Reese Kaplan -- The Best Mets Left Fielders

As a little league ballplayer it always seemed as if you put your best hitting but poorest fielding player out in the grass behind the third baseman and shortstop.  The throw requirements were short though the vast majority of batters being right handed suggested that your left fielder was going to be quite busy.  The Mets have had some good, some injured and a great many bad players out in left field.  Let's consider some of the better ones today.

No one seemed to manifest the image of what a left fielder should be any more than lifelong Met Cleon Jones.   Coming up through the farm system, Jones joined the Mets first back for brief late season trials in 1963 and 1965.  He became a Met for good in 1966 hitting .275 and finishing 4th in the Rookie of the Year voting.  Power had not yet developed and his batting average later would climb as well.  

From that rookie season as a regular through 1974 when he stopped being trotted out there day after day he hit .285.  In a given year he averaged 13 HRs and 72 RBIs.  Those numbers probably would have been even more impressive if he ran like his companion out there, Tommie Agee, but he was a solid hitter. 

Of course, all was not gravy given that infamous incident in which his manager escorted Jones off the field.  Then there was the incident in Florida during spring training when he was caught naked in a vehicle with a woman who was not his wife.  These days Jones is actively involved building homes for the underprivileged in his native Mobile, Alabama area in a suburb called Africatown.  

Although his calm demeanor had many fans regarding left fielder Kevin McReynolds as lackluster and not driven to win, the fact is that McReynolds produced with his bat during his tenure with the Mets.  To hear many friends tell it, he was a waste of a roster space and did nothing.  The fact is that for the five years he was at Shea he hit .273 and average 27 HRs and 96 RBIs per season.  

How much would his offense have meant to prior and later teams?  He was an adequate fielder and twice was in the voting for the National League MVP.  Considering the Mets acquired him in an eight player package that included mostly also-ran minor leaguers.  But then there was some guy named Kevin Mitchell...

Oft injured Cliff Floyd was a popular player wherever he went but his four seasons were all cut short a bit due to health maladies.  He was always a respected hitter and contributed on defense as well.  His .268 batting average was acceptable but what really caught your eye was his 162 game average of 28 HRs and 96 RBIs -- Kevin McReynolds numbers.  

He was surely one of the better free agent signings the Mets ever made.  It's unfortunate that he, like David Wright, had his aggregate statistics tempered by stints away from the diamond in recuperation.  

To close out his successful career, hot hitter but DL-dwelling Moises Alou joined the New York Mets for his final two years at ages 40 and 41.  He surely didn't look like he was over-the-hill as he turned in a .342 batting average and a 162 game rated run production that included 21 HRs and 92 RBIs.  

Granted, he was not always able to stay on the field and his presence predated the introduction of the DH into the National League, but as an acquisition he was surely one of the better ones in the team's history.  

Perhaps the most openly despised player the Mets ever acquired was former Cincinnati Reds behemoth George Foster.  During his Big Red Machine days he was a five time All Star and five times in the MVP voting, taking home the trophy in 1977 when he finished the year with a .320 batting average, 52 HRs and 149 RBIs.  

His numbers never quite hit that plateau again but when the Mets made a deal to acquire him for just Alex Trevino, Jim Kern and Greg Harris, fans felt he was going to be a force in the middle of the lineup.  As a Met for four plus years the batting average certainly dipped to .255 but he delivered 24 HRs and 90 RBIs per season on average.  He was not the MVP type player he was at age 27 but for ages 33-37 that wasn't half bad.  

The issue was likely the amount of money he was being paid -- an average of about $2.1 million per season.  Back then that was a major chunk of change. 

There have been a variety of other short term Mets solutions in left field, but none seemed to warrant this type of praise.