Will Any Met Hit 20 Homers This Season?

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• dyhrdmet June 24, 2009 at 1:29 pm

  I don’t think anyone will hit 20. But Citi Field isn’t entirely a place where HRs go to die. Anyone who saw Pujols take BP this week knows that. I mean he hit the concourse in the 3rd deck Monday night in BP.
• Vinny June 24, 2009 at 1:31 pm

  I got Beltran reaching 24 homers and Sheff 21
• Joe D June 24, 2009 at 1:36 pm

  Awesome post Mike and great research too. I’d hate to think the drop off in power is PED related, and hope that’s not the issue. I think the park is a big factor, and also that they are pulling the ball less bacause of Manuel’s drills and focus on opposite field hitting. Plus lack of a true slugger and no real protection for Wright means less fastballs.
• Ed Leyro June 24, 2009 at 2:07 pm

  Despite having only four homers now, I still believe David Wright will hit 20. All he needs is a stretch where he hits two or three in a week and he can take off from there. He also might be the only one to play in enough games to have a chance to make it to 20.
• Evan June 24, 2009 at 2:11 pm

  It has crossed my mind too. I don’t think David Wright would do roids, but that doesn’t mean that players weren’t taking other kinds of PEDs.

  Delgado is one of the few players in this last steriod generation, not to be linked to roids…Him and Frank Thomas and Griffey Jr. are about the only hr hitters in the past 20 years who haven’t been linked to roids…So maybe Delgado is clean.

  Beltran has some explaining to do. He hit 16 homers in 2005, then 41 in 2006, and he was in the 30s in 2007, and I think he hit 28 last year. His numbers are sort of curious, needless to say.

  Anything is possible nowadays in baseball. Wright should have six hrs right now, he hit two balls this weekend versus TB to right field that would have left any other ball park, but those are the only two balls I can honestly say I have seen him hit this year, that Citi Field robbed him with.

  It is just so strange that Wright is striking out like Ryan Howard, leading the league in hitting, but not hitting any home runs???? I mean with that many hits, you would think he would have accidently had 9-or-10 hrs right now. Crazy.
• L.J. Phipps June 24, 2009 at 2:43 pm

  I think there will be a player or two to surpass 20 homers on the Mets. D. Wright & Beltran (should he not miss significan time). I believe there are others (Delgado, Church, Sheff (depending PA’s), but I cannot say this is PED’s related. With Wright, some pitchers have adjusted to David, pitching him inside more and up. David gets into these pull modes and forgets his natural power is to rightfield. He’s getting beat inside on a regular (hence his high strikeouts) because he has not made the adjustment to go opposite field. He’s not catching up with a lot of guys fastballs. He starts going middle-to right, you will see the David of old. Beltran is a health question, he always gives 100%, but when he is hurt his numbers are usually down. 2005 & 2008(knees) were indicators that he was not full strength. While I don’t view Beltran as a power hitter, he has power enough to put the ball out of the park at any given atbat. The way he was hitting earlier, if he was fully healthy he would easily have about 15-20 right now. Church is another guy who would have benefited from the lack of ballbreaking from J-Man early in the season, then he went down. If Church is in the line-up everyday he is way more effective than in a platoon, doghouse, uneccessary days off! Sheff, unfortunately, father time crept up in a hurry, and he is just not physically capable of playing everyday. If they had even the Sheff of 3 years ago, he would probably have 20+ right now, the guy has tremendous bat speed and crushes pitches! Delgado another victim of age & time, when healthy, he will rake a fastball out of the park faster than the speed of light. Unfortunately he has too many minor dings and nicks to go along with the bad hip, that he is not the Delgado we know he can be. Reyes is also capable of 20 but with his wheels on the mend, I would just be happy if he could play defense and score runs. The other guys are doing the best they can. Santos first time with regular play, can go deep occasionally. Schnieder goes through spells where he can launch, Tatis may have just come down to earth, after a grand come back season. Cora, Castillo, & Reed are not expected to hit longballs into double figures, and F-Mart & Murph are still raw. I just hope they can hang on and stay in the thick of things, but homers aside, the Mets have to adjust to what they have and play within their individual games. Consistancy is the name of the game!
• theonlymaskman June 24, 2009 at 3:04 pm

  Jan admitted yesterday that more contact and fewer homers was his strategy for this year. He implemented his 80 pitch opposite field drill for that practice. He succeeded – damn fool that he is.
  • theonlymaskman June 24, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    JMan not Jan.
• letsgomets June 24, 2009 at 4:46 pm

  I’m pretty sure you’re wrong about nobody hitting less than 20 HRs since 1992.
  • Joe D June 24, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    If youre saying that since 92 there has been a year that no Mets exceeded 20 homers, what year was that?
• Mikey J June 24, 2009 at 6:22 pm

  I definitely did my research on this…if anyone wants to see the list of Mets’ home run leaders since 1962, I have it….actually I’ll copy and paste here…..

