Ruben Tejada Has A High Ceiling Offensively?

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• SFloridaMetsFan May 17, 2011 at 8:38 pm

  Got any better ideas? You could have put in there who you would like to be brought up instead of conplaining about Tejada.
  • Craig Lerner May 17, 2011 at 8:59 pm

    I have many great ideas, for one I would have promoted Josh Satin instead, who is 27 and six years older than Tejada and has more polish. Satin is batting .309, but better than that has a .423 OBP. Of his 38 hits, 13 of them are of the extra base hit variety including three homers. Last season, Satin batted .311 with a .866 OPS in 556 PA with 39 doubles, 12 homers and 76 RBI.

    If Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins really believe that second base is an offensive position as they say again and again, Satin should have gotten the call. He is older and more experienced and mature than Tejada, and infinitely better at the plate.

    Thanks for asking.
    • Craig Lerner May 17, 2011 at 9:02 pm

      Forgot to mention that Satin has only 3 errors compared to 9 for Tejada, and a .963 FP compared to .938 for Ruben.
    • Hodges14 May 17, 2011 at 9:16 pm

      Wow, it’s not even close. How come we never heard of this guy before? How could a middle infielder with stats like this go unnoticed for so long, especially in NY? Is there some flaw that you know of? Looks like he was drafted the same year as Ike havens, but Havens gets all the ink for some reason even though this guy blows his stats away.
      • MetsMan86 May 17, 2011 at 9:20 pm

        Was about to say the same thing. Is this guy our best kept secret or something?
      • Lifelongmetsfan May 17, 2011 at 9:27 pm

        Josh Satin over Ruben Tejada? Seriously? Satin plays one position barely adequately on the minor league level. Tejada plays both middle infield positions at a major league level now. I mean, really your counting the number of error made to determine who is a better player? Holy Cow that’s dopey. In 5 years Satin will be 32 yrs old and Tejada will be 26 yrs old. And gee whiz. who do you think will be the better player at that point?
        Yeah, lets give the opportunities for development to Satin instead of Ruben Tajada because that makes sense.
        • Hodges14 May 17, 2011 at 9:33 pm

          How is calling up Tejada to the majors at 21 when he was hitting .260 developing him? Can you explain your definition of player development please?
          • Lifelongmetsfan May 17, 2011 at 9:48 pm

            Sure. The Mets are rebuilding. Development is about playing time, sprinkled with opportunities to face better competition. There is only so many opportunity to go around. Players are identified and nurtured. What will Josh Satin give to the Mets in 3 yrs? Satin is playing 2nd base because he can not play anywhere else. Satin hits with little power and has a very unorthodox approach. Defensively Satin’s range is limited. Satin does have excellent plate discipline. But Satin has been playing against much younger competition. No way Satin’s potential to contribute in 3 yrs warrants taking away opportunities from Tejada.
            Would Ike Davis’s opportunities to develop been curtailed in favor of Daniel Murphy? I don’t think so. Same situation here.
            Why limit Ruben Tejada’s opportunities for development in favor of Josh Satin?
            • Chris May 18, 2011 at 2:17 pm

              as much as the mets are retooling for the future they are still trying to win this year.
        • Donal May 18, 2011 at 9:52 am

          Umm, no Tejada cannot play adequate defense as Craig demonstrated. A couple of web gems look nice and get everyone hyped, but those are isolated instances. When you look at Tejada’s body of work, he’s not ready.

          “I mean, really your counting the number of error made to determine who is a better player? ”

          As opposed to age? Granted, error count has its flaws, I still don’t know what standard you are using.

          “In 5 years Satin will be 32 yrs old and Tejada will be 26 yrs old. And gee whiz. who do you think will be the better player at that point?”

