Tom Brennan - THE BEST METS' HITTER OF THE DECADE 2010-19

The best hitter of the latest decade for the Mets?

Well, that answer is obvious - it is a tie between Justin Turner and Daniel Murphy - whoops, my bad, both were allowed to leave by the Mets.  Jeff Kent says that was a real shame, at least I'd imagine he'd say that.

Wow, some question - the best Mets hitter of the decade?  

Could it be Pete Alonso in just a single season?

Could it be Jeff McNeil in a season +?

Nah, let's get serious here.

Of course, David Wright did well this decade, despite his maladies.  He managed to drill 168 doubles, 102 HRs, drive in 409 runs in 2,811 at bats in 738 games, none too shabby.  We can only imagine what a healthy Wright would have done.

Jose Reyes could have been the man, having a very solid 2010 and winning a batting title (.335) in 2011, but then he left and returned for about 1,000 at bats from 2016-18, and in his final season hit .189, which immediately disqualifies him as Mets hitter of the decade (674 total games in the decade).

Daniel Murphy missed 2010, but then logged 5 years, in which (in 699 games) he compiled 791 hits in 2,715 at bats (.291) with 181 doubles and 48 homers, including a career high 14 in 130 games in 2015.  He had a heck of a 2015 playoffs, with incredible power.  The Mets decided to let him walk, rather than trade Lucas Duda and move Murphy to first base.

Murphy naturally went on to average 143 games in his next two seasons with the Nationals, and averaged, 45 doubles, 24 HRs and 99 RBIs, while hitting .335.  Had he stayed 2 more seasons with the Mets and did that, he would have been the Mets' best hitter of the decade, hands down.

Speaking of Lucas Duda, he was the Mets' iron man of the offense for the decade, playing in 2010-17.  He was very intimidated in his 84 at bat call up in 2010, did much better in 2011 in 301 at bats, and ended up playing 760 Mets games with 2,494 official at bats, hitting .246 with 146 doubles, 125 HRs and 378 RBIs. 

Let's not forget Michael Conforto, who arrived in 2015 at age 22, and ended up the decade in 578 games and 1,943 at bats.  He had 109 doubles.  Can you guess how many HRs? 109, of course.  And 310 RBIs and a .481 OBP, along with a 253 average and a .353 OBP.   Very solid, and if the Mets keep him, he could contend with Alonso and McNeil for best bat of the next decade.

Brandon Nimmo and Yoenis Cespedes did not play enough for real consideration here.  Ditto Amed Rosario.

The only other batter with a lot of games (Juan Lagares, 716 games) was much more defense than offense, so let's leave it at that.

Amazing, isn't it, that Lucas Duda had the most games of any Mets offensive player in the decade, and he only played in 47% of the games the Mets played in the decade.  

A Revolving Door indeed.

As hard as it might be to believe, given that whenever I think of David Wright, I think of spinal stenosis, the wonderful/tragic David Wright was the BEST hitter of the decade for the Mets. 

Had he had the same level of production in the prior decade, he would have ranked 4th or 5th, just for perspective of how much better the big hitters (including Wright himself) were from 2000-09.