  1962—Frank Thomas, 34
  1963—Jim Hickman, 17
  1964—Charley Smith, 20
  1965—Ron Swoboda, 19
  1966—Ed Kranepool, 16
  1967—Tommy Davis, 16
  1968—Ed Charles, 15
  1969—Tommie Agee, 26
  1970—Tommie Agee, 24
  1971—Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones, Ed Kranepool, 14
  1972—John Milner,17
  1973—John Milner, 23
  1974—John Milner, 20
  1975—Dave Kingman, 36
  1976—Dave Kingman, 37
  1977—Steve Henderson, John Milner, John Stearns, 12
  1978—Willie Montanez, 17
  1979—Joel Youngblood, 16
  1980—Lee Mazzilli, 16
  1981—Dave Kingman, 22
  1982—Dave Kingman, 37
  1983—George Foster, 28
  1984—Darryl Strawberry, 26
  1985—Gary Carter, 32
  1986—Darryl Strawberry, 27
  1987—Darryl Strawberry, 39
  1988—Darryl Strawberry, 39
  1989—Howard Johnson, 36
  1990—Darryl Strawberry, 37
  1991—Howard Johnson, 38
  1992—Bobby Bonilla, 19
  1993—Bobby Bonilla, 34
  1994—Bobby Bonilla, 20
  1995—Rico Brogna, 22
  1996—Todd Hundley, 41
  1997—Todd Hundley, 30
  1998—Mike Piazza, 23
  1999—Mike Piazza, 40
  2000—Mike Piazza, 38
  2001—Mike Piazza, 36
  2002—Mike Piazza, 33
  2003—Jeromy Burnitz, Cliff Floyd, 18
  2004—Mike Cameron, 30
  2005—Cliff Floyd, 34
  2006—Carlos Beltran, 41
  2007—Carlos Beltran, 33
  2008—Carlos Delgado, 38
  2009—Gary Sheffield, Carlos Beltran, 8 (projects to 22, 21, 9 for David Wright)
• letsgomets June 25, 2009 at 1:08 am

  you didn’t write ‘mets leader in HRs hitting less than 20.’ You wrote any mets player hit less than 20. So you’re still wrong, in the context of your own article, anyways.
• Pedantic Jackass June 25, 2009 at 2:37 am

  It should be “fewer” than 20 homeruns.
• sarge June 25, 2009 at 12:15 pm

  So now we have to play the PED card cause Wright is down with his power numbers and Delgado is hurt? Sheesh if you don’t have proof you should not just throw that out there dude. Last nite during the game SNY had a stat up showing how Wright had done the last few years, HR, K’s, BA and this year, so far, was not too far off. The K’s were up a bit but the HR were around the same. Was he using PED’s to get those numbers? Come on if you want to get a good discussion going then don’t be inflammatory with the PED card. Where is your research? If this is true I will be there with you but otherwise, find a better reason, maybe an off year as to power, pressing cause of injuries. Just my thoughts.
• sarge June 25, 2009 at 12:22 pm

  Hey maybe Puhols is using PED’s and hasn’t been caught either, or maybe Adrian Gonzalez is using and hasn’t been caught, or maybe Holiday was using PED’s and wasn’t caught and now he can’t hit without the juice. Sheesh come on dude, it so easy to accuse w/o data and then say, “I’m just pointing this out, not accusing.” Yeah I get the integrity issue, you don’t have to answer to any fact checking dept, you just throw it out there and see what sticks. I didn’t hear Sheff’s name mentioned in your article and he is one of those that has been “hinted at” that might have used and is now breaking down. Oops but he is not the face of the team right now, David is. What a low blow, just to get a rise out of us posters. I am amazed that you just accept this as gospel Joe D. I am really amazed with this shot in the dark and your timid response. Where is the challenging of this story?
• Mikey J June 25, 2009 at 12:27 pm

  hey Sarge…there is nothing wrong with speculating. Lord knows enough guys have been caught before. I don’t really think it’s true, and I didn’t say I thought it was, I was just throwing it out there. I am not the first to do that and I certainly won’t be the last.
• Joe D June 25, 2009 at 1:35 pm

  I think it’s naive not to consider PED’s in this day and age. Historians and analysts alike will now refer to this time as the steroids era. That’s not speculation, that’s a fact. 102 names left on that list leaves plenty of room for speculating and doubt. Just my opinion.
• mary June 25, 2009 at 2:19 pm

  Delgado was certainly in line for 20 before he was injured. With no time line as to his return and certainly no expectations he will be as hot as he was in April when he does return…I will say no.

  The answer lies in CIti Field. Balls that would be homeruns anywhere else..esp at Yankee stadium and citizen’s banks are just fly balls at Citi. This causes fewer hoem runs than meet the eye. Not only do the balls that just fall short not count, but also the Met’s game plan changes. Instead of working on homerun swings they work on driving the ball, hitting line drives, etc. David himself said that he is focusing on getting doubles and singles.
• sarge June 25, 2009 at 11:42 pm

  Speculation is fine when you have a suspicion maybe but what do you have? Just throw it out there and see what sticks or maybe a major sports outlet picks it up and all of a sudden Wright is surrounded with PED talk cause you just wanted to speculate? The minor during the gold rush, esp those toward the end, were also called speculators, speculating for gold that they thought was there but no one had seen any there but thought that since everyone else did that he would find some too. How much longer will this “era” be called the PED era? Until writers and bloggers decide that all is well now? That is the problem now in this PED era that a name can be thrown out there and wait to see what surfaces instead of doing the research and not just stating what someone else did, so? Where is the integrity in that? Can we just stick to facts, the season is not over and maybe when some the injured core comes back, then David can relax and he will start to hit his share of HR,but leading the league in hitting is not too shabby, IMO. LGM