This is a Cinderella story… and this might be the first and last time Lucas Duda is ever compared to her.
He was never supposed to become a Queens starter and I don’t know one scout that had him any higher than a 5th outfielder. My hat remains tipped to Greg Mullens, a 2007 Savannah Sand Gnat pitcher that told me that Duda had the best swing he had ever seen. Mullens graduated from Princeton, so I remembered that.
He wouldn’t have even been given a chance if it wasn’t for the fact that Kirk Nieuwenhuis went down with a shoulder injury while playing CF in Buffalo. Yes, he had hit a ton (17) of home runs in Buffalo, but so did Val Pascucci.
But, the best thing to happen to him (and Nick Evans) was the fact that the Mets were eliminated early from the wild card race. This gave manager Terry Collins the opportunity to play Duda every day, instead of the sporadic way they used him at the end of the 2010 season (.202).
Duda wound up with 347-Abs, hit .292, had an .852-OPS, and won the right field job.
He also didn’t have a single error in the outfield (only two on first base), though he did make fans hold their breath more than Daniel Murphy used to do in left.
He turns 26 in February.
The 2012 3-4-5-6 will be some combination of David Wright, Ike Davis, Duda, and Jason Bay. Potentially, with the new field dimensions, there is a chance here for 100 home runs.
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