5/1/14

Stephen Guilbert - 2014 Mets Hitters by OBP

Player
.OBP
Juan Lagares
.345
Daniel Murphy
.339
Ruben Tejada
.338
Lucas Duda
.333
Eric Young Jr.
.315
David Wright
.314
Travis d’Arnaud
.303
Anthony Recker
.300
Chris Young
.262
Curtis Granderson
.252
Andrew Brown
.233

Notes:

 - A minimum of 30 at bats were used in the above table. 

-           - Ike Davis would have led the list at .367 if he were still a Met.

-          - Jon Niese leads all Mets ignoring at bat qualifications with an OBP of .500.

-         - No one on the team is getting on base at an elite rate, although Wright should get there soon and Travis d’Arnaud, Ruben Tejada, and Lucas Duda have been much better over the past couple weeks.

-        - Catcher, first, and short were three big question marks to start the season. All three are getting on base well so far this season and only getting better.

-    - Chris Young and Granderson will likely stay below or around .300 due to low batting averages. This is fine assuming they hit for power. 

     - To compete in the NL East, the Mets will need to get on base and run them well. While some of the above is encouraging (Duda, Murphy, Tejada, Lagares), it will not be enough. This team, so far, has been anemic in the power department, posting the lowest ISO in baseball. The pitching will likely be good. To score runs to get those pitchers, and the team, wins, they will have to do a very good job getting on bases, taking extra bases, and manufacturing runs. To dominate, you have to hope Granderson, Chris Young, David Wright, Lucas Duda, and even Travis d'Arnaud start hitting for some serious power. 


-        -I believe fans will never like Ruben Tejada. However, I’ll take a .338 OBP and his defense any day of the week. If the Mets sign Stephen Drew, sure, the power in the lineup gets a small boost, but all else we do is get poorer and frankly not much better, if at all. 


2 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Hi Steve.

Ruben's #s are inflated by pitch-around walks, as were Ike's. If Ruben hit 2nd in the order, a .300 OBP would be a challenge for him too. Our pitchers have no hits...if I had a few on with Ruben up and 2 outs, I'd pitch around him too.

Stephen Guilbert said...

While that's true, we saw the same thing for years with Rey Ordonez who didn't walk as much as Tejada has shown he is capable of doing. Check out Ruben's O-Swing percentages…the kid has a very good eye. Your point is valid, though, his OBP would be lower if he were leading off or hitting second. I do think he can be a .350 OBP guy annually, though. Combined with his defense, that should be enough to keep him a starting job.