing the world he is the best at getting the tag down. Russell would also play first, third, and left field. Of course, the Cubs also had Ben Zobrist who was playing multiple positions with the Tampa Bay Rays before it became a thing.
With all baseball being a copycat league, teams and organizations have been looking for ways to make their rosters more versatile. The New York Mets will look to do that with their top prospects in Triple A this season.
According to Betsy Helfand of the Las Vegas Review Journal, the Mets plan on giving both Gavin Cecchini and Amed Rosario time away from their middle infield positions during the course of the 2017 season. Specifically, Rosario will play third base every 10-12 games, and Cecchini will play shortstop every 10-12 games. Presumably, Cecchini will play shortstop in those games Rosario plays third.
In addition to learning second base and seeing time at his natural shortstop position, there are now unspecified plans in place for Cecchini to see some time at third. This exposure is important for Cecchini because in all likelihood, he may be the best major league ready player in Las Vegas. In his brief cup of coffee last September, Cecchini was 2-6 with two doubles and two RBI. In that small sample size, he didn’t look overwhelmed, and he looked like he belonged.
That is important because the Mets may need him sooner rather than later. No one knows when David Wright is going to return. Both Lucas Duda and Neil Walker are returning from serious back injuries. Asdrubal Cabrera dealt with a knee injury all last season. No one realistically knows if Jose Reyes can handle third base everyday, and his start to this season hasn’t exactly inspired confidence either. Wilmer Flores is a platoon bat. This creates an opportunity for Cecchini. Cecchini can best take advantage of that opportunity if he is able to play more than just shortstop.
For that matter, it also opens up an opportunity for Rosario. If the Mets feel confident with him at third base, it gives them ability to call him up even if there is no significant injury to Cabrera.
In addition to Cecchini and Rosario, the 51s also have Matt Reynolds and Phillip Evans. Reynolds, a good fielding shortstop, has also received playing time at second and third base last season. This year, Reynolds is slated to be the Opening Day left fielder. For his part, Evans, the 2016 Eastern League Batting Champ, has split time between second, third, and short in his minor league career.
With Cecchini, Rosario, Reynolds, and Evans, the Mets are developing a group of young and versatile players. This should make these players more opportunities to get called up to the majors. It should also allow the Mets to put the best players on the field should there be any injuries at the major league level. These players and the Mets organization as a whole will be better off for making these prospects more versatile players.
Looking at this Mets team since 2015, one thing has been perfectly clear: this team is built on pitching, and it will only go as far as the pitching carries them. In 2015, when their starters were healthy and able to last the season, the Mets were able to win the National League Pennant. In 2016, with three of the arms going down, the Mets were still good enough to enter the postseason as the top Wild Card.
The Mets have been fortunate because the pitching has been cheap. It was not until recently that Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, and Jacob deGrom entered their arbitration years. Noah Syndergaard won’t be arbitration eligible until after this season. It is interesting because it is after this season that things begin to become murky. Harvey and Wheeler are scheduled to become free agents after the 2018 season with deGrom becoming a free agent the season after that.
With the Mets success rising and falling on their pitching, it begs the question why haven’t the Mets selected at least one or two pitchers and come to terms on a contract extension. The common refrain among Mets fans is the team should keep Syndergaard and deGrom and join them in a rotation that one day may also feature Robert Gsellman, Justin Dunn, and Thomas Szapucki. For now, even with the clock ticking, the Mets aren’t making a move.
While it may not make sense to most Mets fans, in a report by Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the New York Mets have advised why they have not entered into contract extension discussions with any of their young pitching:
1. Injuries
As GM John Ricco explained, “[GM] Sandy [Alderson] has not said let’s be aggressive in that area, and that [injuries] is the biggest reason.”
Fact of the matter is each one of these pitchers have an issue. Harvey, deGrom, Matz, and Wheeler have all had Tommy John surgery. Harvey, deGrom, and Matz all had season ending surgery last year. Even someone healthy like Syndergaard dealt with bone spurs last year. Point is, the Mets pitchers have not been exactly healthy, nor do they inspire confidence they will be healthy going forward. To that end, the Mets relative inactivity has been understandable.
2. Lack of Urgency
As noted in Sherman’s piece, the Mets do not have a pending free agent until the after the 2018 season, and Syndergaard isn’t a free agent until after the 2021 season. Honestly, this reason is a bit disingenuous. With Harvey’s pending free agency many expect this is Harvey’s last season in a Mets uniform as the team does not want to risk him walking in free agency and the team getting nothing in return for him.
3. Pitchers Aren’t Interested In Extensions
According to Ricco, who would know this better than fans, extension discussions are typically begun by the player and his agent. Again, with fans not being in the business, it is hard to challenge him on this. With that said, it is hard to believe the Mets would be willing to let all their pitchers go to free agency without so much as initiating contract disucssions with them. Frankly, it is harder to believe when you consider back in 2012, the Mets pounced on an opportunity to give Jon Niese a five year contract extension.
