Jeff Kent 2B 6-1 205 R/R California-Berkeley
Drafted
in the 20th round of the 1989 draft by Toronto
Mets 5-yr
(1992-96) stats: 1831-AB,
.279/.327/.453/.780, 67-HR
9.5 WAR as a Met
Led the Mets in hits (121) in 1994
Tied for the most doubles (24) in 1994
Led the Mets in triples (5) in 1994
Led the Mets with 68 RBIs in 1994
Led the Mets in 1994 with a .292 batting average
Led the Mets with 8 HBP in 1993 and 8 in 1995
9.5 WAR as a Met
Led the Mets in hits (121) in 1994
Tied for the most doubles (24) in 1994
Led the Mets in triples (5) in 1994
Led the Mets with 68 RBIs in 1994
Led the Mets in 1994 with a .292 batting average
Led the Mets with 8 HBP in 1993 and 8 in 1995
8-27-1992: Traded by Toronto to the Mets (with Ryan Thompson) for David Cone
7-29-1996: Traded by Mets (with JoseVizcaino) to Cleveland for Carlos Baerga and
Alvaro Espinoza
Named MVP in 2000 while playing for
the San Francisco Giants
All-time leader in home runs for
second basemen
Drove in 90+ runs from 1997 to 2005
Mack – I probably would have had Kent
higher on this list but his shitty attitude in the clubhouse drove him down to
#49. It started from day one when he refused to participate in the standard
hazing a new Met would receive from him teammates. It escalated into a huge
dust up between him and his teammates and it took Jeff
Torborg to break it up. It immediately created an isolated life for him
in the clubhouse which seemed to fit his personality well.
He even went as far to say in a
newspaper article that the Mets were far worse than he had imagined.
Another negative factor in his career
was his poor defense.
His best days came when he returned
to his home state in 1997 (San Francisco Giants).
He never came close to being inducted
in Hall Of Fame voting.
Lastly, someone with this lack of
class and character would never be tolerated on this year’s team.
3 comments:
Kent may have been a pariah (like Gregg Jefferies and others before him) but you can't downplay talent. They lost on both ends of the trade to get him and to get rid of him. Imagine if they'd kept him and supported him.
.290 career, 377 HRs, 1518 RBIs.
Those to me are Hall of Fame #s, even if Kent was a jerk.
He did pretty well as a Met, then great thereafter. Seems to happen quite a bit, huh, Daniel Murphy?
David Wright had 970 RBIs, or 548 less than Kent.
Kent won an MVP and was top 10 in voting 3 other times.
Also, he hit just .259/.484 slug in his career in difficult SF.
Overall, as a Giant, he hit .297/.535.
So when you do the "off the top of your head" math - he was absolutely devastating on the road in those 6 years. Imagine if home was a hitters park like Chicago instead?
Had he played in Chicago, not NY and SF, no doubt n my mind that his #s are so overwhelming, he'd be in the HOF.
Post a Comment