In case any of you didn't notice, we are in a bit of a "dead zone" for baseball news that will not change until we get to the Winter Meetings next month, followed by the annual "free agent frenzy". As a result, most of the Mets' centric articles that you will read tend to focus on what the team should do to get better in 2020. I enjoy reading them as much as the next person and I also have my own opinions.
However, I also like to take a look back in Mets' history from time to time, so I am resurrecting my "Who Was" series. In short, the listed series focuses on a Mets player from the past and it includes some statistics in order to provide a frame of reference. In most cases, the actual numbers will likely vary greatly from what most of us remember or think we remember.
In today's edition, I would like to turn the spotlight on none other then Gregg Scott Jefferies. Mentioning his name usually elicits groans from Mets' fans that remember his tenure with the team. He was a bit of an odd fellow as evidenced by his "swimming pool training", his black baseball bats that he cleaned with rubbing alcohol after each plate appearance, or his quirky personality which was detailed in Sports Illustrated.
If you played word association with most fans, Gregg's name would be countered with the term "bust", which is probably not a fair assessment.
Gregg with three "G's" was selected by the Mets with the 20th pick overall pick in the first round of the 1985 MLB draft out of Junipero Serra HS in San Mateo, CA. He was a stud prospect coming out of high school and he was quickly anointed the future at second base for the club.
He started his minor league career with Columbia in 1985 as a 17 year old. He proceeded to pass through teams in Kingsport, Lynchburg and Jackson over the next two seasons while posting an absurd statistical line that included a .953 OPS, along with 40 HR's, 253 RBI's and 111 SB's over approximately 1400 at bats. For his efforts he was named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year for BOTH 1986 and 1987.
Can you imagine the hype he would have accompanying his progress if that happened today?
He had a cup of coffee (6 at bats) with the 1987 Mets, before returning to the minor leagues (AAA) for most of the 1988 season (this was mostly due to the parent club being stacked with talent). Despite the team being in a pennant race, Gregg was promoted late in the season and produced 6 HR, 17 RBI and 5 SB's in just over 100 at bats, further enhancing his hype and reputation. So, a star is born, right?
Well......the Mets moved on from Wally Backman after the 1988 season to make room for Gregg, so he had a full time position. But, he was rather ordinary which was damning in it's own right after his minor league career and overall expectations. He also had a few "run ins" with teammates which didn't help matters, either.
He ended up playing three seasons (1989-1991) with the Mets, producing a .748 OPS along with 42 HR, 205 RBI and 63 SB's in just over 1700 AB's. Those numbers aren't really as bad as most of us recall, or at least what I thought I knew.
So, in one of many head scratching Mets' moves, the team shipped the 24 year old Jefferies (along with Kevin McReynolds and Keith Miller) to the Kansas City Royals for Bret Saberhagen and Bill Pecota, which ended Gregg's time with the Mets.
Gregg went on to play nine more seasons in MLB for the following franchises; Kansas City, St Louis, Philadelphia, Anaheim and Detroit, so you could say he was a bit of a journeyman. However, he also made two All Star teams (1993 and 1994) and produced several decent statistical seasons along the way.
Over the course of his career, he had 6072 plate appearances which is approximately 10 years worth of statistical data if we use 600 plate appearances as an average season. In Gregg's case, he averaged 12.6 HR's, 66.3 RBI's and 19.6 SB's for his career with an OPS of .765 which is a pretty decent season for an infielder. He also produced 19.6 WAR for his career, which works out to 1.96 WAR per year, or another example of his underrated ability.
Is he a Hall of Fame level player? Of course not. Does his career line up with the hype that was created during his minor league success? Not really. But, did he have a really nice career and justify his draft position? I think so.
It is a shame that most of his success occurred elsewhere and not with the team that drafted and developed his game. But, that has less to do with Gregg and more to do with the Mets who impatiently dealt him away as a 24 year old with almost a decade of solid performance ahead of him.
I was a bit surprised when I did the research for this article and it turns out that I unfairly judged his career as a result.
What about you?
6 comments:
He was a good player, and as you note, two All Star appearances AFTER his time with the Mets. As I recall it, the super Mets team of the mid to late 1980s had swagger and was mad at Wally leaving for this upstart.
So Jeffreys had to fight the opposing pitcher AND his teammates. Hard to flourish that way. Shortsighted and counter-productive. After all, Jeffries did not trade away Backman - the Mets did.
Over the next seven seasons, which totaled pretty much 6 full seasons of at bats, he flourished, as you noted, and averaged this:
577 at bats, 174 hits (.301), 79 R, 31 doubles, 3 triples, 13 HRs, 71 RBI, 22 of 29 steals, 50 walks, just 32 Ks.
In other words, that was the first time they traded away Daniel Murphy.
Exactly!
I would take that production from a certain second baseman that we are stuck with for the next few years.
Next FOUR YEARS, to be exact.
I am still hopeful, though, that Cano will come back uninjured and do better in 2020.
Jeffries and Jeff Kent were banished because they allegedly didn't get along with teammates. Talent should take precedence.
The early part of Jefferies's career was done in by his own teammates, and a baseball culture of the time that prioritized humiliating rookies instead of supporting them for the good of team success. The Mets finished second in 1989 and 1990, fighting Jefferies nearly as hard as they fought the teams ahead of them. What might have happened if the veterans on the team took Jefferies under their wing and taught him how to be a ballplayer the right way, instead of humiliating and ostracizing him? The same thing happened a few years later with Jeff Kent, and then again about 10 years later when Lastings Milledge came around.
(Yes, I know how many of you feel about Milledge, but berating a talented young player into oblivion did nothing positive for the Mets and may have cost them in 2006 and 2007.)
I rarely complement the team across town, but one aspect of the Yankees' success in the last few years can be traced directly to a conscious decision made by the veterans on the team to be respectful and supportive of young players and their development. Why did guys like Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar have success so quickly? Maybe it's in part because anonymous cowards weren't leaving "Know Your Place Rook" signs in their locker if they made an immature mistake.
Jack Flynn, also in the Team Hall of Shame was when Todd Zeile and Robin Ventura lobbied to keep Gary Sheffield, in his prime, off the Mets - he went to the Yanks instead, had 244 RBIs in 2 years, and the Mets have been mostly chasing the Yanks in the race for city dominance ever since.
For that alone, Zeile should no longer be part of this franchise's activities - in my humble opinion.
Post a Comment