4. Personalities
As noted in Sherman’s piece, when you give a contract extension to one player, it is going to have ripple effects. As Ricco said, “You would have to manage personalities because if you do [an extension] with one, how does it impact the others?”
Now, this is a bit of an overstatement on Ricco’s part. Entering into contract extensions with the pitchers should be part of an overall plan. For example, when Omar Minaya was the General Manager, he was faced with Jose Reyes‘ pending arbitration in 2006, he agreed with a four year pact with his shortstop. Minaya then quickly moved and locked up David Wright to a six year deal. While Alderson is dealing with more than just two players, Minaya’s actions certainly show if the team has a plan an executes it, there should be no issues.
5. Budget
It is something Mets fans don’t want to hear, but it is a reality. After this season, the Mets will have Reyes, Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson, Neil Walker, Addison Reed, and Fernando Salas as free agents. The team will have to decide on options for Jerry Blevins and Asdrubal Cabrera. In addition, all of the Mets marquee starting pitchers will be in arbitration thereby escalating their salaries. Furthermore, Jeurys Familia will also be owed a lot of money in arbitration if he has another stellar year. Long story short, the Mets will have to spend some money this offseason.
In order to do that, the Mets need to have the money. As Ricco explains, “Once you’ve locked in [on an extension], you do limit flexibility in some ways.”
Now, it is easy to say the Mets can plug in Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith next year, but at this point, it is not known if they will be ready to be 2018 Opening Day starters. Putting forth such a plan would be folly, especially for a team that can still compete for a World Series.
Overall, the Mets concerns over not extending their pitchers have some merit, especially when you consider the injury issues. Still, the longer the Mets wait, the more expensive each of these starting pitchers will become. As they become more expensive, the chances of locking up more than one of them significantly decreases. Sooner or later, the Mets are going to have to take a chance on a couple of these pitchers if they have designs of competing for World Series over the next decade. With Harvey being a free agent after next season, the sooner the Mets begin executing a plan, the better.
Hansel Robles had pitched in three straight games and four out of the last five. In his last appearance, he appeared gassed. As such, even with Robert Gsellman not getting out of the fifth and the game going deeper and deeper into extra innings, Terry Collins did all he could do to keep Robles out of the game.
Rafael Montero, Fernando Salas, Addison Reed, and Josh Smoker all pitched more than an inning. For his part, Smoker threw a career high three innings. With the bench already empty, Jacob deGrom pinch hit for Smoker in the top of the 15th necessitating the pitching change.
With Robles as the last man standing, he was the obvious choice. Despite him looking absolutely gassed, he managed to pitch two scoreless and pick up the win. It almost didn’t happen.
According to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Collins’ Plan B was to pitch Rene Rivera if Robles told him he couldn’t go. There was just one tiny little problem – the Mets were out of bench players.
This meant Collins was going to have to use a pitcher in the field. The natural choice was probably deGrom, who was a collegiate shortstop, but that wasn’t Collins’s choice. Instead, Collins decided that Zack Wheeler would’ve entered the game to play first base.
It seemed like the Mets 16 inning win had everything, but apparently it did not. That’s a good thing because Rivera pitching was likely not going to go well. Wheeler at first might’ve gone even worse.
Lucky for everyone involved, Robles not only took the ball, but he earned the win. He gave his team a chance to win. He gave his team a chance to keep catchers from pitching and pitchers from playing first base.
With no one realistically knowing when David Wright can play again or what he could contribute and Jose Reyes struggling mightily, the question becomes when you dip into the minor leagues to bring up reinforcements.
The answer is likely Friday, June 9th.
Why that date? Well, it is likely the Mets will try to avoid risking taking one of their big prospects and allow them to reach Super Two status. For those that qualify for Super Two status, they get an extra year or arbitration. That means a young player gets four years of arbitration instead of three. That means for one year instead of making near the league minimum, they’re making real major league money. They also have a higher base for future arbitration years.
While the date changes each year, and while it is an over generalization, Fangraphs notes teams are usually safe waiting 65 service days, i.e. days on the roster. With Opening Day having been Monday, April 3rd, 65 days later is June 8th. With that being an off-day, the hypothetical player would be activated on June 9th.
Now, let’s be more specific. We all know the player most fans want to see called-up is Amed Rosario. Not only is Rosario the top prospect in the Mets farm system, but according to ESPN Insider Keith Law, Rosario is the top prospect in the game.
But Rosario is more than that. He represents hope. He represents the future. He represents what could be the spark this team in a way Michael Conforto was for a 2015 Mets team that went all the way to the World Series.
However, it is still way too early to pull that trigger. For starters, Conforto was not called up to the majors until July 24th, and that was only because others failed, and Michael Cuddyer went on the disabled list.
Right now, Reyes is struggling, but we can’t say he’s failed nine games into the season. Even if you did, both T.J. Rivera and Wilmer Flores have done enough to at least earn an opportunity to fail should the Mets finally decide Reyes isn’t the answer.