          If either of those guys are our starting 2B in 5 years, there is a problem.
          • Chris May 18, 2011 at 2:18 pm

            ha, great points and 100% agree.
      • Devin May 17, 2011 at 9:30 pm

        I never heard of this guy either and did some research. Craig he’s actually 26, but otherwise you are spot on with your suggestion. He was 23 when he was drafted and look at this consistency:

        Rookie Lg. – .812 OPS
        Low A – .803 OPS
        High A – .884 OPS
        AA – .873 OPS

        Damn! That is so impressive!
        • Lifelongmetsfan May 17, 2011 at 9:34 pm

          Satin is Daniel Murphy without the itty-bitty pop.
          • t agee May 18, 2011 at 1:19 pm

            At 26 in AA Satin isn’t considered anything more than Organizational depth. If he had shown even the slightest glimmer of a chance he would have been immediately fast tracked just like all the rest. Pelfrey, Humber, Kunz, Mejia, Milledge, Gomez, Tejada, Murphy, Thole, Fern……….
      • jdon May 18, 2011 at 5:41 am

        Well, he is 6 years older and still in the m inors. Must be a reason. And you cannot compare fielding stats between a SS and a 2B. I saw wnough of Tejada last year to feel that he is at least a fine defensive player.
        • Donal May 18, 2011 at 12:56 pm

          Could the reason be incompetent management moving him around to make room for the flavor of the week?

          Or over paid again has beens taking up roster spots at 2B?
    • SFloridaMetsFan May 18, 2011 at 12:41 am

      If you pay attention at all you would see Satin doesn’t even play 2B that much. He’s been playing first and DH.
      • Lifelongmetsfan May 18, 2011 at 1:05 am

        I pay attention SFloridaMetsfan. What do you know that I don’t?
        Satin has played about 20 games at 2b so far this year in AA.
        A few games at 1st base and a few games at DH. The very fact that Satin doesn’t exclusively play all the time at 2b should tell you something.
        • SFloridaMetsFan May 18, 2011 at 7:12 am

          My comment is for Craig not you. Sorry the confusion.
      • Craig Lerner May 18, 2011 at 1:38 am

        Pay attention.

        Farm report: Satin gets another second look

        Josh Satin’s natural position is second base. In recent seasons, however, he has started to get more exposure to first base and even third base, in part because other prospects received priority at his customary spot.

        But with Jordany Valdespin restored full time to shortstop in Double-A and 2008 first-round pick Reese Havens only now appearing in extended spring training games because of injury woes, Satin again primarily is playing second base. He also is continuing to hit, which never has fluctuated.

        “Really, at the end of last year, I wasn’t playing much second at all. I went to instructional league and I pretty much didn’t play at all at second,” Satin said. “One of the reasons I went there was to work at the corner positions. Obviously, I can see what’s going on and I would like to be a second baseman. But if that’s not the case, that’s OK.”

        Just posted by Adam Rubin 10 minutes ago. Guess I’m not the only one paying attention.

        http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/23216/farm-report-satin-gets-another-second-look
• t agee May 17, 2011 at 8:47 pm

  I think Tejada could be a .275/.350/.400 hitter in a couple of years, play a terrific 2B or a decent SS (hopefully no need to) I just don’t think he will do that this year.

  Hopefully he will but either way we’ll see.

  Wonder what Murphy’s thinking.
• John May 17, 2011 at 8:47 pm

  I think Tejada could be a real surprise offensively. He has consistently improved at every level and has improved as he has had a chance to adjust to the higher level. Even last year he was dramatically better in September and October at the Major League level.
  The players who have long productive major league careers are the ones who improve as time goes on as opposed to guys who regress early in their careers. It is the ability to constantly adjust that separates players with long careers from those who have a couple of good years and then fade away.
  • t agee May 17, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    The ability to adjust though is honed in the minors by facing the same pitchers 4, 5, 6 times in the same season, once they get up here it’s sink or swim. Without that foundation they always fall back onto whatever got them their first success back when they were 17 or so.

    Tejada did hit well in September but some of that was against September call ups. The fact is he hit under .200 against RH pitchers for the season. That alone showed how ill prepared he was.

