MMO has learned that first baseman Nick Evans will be one of several Mets that will be playing winter ball this off season. David Ponte met up with Evans this past weekend and asked him what his plans were for the off season.
Q- What positives if any can you take from this season?
A – I think it’s definitely a good learning experience for everybody to go through struggles like this. Hopefully we all learn from it and be ready for next year.
Q – What are your plans for this off season; one baseball thing and one non baseball thing?
A – I’m going to be in Winter Ball all off season working on stuff. So I’ll pretty much be spending most of time down there. I’m pretty much focusing on “all baseball” this off season.
You can listen to the audio here:
Nick Evans has lost some of his shine this past season. I believe a lot of it had to do with not making the team out of spring training. He went to AAA-Buffalo and got mired in a terrible slump that had him batting .211 and it led to a demotion to AA-Binghamton. He was hardly impressive for the B-Mets, batting .276, but earned a callup after the Mets placed Johan Santana on the DL. Once considered the heir apparent to first base, especially after the Mets traded Mike Carp in the J.J. Putz deal, Evans may have to reinvent himself this winter if he wants to get back on the Mets radar for the short and long term. He’s still young, but the Mets do not have the luxury of time on their side as they look to quench the thirst of an unhappy fanbase.
The Mets have yet to officially announce which players will be playing winter baseball, but we have learned that first baseman Ike Davis and shortstop Ruben Tejada will be playing in the Arizona Fall League.
Ike Davis is also participating in the World Cup in Europe after being selected for Team USA, as we reported last week.
David Ponte contributed to this report and you can follow his take on the Mets and all New York sports at NYsportSpace.
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This guy has fallen completely off the map and he just looks clueless at the plate. If he ever does make it in the majors, it will be as a backup infielder type.
Kevin, gimme a break. He’s only 23 years old and you already have him cast as a backup infielder? Like Joe said, he just needs to bust his ass in winter ball and find himself again. I’m not ready to give up on a guy who just 8 months ago was one of our top 5 prospects. Is a little patience too much to ask for?
And one more thing. It’s quite obvious the mets were pushing him too hard to begin with. He basically gets promoted to AA and then is in the major leagues two months later. That’s a terrible job of developing their players by the Mets.
I agree with Kevin. Evans is at best a backup big leaguer. Trade him to Pittsburgh
It may be that he ends up a backup, but that decision is still far off. He’s 23 years old and should have played an enitre season at AA at the very least before the Mets promoted him.
So do the 100 games he’s played in AA suddenly not count simply because it wasn’t a full season or non stop without promotions?
Over 400 AB’s in AA at age 23…. 237 ABs in AAA. That, plus his lack of production when called up to the big leagues is plenty of information to make a logicial estimate that he won’t be better than a bench player
I hope Evans along with Fmart start next year in Buffalo.I really hope the Mets go sign Bay or Holliday,keep Pagan as a 4th OF.Let Murphy play 1st with tatis as a backup platoon.stop rushing the players Ike Davis should also start in AA,along With Kirk Nieunenhuis.Let Reese Havens also start in high A till he can prove his health,and hit over 250.
In other words, lets use some common sense. Good post.