You’re going to need time to parse through Reyes, Rivera, and Flores. More importantly, Rosario is going to need time as well. Overall, Rosario has only played 61 games above Single-A.
The other issue is where does Rosario play. It’s easy to say he’ll play short and Asdrubal Cabrera will move to third, but the Mets appear to like Cabrera at short. Therefore, Rosario may need to play third. The plan is to get him in a game at third base once every 10+ games.
For the Mets to even contemplate Rosario at third, they have to be comfortable he can play the position. At this time, there’s no guarantee he can. You can really only gauge when he plays the position. That’s going to take some time.
As of the moment, the first place Mets have time to let the situation sort itself out. They can wait for both Reyes and Rosario to figure out what they need to figure out in order to succeed against major league pitching. They can wait until the Super Two timeline has passed.
And who knows when Wright comes back? If he does, this conversation about Rosario is moot. If he doesn’t come back in time, we all sit and wait for someone to establish themselves.
If someone doesn’t do it by mid-June, the Mets may very well call-up Rosario. However, in all likelihood, the Mets wait just a little longer.
There were two overriding reasons why the Mets brought in Glenn Sherlock in the offseason. First and foremost, he was brought in because Tim Teufel has never been a great third base coach, and as we saw him send Wilmer Flores to the plate last season, he wasn’t getting any better. The second reason is the Mets wanted to have a new catching guru to replace Bob Geren to work with Travis d’Arnaud.
Now, if the Mets really want Sherlock to work with d’Arnaud, why is he the third base coach instead of serving as the bench coach like Geren?
Now, a bench coach has real responsibilities in the modern game. It is no longer the position Don Zimmer once described as, “People say, What is the job of a bench coach? I say, Very simple–I sit next to [Joe Torre] on the bench. When he plays hit-and-run that works, I say, ‘Nice goin’, Skipper,’ and if it doesn’t work, I go down to the other end of the bench, get a drink, and get out of his way. We only got one manager. I don’t want no credit for doin’ anything. I sit next to Joe like a bump on a log–that’s the way I leave it.” (Scott Raab, Esquire).
Rather, the bench coach has become more than that. He shares many responsibilities pre-game, post-game, and during the game. As Indians GM Chris Antonetti said about Bench Coach Brad Mills, “He’s ’s [Terry Francona‘s] right-hand man, and he really helps executed a lot of the planning, the logistics of when we’re going to work out, practices, all the communication within a game to get players ready.” (Evan Drellich, Boston Herald).
The bench coach has a number of responsibilities that keeps him as engaged in the game as the manager. He needs to be that because he needs to be a check on the manager to make sure the manager takes everything into account whenever he is making a move or not making a move. Part of that responsibility is looking at the catcher and seeing what he’s doing. Is he calling a good game? Is he setting up properly or staying in his crouch long enough? Is he paying enough attention to the running game? The list goes on and on.
That is something that Geren was able to do during his tenure as the bench coach. If there was an issue with how any one of his catchers were playing, he had the opportunity to speak with them and point out what adjustments needed to be made. When the Mets brought Sherlock aboard, it is presumably one of the things they wanted him to do with d’Arnaud.
Except, he can’t.
With Sherlock being the third base coach, he really can’t have that discussion with d’Arnaud. When d’Arnaud is sitting in the dugout while the Mets are on offense, Sherlock is at third base. When d’Arnaud is running out to his position, Sherlock is coming off the field. There are really limited times for the two to discuss the in-game adjustments d’Arnaud needs to make.
Now, these issues could be addressed post-game and in-between games. However, if there is something that really needs to be addressed, you’re not permitting Sherlock to do it. It may not seem like a huge issue, but something as simple as d’Arnaud not getting set up in the right position, can cost the pitcher the corner. With the wrong pitch sequencing, d’Arnaud may not be putting his pitchers in the best position to succeed. If there is something d’Arnaud is doing wrong when trying to get the ball out on a stolen base attempt, you can’t fix the issue leaving the opposition to take advantage of it all game long.
Now, other coaches can address it, but they can’t do it in the way Sherlock can. Sherlock is the catching coach who was brought it to communicate with his catchers, d’Arnaud specifically. While it may not seem like the biggest issue there is, not having Sherlock on the bench is the Mets giving an inch. With baseball being a game of inches, it does not seem like the best allocation of resources.
The obvious retort is Sherlock may not belong on the bench because of his limited managing experience. That ignores his having been a bench coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Dick Scott being named as the bench coach heading into the 2016 season. Scott last managed a team in 1997 when he was the manager of the Single-A South Bend Silver Hawks. Certainly, significant managerial experience isn’t something the Mets are prioritizing their bench coaches.
At this point, it is tough to judge what they are prioritizing because it isn’t experience. More to the point, they’re not prioritizing getting the most from their roster. If they were Sherlock would have been named the bench coach.
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.