    With Tejada there is a lot to like, not that I expect him to be Joe Morgan but I do think he’ll be very capable in time where ever he plays, I just don’t think that time is now.
  • Lifelongmetsfan May 17, 2011 at 10:03 pm

    I think your right John. Tejada is going to have a major league career. Just how productive he is offensively is still up in the air. Tejada has lazy hands at the plate, meaning his bat is slow throw the zone. The combination of Tejada’s smallish frame and “lazy hands” = easily over-matched by major league pitching.
    For example Dustn Pedroia is small framed but has very good hands throw the strike zone. Ozzie Smith developed “quick hands” offensive so it’s not inconceivable that Tejada can learn to hit.
    • t agee May 17, 2011 at 10:10 pm

      Tejada needs to square up, develop a bit of a crouch to get the higher pitch called a ball because he cannot get on top of it. If he continues to swing at that pitch or it’s called a strike on him he will never hit enough to stay. He also has to unwrap the bat from his neck in his stance.

      That being said he does have a nice short swing, seems to have decent pitch recognition and I like his chances to be a solid regular in time.
      • Lifelongmetsfan May 17, 2011 at 10:12 pm

        Lets hope so! I love him at 2nd base!
      • Harry C May 17, 2011 at 10:30 pm

        Golly wolly.. you all better send Tejada some texts and tweets to come here so he can find out how to make it. Without reading agee’s bull he won’t have a chance. Gee agee, how come you have to post on this little site when you should be pitching coach hitting coach GM and chief scout. How can themets not see your utter brilliance. Oh wait, they do, theat’s why you are here and not in citi field. They know you have no knowledge, just false ego.
  • jdon May 18, 2011 at 5:44 am

    I don’t know. I read that he is maturing physically, that he is stronger than last year. Often last year he was simply overpowered by good fast balls. But hey, players get over that. When Tdd Hundley had his first cup of coffee with the mets, he was a skinny switch hitter who could not pull left handed. Of course, I am almost certain he became a juicer….Still, Tejada could definitely get stronger and that could upgrade his offense. How much? No one knows.
• Bayonne Mets Fan May 17, 2011 at 10:08 pm

  Josh Satin is AA, Ruben Tejada is AAA, usually AAA ballplayers get promoted ahead of AA players. That’s the purpose of getting promoted in the first place. A guy at AAA can have weaker numbers than a guy at AA but still be the better player because he’s playing at a higher level in the first place.

  Yes it can happen the other way around but usually not. So that’s why Tejada was promoted ahead of Satin. Tejada is an AAA player who has Major League experience while Josh Satin never played above AA.

  In addition, Satin’s numbers are agains AA or less pitching. He’s not a major leaguer.

  And for those who want to know more about Josh Satin besides OPS – which just gives you a general idea.

  This year at AA Binghamton Satin was hitting .309 in 123 ABs with 3 Hrs, 10 doubles, & 17 RBIs
  Last year at AA Binghampton Satin hit .308 in 332 ABs, with 7 Hrs, 24 doubles, & 39 RBIs.
  He does strike out a lot compiling 108 Ks in 455 ABs those 2 seasons.

  There, now the readers have learned a little more about Josh Satin with those stats instead of what was previously given.

  I won’t bother with OBP or OPS because you can pretty much figure out those things or get a general idea with the numbers I gave you.
  • Donal May 18, 2011 at 10:02 am

    No, you can’t. You’d have to give us either his BB at least, so we can figure out his PAs and then figure OBP.
  • Chris May 18, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Tejada got called up over Satin because Satin can’t play short stop. Really no other reason than that. If Satin played short stop believe me he would be up over Tejada.
• The Nick May 17, 2011 at 10:13 pm

  Anderson Hernandez to Argenis Reyes to Ruben Tejada. The torch of mediocrity has been passed to little Ruben.
• Lifelongmetsfan May 17, 2011 at 11:34 pm

  I really think Tejada has a good chance to be much better Hernanadez or Reyes.
• Alan May 18, 2011 at 9:20 am

  I am surprised after watching Hu that he made this team at all. Ruben Tejada is an excellent defensive shortstop and second baseman. He proved that last year and while he is not going to put up any solid numbers at bat he did show some signs of improving so that he was not an automatic out at the plate…..Hu showed us absolutely nothing!

  It’s a shame again with our early season injuries but on a positive note the injuries allowed Justin Turner a chance to play and he has very nicely taken advantage of the opportunity. He will end up making DanieL Murphy a part time player and pinch hitter again.
• tlagee May 18, 2011 at 11:57 pm

  Collins said : “I think he’s got a high ceiling offensively.”

  I don’t.