30
2011
Is Ike Davis The Solution At Cleanup Spot?
An article by 
There are going to be a lot of changes over the next year. But I think it’s a pretty safe bet to say that Ike Davis is as close to untouchable as anyone could be on this Mets roster. That is for good reason, since there is no reason to move a 25 year old budding young power hitter, who is under the teams control for the next 6 seasons.
Unless the Mets fill the clean up hitter vacancy through a trade, they will be looking in house or in free agency. The two best options in Free Agency are Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, both of whom play first base. One possibility is to try to sign one of these hitters, and move Ike to the outfield, where he has played in the minors. But with the Mets financial issues right now, it seems unlikely they would have the money for either of these power hitters. That leaves them to fill from within, enter Ike Davis.
I think it is a very real possibility that Ike can fill the Clean up hitting void going forward. Once Carlos Beltran leaves either via trade or free agency, the Mets will be left with David Wright, Ike Davis and Jason Bay as their potential in house replacements. Wright is a great hitter, but he’s more suited to be batting 3rd or 5th. Bay is a very solid hitter, but in a good lineup he would be more productive batting 5th or 6th.
What do you look for in a clean up hitter? You look for a guy who hits for a decent average, has pure power, drives in runs and is clutch. Ike Davis leads the team in batting with a .352 average through his first 25 games. Davis leads the team in RBI with 19, and has been the most clutch hitter early on, batting .385 in his first 26 at bats with RISP. Ike has raw power, and when he gets a hold of one, it’s usually a no doubter. He recently went on a tear belting 3 home runs in 3 games, one of which was a 430 foot shot to dead center. Last season he hit the Shea Bridge with a walk off blast. Of the Mets big four guys, Davis is probably the purest home run hitter we have.
I know prorating usually isn’t accurate, but Ike currently has 4 home runs through his first 88 at bats. If you prorated that over a full season, say 560 at bats (he will probably have more), this would put Ike at 28 home runs. Not bad for a 25 year old number 6 hitter, who hit 19 in his rookie season. Also with his 19 RBI through the first month, there is a very real chance that he will drive in 100 runs. If you combined his rookie season with this season’s numbers his line would look like this, 611 Ab’s (close to a typical season’s worth of at bats), .277 average, 23 home runs and 90 RBI.
Last season Ike batted 4th for 58 games, spanning 239 AB’s. He belted 11 homers and drove in 40 RBI while batting clean up. Once Beltran returned, he moved down in the order batting 5th or 6th where he played 85 games, and had just 6 homers and 27 RBI. But had he been left in the 4th spot over those 85 games we could have been looking at a 25 homer 90-100 RBI in his rookie season. I know, its all speculation, and teams made adjustments as his rookie season went on. But, the numbers showed him batting better when he hit 4th proving he has the ability to hit there, especially since he did it as a rookie.
I know I am putting stock in a short sample early in this season, but I just have a feeling about this guy. The way I feel about Ike is the way I used to feel about Wright when he first came up. I felt like I wanted David up in a big spot because he would get the big hit, I’m beginning to feel that way about Ike. I started to feel this way last season, but his start to this season has made me feel even stronger about it. With all of the potential changes on the horizon, there is a very real possibility that when the finally dust settles, Ike will be batting clean up and become the face of the franchise.
About the Author: Dan Valis
You can read more of my insights and opinions at BigAppleMetsTalk.com. I am a life long New Yorker who was born and raised to be a Mets fan. The ups and downs of being a Mets fan is what makes following this team so much fun, but at times so frustrating. It is painful to lose, but when we win it is so much sweeter because we have waited so long to taste it. In addition to being a Mets fan I am also a long suffering Knicks and Rangers fan, only to be saved by the great Super Bowl run by the New York Giants in 2007. You can follow me on Twitter @BgAppleMetsTalk.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 26 | 17 | .605 | - |
| Nationals | 25 | 17 | .595 | 0.5 |
| Marlins | 23 | 19 | .548 | 2.5 |
| Mets | 22 | 20 | .524 | 3.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 22 | .488 | 5.0 |
Last updated: 05/22/2012
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I always liked Ike, and am glad to see him having such a good 2nd year. Entirely correct IMO that he is the obvious clean up hitter for the future, and really the future could start now.
He should be batting in the three hole now because David Wright is not a three-hole hitter. More on that in a post to come.
Based as per the season so far with it being one month, it sure looks like Wright, seems to have lost his ability to bat 3rd. And until he gets out of his problem, he should be batting at the last end of the power hitters (6th). AS far as I can see it this downgrade of his all started when he got whacked in the head. And I can not tell if some of that memory known by him or unknown may be part of his problem.
I am good so far with Jose, Murphy, and Beltran as the first up in the order. And then there is the hot Ike. And as long as he remains hot or close to it he should be the 4th hitter, with Bay right behind him.
Then of course it will eventually be Pagan, and Thole as the last two hitters.
A team cannot be using players who fail too many times to remain in important positions in the line up. It is time that the team use the players in the right line up in order to get the most runs.
Emotions and past experience that is not working now does not win. But adjusting it around can help to win.
And of course as the season goes on and things change, then change the position of when the get up all over again.
Love Ike, but he could be the key to a deal for Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder. Both of them could be had in a trade and sign type deal like we did with Santana.
Um no. Why trade Ike? Especially for a rental? And don’t say for extra picks. If you want Pujols or Fielder, just try and sign them. In all honestly we don’t need either. We need pitching.
Oh yeah. Any trade for those two will gut the farm. Which is the exact opposite of what should be happening. Plus Pujols is going to want 10/300 while Prince wiling looking for 7/150 at the minimum. With that money ww can sign Reyes, sign Wright, sign IFA’s go over slot in the draft etc etc
ike can’t solve the real problem. no starting pitching. niese is ok and getting better. pelfrey may be able to get his whip under 1.3 eventually, but he’s not here next year anyhow. young is chronic. cap, gee, and capuano are all 4th starters. ike will eventually hit cleanup, but it won’t matter.
You are right, when the rotation is a mess and you have a shell of a bullpen, you can pretty much stick a fork in the season. There’s a lot of good baseball teams in the National League and they will be eating the Mets’ lunch for this entire season. Get used to these losses, there will be very few six game hitting streaks this season. The only way to rebuild an entire pitching staff, is by having a multitude of talented young players coming up from the minors. Remember 1986? In 1984-1986 we added Gooden, Darling, Fernandez, Aguilera, and McDowell. Just prior to 1969, the Mets brought up Seaver, Koosman, Ryan, Gentry and McGraw. Someday in a couple of years we will have Mejia, Harvey and Familia, hopefully. But they are still two or three years away, and there is not much else. Years of signing big name free agents, and losing our first round draft picks, combined with refusing to draft over-slot, have left our farm system void of high ceiling players. It’s time to break a few eggs and make a delicious omelet. We need to liquidate, and the sooner the better. The first thing I would do, at any cost, would be to trade K Rod. They simply have no use for the guy. Get some young pitchers for him. Also trade Beltran, Pagan, (I hate to say this) Reyes, Parnell, and if they prove they are healthy and can pitch, Young and Capuano. Get as many young pitching prospects as you can for those guys. And then go out and have an intelligent draft for once. Maybe in two or three years we will be kicking some butt once again.
Ike will probably be the cleanup guy if Beltran ever leaves.
But until then it is much more advantageous to have the Switch hitting Beltran there to negate any Lefty Righty maneuvering.
And Ike still needs to get the BA against lefties up a bit.
If we do lose Beltran then we will need to replace his bat and it might be easier to find a good Clean Up hitter to replace him leaving Ike to protect whoever that is.