When this season started, the starting outfield looked like a joke and it played the part as well. Players like Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Colin Cowgill fell out of favor with the team. Jordany Valdespin and Mike Baxter couldn’t settle in when they got a chance. Matt den Dekker broke his wrist and washed away our hopes of seeing him patrol centerfield. The only bright spot, relatively speaking, was Marlon Byrd.
Byrd has played solid defense and has improved at the dish
with every passing month. His monthly splits are .232/.250/.308 with 11 HR and 35
RBI on the season. Not bad for a guy who was trying to find his swing in Mexico
not too long ago. This guy knows how to hit and has been a boon for David Wright ever since he has been
slotted behind the Captain in the 5th spot of the lineup. He is
assuming the role we thought was reserved for Ike Davis; the protector with pop
who made sure that our lineup ran a little longer than just David. The
spotlight has been on Byrd for most of the season when it came to our outfielders,
but now that light is starting to shift to two unlikely contributors.
Juan Lagares is
finally getting his fair shot. He is starting to play much more often and in
turn is playing more consistently. He is hitting .308 so far in the month of
June through 52 at-bats which is a massive improvement over the previous 47
at-bats he collected through spot duty in April and May. His play defensively
has also improved as he has become more accustomed to major league hitters and
ballparks. His range has always been solid and we all know how athletic he is
as evidenced by some of his acrobatic catches. He has become a vital cog in the
outfield that has been showing both improvement and production. I don’t know if
we can really see him as a long term solution to the Mets outfield of the
future, but if he continues to put up numbers like this, he certainly will be
part of the conversation.
The most unlikely contributor hasn’t even been on the team
for very long, but he is starting to really produce. Eric Young Jr., like Lagares, was never given consistent playing
time in the outfield and considering the talent the Colorado Rockies have in
the outfield with Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez, you can hardly blame
them. Young Jr. bounced around different positions and never really put up the
numbers that were expected of him. Now, after being traded for Colin McHugh and getting a full-time
gig in left field for the Mets, he is showing that he can be a solid
contributor in more ways than one. His defense compared to Lucas Duda’s is night and day. He has a decent arm and is getting
to balls that Lucas wouldn’t even dream of. His presence as a leadoff hitter
hasn’t gone unnoticed as well. He raked in the last series against the Phillies
and his threat to steal a base is going to be helpful Daniel Murphy see some more fastballs to help him out of a little
slump. Last year, Ruben Tejada showed
no ability to steal a bag and I believe it really hampered the offense to have
no base stealing threats atop the lineup. Now, Eric Young Jr. provides the
threat that left when players like Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan walked out of
Flushing. Granted, this is the smallest sample size of the three in terms of
effectiveness on the field, but our options are few and this has been a welcome
sign for a team looking for a consistent lineup.
Together, these guys are producing in an area of dire need.
The question is whether they will be able to stay together. Eventually, Ike Davis and Lucas Duda will return
and someone will likely get bumped in favor of both of their bats. Maybe by
then the production will fade and we will be counting the days until those two
return. I’m just relieved that we have some sort of an answer to that ugly
question of “What outfield?”
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