Too Bad the Bat Didn't Come With Instructions
There have been plenty of light-hitting players that have played for the New York Mets organization. Their teams in the early 70s always seemed to feature great starting pitching, Tug McGraw, and a bunch of guys with .220 batting averages and single-digit home run totals. An extra base hit was an offensive explosion in that era.
uring the 5 seasons Doug Flynn was with the Mets, he put up some of the worst offensive seasons of any Mets starters, even going back to those bad offensive clubs from the 60s and early 70s. His first season with the Mets in 1977, Flynn had an offensive line of .191/.220/.220 in 300 plate appearances.
I like using OPS+ as a quick way to evaluate a hitter's season. Basically it combines a player's on-base percentage and slugging, adjusts it for the ballpark played in, and then normalizes the number across the entire league. An OPS+ of 100 would be average, 110 would be 10 percent better than league average, 90 would be 10 percent worse than average. Flynn's OPS+ with the Mets in 1977 was 22. That's an incredibly bad number, but considering Flynn batted under .200, and his on-base percentage and slugging percentage were .220, the number makes sense.
Flynn would do better as a hitter in the other 4 seasons of his Mets career - hard to imagine being worse - but no one ever accused him of being a good hitter, or even mediocre. Flynn's career took place at the end of an era when defense was valued over offense for infielders. He played in roughly the same time frame as Mario Mendoza, the Pirates shortstop who gave his name to the Mendoza Line, the .200 average that at least conferred a bit of dignity to a glove-first infielder. For all of his futility at the plate, Flynn was an accomplished second baseman and shortstop. He was a very good athlete. He won the Gold Glove for NL Second basemen in 1980, and was surehanded and steady in the field. He was also pretty fast, hitting 26 triples in his 5 years in New York.
When it came to hitting, however, Flynn was consistently and remarkably bad. He never hit under .200 for the Mets after that first season, but only made it over .250 once, in 1980. Flynn never managed to have an on-base percentage over .300 with the Mets, in fact he only achieved that feat three times in his 11-year major league career. The first two were his first two years in the majors with the Reds in a part-time role, the other time was his final season with just over 50 at bats. He only put up a slugging percentage of over .300 twice in his five years in New York.
In 1980, in arguably his best offensive season in New York, Flynn only managed 17 extra base hits on the season in just over 450 AB: 9 doubles, 8 triples and 0 home runs. His OPS+ was 70 that season, which still meant he was 30% below average for the league. Still, it was the only time in his career that he put up an OPS+ of 70 while appearing in over 100 games.
The following season, 1981, was his last as a Met. He fell back to .222/.247/.292 with only 17 extra base hits. His OPS+ fell to 54. The era of the good glove/no hit infielders was winding down as clubs searched for more offense. After being traded to the Rangers in the Kern trade after the season, Mike Flynn wound up being sold to the Expos that August.
Flynn spent the rest of 1982, 1983 and 1984 as the starting second baseman for some bad Expos clubs, putting up typically low offensive numbers. In the off-season of 1984-1985 the Expos acquired 3B Vance Law from the White Sox and converted him to second base. Doug Flynn was released by the Expos in June of 1985, was picked up by the Tigers and spent some time on their bench as he accumulated his last major league playing time at age 34. The Tigers released him the following spring and he retired from baseball.
I like using OPS+ as a quick way to evaluate a hitter's season. Basically it combines a player's on-base percentage and slugging, adjusts it for the ballpark played in, and then normalizes the number across the entire league. An OPS+ of 100 would be average, 110 would be 10 percent better than league average, 90 would be 10 percent worse than average. Flynn's OPS+ with the Mets in 1977 was 22. That's an incredibly bad number, but considering Flynn batted under .200, and his on-base percentage and slugging percentage were .220, the number makes sense.
