David Wright Hasn’t Been The Same Since Matt Cain

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• metsaddict November 7, 2011 at 8:36 am

  While I agree that David seemed visibly apprehensive at the plate following the concussion, I also feel that the strikeouts are attributable to the injuries around him. When Beltran, and Delgado, and Reyes, and Bay, and Davis are out of the lineup, I think David has a tendency to push, which results in him expanding the strike zone, particularly with two strikes (his 2010-11 % of swings at pitches outside the zone are above his career avg, and above any previous season – 2010 was particularly bad). For the last three seasons, anybody who could get two strikes on him and throw a breaking pitch off the outside corner could get him to swing over it. I’m hoping that the smaller dimension and healthy return of Davis and Bay will allow David to relax and be his old self.
• Reyesforprez November 7, 2011 at 9:01 am

  I completely concur. That’s the point that I was trying to make yesterday. Getting hit in the head leaves a lasting negative affect that has not been thoroughly looked at. Thouht that’s towards the end of the season he was starting to shows signs of finally recocering but then he got in a slump. I think that this will be a the season that we’ll finally see the real Wright.
  • Ed Leyro November 7, 2011 at 9:51 am

    By “the real Wright”, I hope you mean the Wright from 2006 to 2008. I know there are some fans out there who think what we’re seeing now is the real Wright. Hopefully, the fences being moved in and lowered will help him more than it helps opposing batters.
• Des November 7, 2011 at 9:40 am

  Very insightful article. Thanks Ed.

  P.S.: I don’t think the last picture proves Wright is running away from the ball. In fact it proves nothing. We’d have to know the trajectory of the ball, and if it was thrown or hit. Wright shows no fear when he charges home plate on a possible bunt.
  • Ed Leyro November 7, 2011 at 9:49 am

    Thanks, Des. I just used that last photo of Wright because I loved his facial expression. I know he wasn’t running away from it, but at first glance it could appear that he is. My writing style (which you can see on Studious Metsimus, my own Mets blog that has a whopping 4 1/2 regular readers; feel free to become No. 5 1/2) usually involves using lots of photographs that either become part of the story or give me an opportunity to add a little snippet of humor to it (like I did with the other photos).

    I do agree with you that Wright is and always has been excellent at charging bunts and throwing out runners at first. It’s actually quite beautiful to watch him make that play in person.
• Metfan Lou November 7, 2011 at 9:46 am

  Really good article and a great insight into David Wright’s hitting skills. I think David Wright’s trade value is substantial and I believe he should be traded not only for the talent we need but to rejuvenate his career in another city. It is so painful as a Met fan to watch him come to the plate with men on b ase and just flail away. As a Met fan I dread watching a game and knowing he is coming up. Even if he moves on and has a comeback season I would feel good about it and would not lament that he wasn’t still with the Mets because I believe nothing will change with hom still wearing the orange and blue.
• jdon November 7, 2011 at 9:52 am

  I actually think he has not been the same since Hojo became hitting coach.
  • jdon November 7, 2011 at 9:53 am

    once he stopped going the other way with regularity, his performance suffered. Cain’s beaning came after that.
    • Ed Leyro November 7, 2011 at 10:08 am

      Yes, but before Cain’s beaning, he was hitting .324 and had an OBP of .414. Those numbers were very Wright-ian. Then he gets beaned and his batting average and OBP go down faster than Wright did that day.
      • gene99 November 7, 2011 at 1:59 pm

        While I agree that the beaning had an effect on Wright – and that it may still be having some affect, if I was going to pinpoint it, IMHO his problems started around the Home Run Derby in 2006. He’s gone from a predominantly opposite field hitter to a predominantly pull hitter. And this has spiked his SOs, and really hurt him a/g right hand pitchers.
        • Joe Diaz November 7, 2011 at 3:48 pm

          Gene after the HR Derby in 06 Wright did struggle but he did have his 2 best seasons in 2007 and 2008 so I’m not buying that his struggles were caused by the HR Derby.

          Even before the Cain beaning Wright was not driving the ball with any authority.His high average is a product of a super high babip,well above his norm prior to the beaning.There were a lot of bloops and bleeders falling in for hits in 09.

