The Mets Patience With Duda Is Paying Off

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Lucas Duda

Lucas Duda

The New York Mets have not had a winning season since 2008 and when a team has been denied a winning campaign for that long they tend to become desperate for answers. In 2008, the Mets used their first round pick of the Major League Baseball Draft on former Arizona State University first baseman Ike Davis. The Mets expected Davis to be a power hitter for them for years to come. Davis made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2010. Davis would hit 19 home runs along with 71 runs batted in that season as he finished seventh in the National League MVP voting. An ankle injury limited Davis to just 36 games in 2011, but he bounced back with 32 homers and 90 runs batted in for the 2012 season. Heading into 2013’s spring training a bout of valley fever slowed Davis down. Last year Davis would only bat .205 with just 9 home runs and 33 runs batted in.

In 2007, the Mets drafted first baseman Lucas Duda in the seventh round of the MLB Draft. Duda worked his way through the Mets minor league system and like Davis, he made his big league debut in 2010. The biggest difference between these two players is that Davis was expected to be a cornerstone of the Mets franchise while Duda was an afterthought. By trade Duda was a first baseman, but with Davis entrenched there he was moved to right field. Duda’s time in the outfield was the equivalent of converting a 310-pound National Football League offensive lineman into a wide receiver.

After a subpar 2013 season by Davis, the Mets had a decision to make as far as first base goes. Would it be Davis or Duda that they would stick with?

The Mets began this season by platooning Davis and Duda at first base. But on April 18, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson decided to pull the trigger on a trade that sent Davis to the Pittsburgh Pirates which opened the door for Duda to be the everyday first baseman in New York.

By nature most Met fans were skeptical that the team gave up on Davis while the team appeared to be stuck with Duda as situations such as these have happened in the past on numerous occasions. As soon as Davis joined the Pirates he hit a grand slam which added fuel to the fire of beleaguered Met fans, but since then things have changed drastically.

This season Duda is leading the Mets in home runs (14), runs batted in (48), and on-base percentage (.351). Duda’s .478 slugging percentage this season is close to being a career high for him and he is turning into Alderson’s type of power hitter. Duda does not have a high batting average, but he is not striking out as frequent this season as he has in the past while he is on pace to hit 25 home runs and have 85 runs batted which would both be career highs. Duda is becoming a better contact hitter which is providing protection in the Mets lineup to third baseman David Wright and All-Star second baseman Daniel Murphy which is something that neither player has had in the past few seasons.

June was Duda’s best month of the season as he batted .282 with 5 home runs, 17 runs batted in, and a .380 on-base percentage. Duda is becoming someone that Mets manager Terry Collins can rely on to step up and get hits in keys situations; especially right now as the Mets have won six out of their last seven ballgames.

Davis on the other hand has a .242 batting average with 4 home runs and 23 runs batted in as he has appeared in 72 games with the Pirates.

The Mets are still not ready to become a contender as they currently have a record of 44-50 which is good for fourth place in the National League East, but for once they have made the right decision as they traded Davis in favor of Duda.

Source: Baseball-reference.com

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By | 2014-07-13T02:11:23+00:00 July 12th, 2014|Categories: Major League Baseball|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

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