Reese Kaplan -- Does An Old Problem Resurface at Third Base?

Growing up as a Mets fan was full of inexplicable joy and soul-crushing defeats.  There were moments when players you never expected turned in a specific play or game (or even a full season), yet others when players who among the game's best apparently left their desire and abilities far behind by the time they called Flushing home.  For every R.A. Dickey coming from out of nowhere to provide the Mets fans with a thrill every five days, there were countless other Mel Rojas moments to bring that balloon promptly back to earth.

For many years the Mets were a running joke when it came to the position of third base.  It seemed no matter who they trotted out there to man the hot corner was at best a short term (and horrific) solution.  Imagine that when the likes of mediocrity personified, Wayne Garrett, was the best in a long line of Brookless Robinsons who were in the starting lineup, yet a career .239 hitter who was done with the majors at age 31 would offer up his career year with a .256 average to accompany 16 HRs and 58 RBIs.  Yup, that's how bad things were for the Mets on the left side of the infield.  Believe it or not, people actually cheered for Garrett.

Through various iterations of third base up through the early 1980s there appeared finally to be a shining light in what had become the black hole of the infield.  Youngster Hubie Brooks emerged as a hitter.  From his break-in as a rookie in 1980 and following it up in his sophomore season in 1981 he hit over .300.  He was enough of a solid player that after his 1984 season hitting .283 with 16 HRs and 72 RBIs he became the cornerstone of a trade that would land the Mets their first best-of-the-best catcher in Gary Carter.  

After Brooks a few hitters emerged for the Mets, including Howard Johnson and even 7 games of future NL Most Valuable Player Kevin Mitchell.  All of the sudden third base was no longer a punch line and the players the Mets put into the lineup at that position were not punching bags.

All of that changed seemingly forever with the arrival of Met-for-Life, David Wright.  His power, average, speed and defense were all inarguable.  He never created clubhouse issues, never battled his teammates off the field and if health had remained solid he might have had a Cooperstown career.  To this day he remains the offensive player most beloved of any to have worn a Mets uniform for a significant amount of time.

As the clock rolled forward into the memory of even our youngest fans, the third base position has again had its ups and downs.  Do names like Eric Campbell, JD Davis and Eduardo Escobar bring back horrific cringe reminiscences about third basemen better blotted from your memory?  Yes, you occasionally had folks spend some time at the position who could either field or hit but no one was even in the Hubie Brooks caliber of player.

Thinking about the best way to fill that position today and moving into 2024, it's a question that no one seems best able to answer.  The candidates are many.  Jeff McNeil who became a regular second baseman and now outfielder due to injuries and roster issues is a consideration.  Rookie Ronny Mauricio appears to have the bat and speed to make himself into a credible player though typically your fastest men play middle infield or the outfield.  Batsman extraordinaire in the minor leagues Brett Baty and Mark Vientos have not yet shown they can do it at the big league level.  

Behind them you have many on the future horizon but none having advanced further than AA.  Going into 2024 the club either will pick one of these candidates or operate in the failed Cohen model and simply buy a free agent to hold the fort for a few years.  

It's an interesting time in which you can make the case for any of the aforementioned Fab Four just as easily as you can argue successfully that none of the above is the right approach.  Jett Williams may enter into this conversation a lot sooner than anyone anticipated but no one is expecting him at age 20 to be a major league corner infielder.  Still, it's a somewhat nice problem to have that given major or minor league track records of success you don't anticipate the second coming of Jerry Buchek nor Bobby Pfeil either.