          The beaning has had an affect,no doubt,he’s been afraid of the iside fastball ever since but he wasn’t driving the ball at all in 2009 well beforethe beaning.His high OB% was also due to the fact that he was pitched around with a depleted lineup around him.
  • LGM November 7, 2011 at 10:06 am

    The team has a whole had a terrible approach under HoJo his last year here in particular. (Though I think a lot of that might have been Jerry’s influence, if you believe what you read). And he didn’t seem to great at fixing problems that arose. But I don’t think its accurate to say Wright hasn’t been the same since HoJo became coach, at least not if you are implying he got worse. HoJo took over mid-2007…Wright ended up having the best year of his career and was particularly great in the second half…then he followed that up with another great year in 2008. It really wasn’t into 2009 until he started to drop off.

    I think its hard to tease out the effects of the beaning vs the effects of the park. I think the beaning did have an effect, he was awful Sept ’09 and he has seemed a bit gunshy at the plate at times since, but things were off even prior to that. He struck out a lot early in 2009 long before the beaning and even .before Beltran, Delgado, Reyes, etc got hurt. Its hard to hit for a high avg, striking out a lot like he did in ’09…its not generally sustainable. Though he did seem to cut down on the Ks as the season went on (pre-getting hit). And of course the power outage.

    I think both issues were probably pretty big factors.

    And speaking of HoJo I did see somebody post something from him on twitter a month or so ago where he discussed David a bit, and he did mention that the beaning had an effect on him…though I think he also said something like “it took time to come back from”…so hopefully that means it is something he is “back from” and not still an issue.
• Metstheory22 November 7, 2011 at 9:13 am

  I think the players around him and park have been more of a factor since then. It seems someone has been hurt for long periods of time since Delgado. We have not had our 4th and 5th hitters able to stay healthy since then. Beltran, Bay, Davis have been down.
• Lifelongmetsfan November 7, 2011 at 9:51 am

  Good article. Thank you for writing a well thought out piece but I don’t agree.
  It’s hard to take last year (2011) because of Wright’s injury but nevertheless I think Wright has been “miscast” as a premier power hitting franchise type player rather than what he really is, David Wright is a very, very good every day major league baseball player.
  I think we forget that Wright hit in a lineup surrounded by Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran. Jason Bay and Ike Davis just don’t scare pitchers like Delgado and Beltran, meaning why pitch to Wright with Jason Bay or Daniel Murphy on deck? Wright saw much better pitches to hit in a lineup with Delgado and Beltran rather then Bay, Murphy and Davis.
  Secondly I don’t see Wright as a power hitter. I just don’t. In my opinion Wright has been called on or felt pressure to forgo his natural gap line drive hitting instead hitting for power. David Wright is not Ryan Zimmerman or Adrian Beltre.
  I’m sure Wright did have some sort of adjustment period following the Cain beaning but I mean really, Wright and all other professional baseball players see things differently then us fans. Could it be the the author is projecting his own feelings about the beaning onto to Wright in an attempt to explain Wright’s statistics? David Wright see’s 90+ mph baseballs in very close proximately to his head on a regular bias, we the fans don’t.
  David Wright is NOT a home run hitter. Wright is a .300 line drive gap hitter. I see Wright as a natural .300 avg 15-20 home run 100 rbi 100 runs scored guy NOT a 25-30 home run 110+ rbi guy.
  You know in my fantasy dream the Mets resign Reyes and trade Wright for a front line top notch catching prospect. And give the 3rd base job to Daniel Murphy.
  My 2012 lineup
  ss reyes
  2b havens
  3b murphy
  1b davis
  lf bay
  rf duda/martinez(keep hope alive!)
  cf pagen
  c Thole(until our new super-duper catching prospect from Wright trade is ready)

  setting us up for 2014 with our new catcher, reyes and nimmmo Strong up the middle!!

  p
• Metstheory22 November 7, 2011 at 10:11 am

  By Thursday, Dipoto should have a pretty good idea of what he has, what he needs and what he’s working with. He has a team with some promising building blocks, but encumbered by escalating salaries for aging players. He needs a veteran late-inning reliever and a starter. He would like a catcher and, perhaps, a power-hitting third baseman.

  This is according to ESPN LA: Regarding Jerry Dipoto as new GM.
  He’s not working with as much as it once appeared he might. Angels owner Arte Moreno told reporters on Saturday he’d like to keep a lid on the payroll at $140 million and the Angels already have $99 million tied up in nine veteran players on long-term contracts. It will cost them about $20 million more to keep all their arbitration-eligible players, plus roughly $2 million more to sign all the young guys making the minimum.

