John From Albany - Regular Guys

One of baseball’s most popular sayings about hitting goes something like this: “Toughest things in all of sports is to hit a round baseball with a round bat, squarely…”  It has been proven that it is even tougher for players to do that when they do not play regularly.  Add that to a young player that is trying to get acclimated to the majors, and it can be downright impossible.

Many fans see a player struggle and say: “Get rid of them” or “He can’t hit”.  At times they can be correct but also it could be that the player is struggling with not playing regularly for the first time in their career while at the same time trying to make it in the Major Leagues.

Take a look at one Met, Tomas Nido, a solid to great defensive catcher.  He led the Florida State League in batting in 2016.  He was on the Mets in 2018, hit .167 in 12 games in March and April, .150 in May, and was sent back down to AA on May 30th.  When I saw him in June in Binghamton, he was still trying to get going with the bat.  When I saw him again in July, he was a different hitter and ended up hitting .274 for the Rumble Ponies before heading back to the bench at Citi Field on August 24^th.  

This year it has been a lot of bench riding for him again as Wilson Ramos has provided solid offense for the Mets.   This last weekend against the Royals, he played Friday going 0 for 2 with a walk but playing Sunday, he went 2 for 4 with two doubles. 

Now look at Juan Lagares.  A career .255 hitter, Juan has had a very tough 2019 hitting just .219 so far.  Wait, it gets worse, up until recently, Juan was hitting under .200 for pretty much the entire year.  

What happened recently?  Injuries provided regular playing time.  In the last 7 games, Juan has hit .423.  Do I think he is a .423 hitter?  No, not even Tony Gwynn could hit .423 forever, but with regular playing time, Juan is better than sub-.200 and provides solid (if no longer great) defense in Center Field. 

Then there’s the case for Luis Guillorme.  

He hit .307 with 7 homers this year for Syracuse, .304 last year for Las Vegas but is struggling in the majors so far this year hitting just .209.  Another solid defender, Luis can be a valuable player.

So, what’s the answer?  Play players who hit under .200 until they hit .300?  I wish it was that easy.  All I am saying is that to fairly evaluate a player they need to play.  Who knows, imagine if there was a player that led the Pacific Coast League in hitting with a .342 average only to hit .175 in 103 at bats with the major league team.  The next thing you know is that he could be hitting .310 with 15 home runs for another team.  

Wait, that did happen to the Astros, and now the Mets are benefitting with that same player driving in the winning run in the 10th inning after a 9 pitch at-bat.  The Player?  J.D. Davis.