Flynn would do better as a hitter in the other 4 seasons of his Mets career - hard to imagine being worse - but no one ever accused him of being a good hitter, or even mediocre. Flynn's career took place at the end of an era when defense was valued over offense for infielders. He played in roughly the same time frame as Mario Mendoza, the Pirates shortstop who gave his name to the Mendoza Line, the .200 average that at least conferred a bit of dignity to a glove-first infielder. For all of his futility at the plate, Flynn was an accomplished second baseman and shortstop. He was a very good athlete. He won the Gold Glove for NL Second basemen in 1980, and was surehanded and steady in the field. He was also pretty fast, hitting 26 triples in his 5 years in New York.
When it came to hitting, however, Flynn was consistently and remarkably bad. He never hit under .200 for the Mets after that first season, but only made it over .250 once, in 1980. Flynn never managed to have an on-base percentage over .300 with the Mets, in fact he only achieved that feat three times in his 11-year major league career. The first two were his first two years in the majors with the Reds in a part-time role, the other time was his final season with just over 50 at bats. He only put up a slugging percentage of over .300 twice in his five years in New York.
In 1980, in arguably his best offensive season in New York, Flynn only managed 17 extra base hits on the season in just over 450 AB: 9 doubles, 8 triples and 0 home runs. His OPS+ was 70 that season, which still meant he was 30% below average for the league. Still, it was the only time in his career that he put up an OPS+ of 70 while appearing in over 100 games.
The following season, 1981, was his last as a Met. He fell back to .222/.247/.292 with only 17 extra base hits. His OPS+ fell to 54. The era of the good glove/no hit infielders was winding down as clubs searched for more offense. After being traded to the Rangers in the Kern trade after the season, Mike Flynn wound up being sold to the Expos that August.
Flynn spent the rest of 1982, 1983 and 1984 as the starting second baseman for some bad Expos clubs, putting up typically low offensive numbers. In the off-season of 1984-1985 the Expos acquired 3B Vance Law from the White Sox and converted him to second base. Doug Flynn was released by the Expos in June of 1985, was picked up by the Tigers and spent some time on their bench as he accumulated his last major league playing time at age 34. The Tigers released him the following spring and he retired from baseball.
Great fielder. Too bad August 1979 could not be replicated...18 RBI, .318 average.
ReplyDeleteThat sweet glove got him 11 big league seasons. Luis Guillorme is jealous.
The Guillorme comparison is indicative of how the game has changed. Now it's not enough to be a slick fielder unless all you're planning to do is be a late inning replacement. Sure, Guillorme has had a .282 average throughout his minor league career, but when you only get to hit once or twice a week in the majors it's hard to sustain that level of production. Teams are not fond of players who get on base via walk or who advance the runner. They worship at the altar of the long ball and leaves Guillorme out of the mix.
ReplyDeleteReese, Guillorme might be better than Flynn for 3 reasons: 1) better OBP, 2) likely better batting average with more play time, and 3) more beef, so with an improved swing, likely an uptick in power.
ReplyDeleteWhen I watch the 1969 playoffs on TV, Harrelson looks like Twiggy. Super slender. My guess is Guillorme beats him out head to head if both were vying for a spot in 2020.
I like Guillorme a lot. If it were up to me he would play everyday this year to help better the defense. I think the lineup will be stacked. We can afford at least one glove first option. Also would start Nido.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy first ever favorite Met. My first glove was a Doug Flynn model. Sad to hear that he was a scrub, but I always liked the middle infield.
ReplyDeleteI would not call Flynn a scrub. Can you carry a Flynn if you had a great team around him? Yes. Is he a building block or indispensable part of a championship team? No.
ReplyDeleteHe was a product of his era. There were a lot of infielders just like him. Guillorme is actually a pretty big guy compared to guys like Flynn. Most of you guys are too young to remember this, but the back of comic books used to have ads for Charles Atlas' Dynamic Tension muscle building program. There was a muscular bully kicking sand into a weakling at the beach in front of his girl. I swear the kid in the pic went on to become a major league infielder
ReplyDeleteMike, Bud Harrelson was skinnier than the weakling getting sand kicked in his face.
ReplyDelete