  That means, even if he can persuade Moreno to stretch the budget, he’ll be looking at a roughly $19 million budget to address multiple needs.
  This means they would be looking to stay with Callaspo at third or get someone cheaper than Wright might be, Murphy is cheaper.
  • Metstheory22 November 7, 2011 at 10:16 am

    This is according to ESPN LA: Regarding Jerry Dipoto as new GM.

    “By Thursday, Dipoto should have a pretty good idea of what he has, what he needs and what he’s working with. He has a team with some promising building blocks, but encumbered by escalating salaries for aging players. He needs a veteran late-inning reliever and a starter. He would like a catcher and, perhaps, a power-hitting third baseman.
    He’s not working with as much as it once appeared he might. Angels owner Arte Moreno told reporters on Saturday he’d like to keep a lid on the payroll at $140 million and the Angels already have $99 million tied up in nine veteran players on long-term contracts. It will cost them about $20 million more to keep all their arbitration-eligible players, plus roughly $2 million more to sign all the young guys making the minimum.

    That means, even if he can persuade Moreno to stretch the budget, he’ll be looking at a roughly $19 million budget to address multiple needs.”

    MY Take: I think this means they would be looking to stay with Callaspo at third or get someone cheaper than Wright might be, Murphy is cheaper.
• alex68 November 7, 2011 at 10:38 am

  more excuse?? jeez.. one thing people are forgetting is the fact that now more pressure is added to wright to produce now that the fences will be moved. he knows fans will be expecting a 300+ 30+ 100+ campaign from him.. we all know how well he handles the pressure right?? that’s something to look for as well…
  • Des November 7, 2011 at 10:47 am

    Alex never quits. Yet when he was asked by me to define CHOKE, Alex choked. C’mon Alex, define CHOKE. Don’t give me an example which is really just a guy’s AVG.
  • LGM November 7, 2011 at 11:02 am

    Its not an excuse to try to figure out what the heck happened to the guy
    • Des November 7, 2011 at 11:08 am

      We all wish David well. Alex’s stuff just doesn’t answer the mail in terms that have semantic and quantitative meaning. I haven’t seen anything from his CORE that does.
      • Joe Diaz November 7, 2011 at 3:53 pm

        That’s right Des. You’ll never see Alex mention the total choke job by Reyes in the September stretch run in 2007 and 2008.He was a no show.Alex only comments on Wright’s choke jobs in Sept 07 and 08 even though Wright’s numbers dwarfed Reyes’ in both those September stretch runs.
        • alex68 November 7, 2011 at 4:11 pm

          i’ve burned reyes before, but this article is the exact same reason why i started the wright is a choker campaign.. the guy can do no wrong in some ppl’s eyes, he’s a known choker yet ppl here wanna compare a leadoff hitter struggling to a middle of the ordwer type guy, is like compaaring ichiro to pujols, even though they’re both hall of famers, they’re job on the team and in the lineup is totally different. you wanna blame reyes for his no show as a leadoff hitter’s job in those sept? yes, but also blame wright for being a choker when it mattered the most, ALL PRESSURE situations he’s been in he’s folded. again, in 2007 i had the man pegged as the NL MVP had the mets made the playoffs. but after that choke job with murphy at 3rd and his 243 BA with RISP all year in 2008 it was clear to me this man had no clutch genes in him, i like him and i think he’s an ok player, but he’s not beltran. matter of fact. look at his numbers when he was pegged to be the man in the lineup? now ppl are writing stupid excuses in an article about he’s not the same after being hit. the stadium, etc, is always an excuse about him. i wanna see 320 35 120 40 doubles, now that the fences are moved in, i am sure i’m not alone here, but that is more pressure being put on a guy who chokes in the biggest moments.. good luck trying to trade him
• nathan November 7, 2011 at 11:19 am

  I agree and disagree. I think the problem is cumalative. Wright can be a .300 30 guy but the way the stadium was designed. David has never been very good at hitting an inside fastball. The beaning has made it worst. I also believe that he tried to start his swing earlier in an attempt to muscle up when he was the lone pwoer source on the team. David was known as a two strike hitter prior to the beaning combine that with an earlier swing and you get an average drop and high strikeout totals. I would like to see Wright return to an average OBP kinda player I think that if he could the tem would be in a much better position. I thought Wright would become a prototypical #3 hitter and instead he has grown into a #5 type hitter and that is fine but we still need the balance that an OBP guy gives you. The back injury could have been cause for issues this year so I am excited to seee how this year plays out especially when Reyes comes back.
• Metsie November 7, 2011 at 11:44 am

  Well Ed I agree for the most part tat the beaning had a greater affect than the Park did!

  BOTH were issues of the HEAD not the PHYSICS!

  Wright has been striking out more on the low and outside pitch. Why?

  Because he was too afraid to get closer to the plate to be able to reach those pitches and protect the outside part of the plate!

  Throw high heat inside to him and you can get him on the next pitch with a low and outside slider or sinker.

  As for the Park affect it’s really a rediculous notion.
  He hit 29 Hrs in 2010, Just 4 shy of his career best and right about at or above his 2005-2007 average!

  Did the fences get into his head? I’m sure it had SOME affect but the truth is he didn’t hit the HRs away either where the fences were not a factor!

  The Lineup might have some affect but more to do with how Pitchers approach him than how he himself would hit. He is not going to get the fat strikes he used to get when beltran and Delgado were there and if he had Ike for protection the whole year and was not hurt during his notorious June hot hitting time he might have had more HRs, Maybe not the 25+ but in the 20′s (all it would have taken was 6+ HRs in June!)

  It will be interesting to see what he does in 2012 with a full season of Davis and Duda in there as some protection.
  Murphy (if he gets on the field) would be a better #3 hitter than Wright and if you put Wright between Davis and Duda I think the HR numbers would go up.

  Even if they don’t go up for Wright himself they would for Duda and Davis!

  I think the main issue with Wright is people want him to be a clean up hitter that he is not.
  He’s a good gap line drive hitter who when he sees a good pitch will jack one out from time to time when he gets good wood.

  He’s more of a McReynolds type and thats how we should be thinking about him…Not some great HR hitter he has never really been!
• USMF November 7, 2011 at 12:02 pm

  I think it’s been several different factors…the Cain FB was just one of them. I think losing the protection of Beltran and Delgado hurt and forced Wright to be “the Guy” instead of just one of the the guys producing. I think Wright changed his approach and stopped going with the pitch and hitting the ball to Right Center hurt him a ton and the fact he stands 10ft off the plate hurts him too.
  • gene99 November 7, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    +1
    And the park has hurt big time. I’ve been at games where he’s driven the ball 390 feet to left and right-center and gets zip. That has to play in your head.
• Metscentric November 7, 2011 at 2:02 pm

  They say it’s always best for someone to face their fears. I say lets trade for Matt Cain! It’s time for Wright to meet his tormentor.
• Mike November 7, 2011 at 5:37 pm

  Finally someone came out and said it. I’ve been saying it all along congratulations to you Ed. It’s gotten so bad that I hate to see him come to bat with men on base.It’s time for a trade.
• LGM November 8, 2011 at 5:28 pm

  One other thing…. I do think the beaning had some effect, but what doesn’t add up is why that would result in him being so much better in the first half than the second half of the 2010 season. You’d think if anything the further away from the incident he might get better…but he was much much better in the first half last yr than he was in the second half.

  First half: .314 .392 .532 .924
  Second Half: .244 .305 .466 .770

  Unless he started having flashbacks when the Mets played the Giants early in the second half, i’m not sure how his pattern of production in 2010 would tie into the beaning.
  • Metsie November 8, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    Well if you look at the rest of the splits you see that has a lot to do with his June production which coincides with Bay’s best the previous month as well as the addition of Ike Davis!

    They started to take Bay seriously and Wright took advanatage of the better pitches he was seeing.

    June is notoriously where Wright does his best damage with the Bat. His career totals for June .332 BA .400 OBP .558 SLG

    This year he got hurt on May 15th (when he usually starts to heat up and didn’t come back until July 22nd!

    Missing his historic BEST MONTH of production!

    And that is why Wrights numbers seemed so down this season and why his first half is always better than his second half!

    It’s all in the June production!

    Now that said he should try to be more consistent throughout the season it’s not unreasonable to ask that of him.

    But he is what he is and what he is in JUNE is usually what carries and determines his numbers for the rest of the season!