7
2012
Ike Davis Needs To Hit Leftys And Become A Complete Player
An article by 
Ike Davis has already overcome a lot in his brief major league career, beginning with an injured ankle that forced him to miss most of last year and a bout of Valley Fever which sapped his strength this season.
However, after a dismal start that had some clamoring for him to be sent to the minor leagues Davis has rebounded to hit 26 homers with 77 RBI. Thirty could happen but it would take a monster finish to have 100 RBI.
Terry Collins believes not sending him down was a display of confidence by the organization and Davis has reacted.
“I think Ike has responded to the patience the organization had in him at the very start,” Collins said last week. “We all knew he had power. We all know he is a good defender.
“He’s had a very good second half — his power numbers speak for themselves. We need to look at how to get him off to a better start next year so those numbers improve.”
There are several steps in the development of a young player, and for a left-handed hitter, improving against left-handed pitching is a must. I would think Collins would give him as many at-bats as possible against lefties.
Hopefully soon, this will become a non-issue.
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
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Yes. No other words needed. Good article John.
That’s like me saying “David wright needed to be more clutch for the mets to win a WS or to make a playoffs apperance”.. This article is just nitpicking imo, historically lefties don’t do as well against lefties. It’s the nature of baseball.
Ike Davis, My 2013 MEt Candidate, and by 2015 he’ll be a serious contender to be the winner. He’s got power, power and power..
It’s all relative,
The horrible start left extreme numbers that are relative to both areas. Hitters like will always hit righties better than lefties, it’s nothing new like you said.
If he’s hitting .280 vs. righties than his lefties number could be .240 or so.
When Ike hit .302 last year what was his average vs. lefties? Probably not .177 I bet. And John he’s already had a monster comeback by having 26 HRs by now. I think 90 RBIs is realistic and a monster comeback as well considering he was down around 150 in June. What’s he hitting since July? 270?
That’s a LONG sample size. In fact his sample size in success is LONGER than his slump.
Bayonne — “When Ike hit .302 last year what was his average vs. lefties? Probably not .177 I bet.”
You’re right. In 2011, Ike batted only .163 as a LHB versus LHP. But the sample size is tiny. It has only 43 AB with 7 H.
Ike’s LH Starter batting splits are for the entire game when the starter was LH. These splits include any subsequent plate appearances against a reliever regardless of their throwing hand.
In his rookie season he actually hit lefthanders better than he hit right handers.
Vinny B — Great point!!
Including July of 2012, Ike is batting .248, based on 197 AB and 49 H.
I never liked seeing Ike sit vs lefties…sure it’s nice to give him a day off, but he needs to face these guys and do well. He did fine off lefties his rookie season, no didn’t show much power, but his BA was pretty good… so there should be no reason to think that he can’t do it again.
But I still can’t believe that people are pointing to valley fever as an excuse for Ike’s problems.
Ike’s problems this year are because…
1. He has little professional experience.
2. He missed almost a full year of playing.
3. He has a big loopy swing and he’s timing is all rythmic. This isn’t the last time we’ll see Ike go into a prolonged slump.
4. I can also pick on Ike’s pitch selection and approach…hopefully that has more to do with the first three issues and not the approach given to him from the “team” approach.
Murphy is batting .351 in day and 251 at night. Maybe Murphy should wear contacts at night.
hotstreak — You raise an interesting point. Murphy appears to squint at times. I wonder if he is already wearing contacts and his eyes are trying to adjust.
To me the most asinine thing to do with Ike is platoon him. I mean seriously what the hell are we doing platooning Duda or Ike? How are they supposed to get better facing LHP?
Terry Collins platoons everyone on this team with the only exception being David Wright. I dont know how he expects these young players to get better by receiving sporadic playing time.
He is not the best manager for young ball players he favors Vets and on this Mets team thats not good because they are rebuilding with young players. Sticking with guys like Torres, Bay for so long even after it was evident that they were both a detriment to this team.
Although they were struggling, Terry couldnt wait to send down Duda and Kirk to make room for Torres, Bay in the OF starting lineup. Why was he surprised that 2 young hitters were going to struggle. If youre reasoning for keeping a struggling Ike in the majors was he wasnt gonna learn to hit major league pitching in the minors. Then what sense does it make to send Kirk and Duda there. Very inconsistent!
BBLB: Good Post. I agree totally . Also why platoon Valdespin? I bring up Turner in the OF for next year. It has pros’s and cons. More playing time, fill a need but another player out of position.
Exactly why is he placing so much focus/emphasis on developing backups?
I really want to see Wally Backman up here with these kids. And not because of the generic reasons that his detractors state, but because every young player that comes up under him gives Wally credit for getting them over a hump in their careers. Whether its Uggla from the past or Matt Harvey who always brings up Wally when asked about his rise and success so far in the pro’s.
I think Wally would be a perfect fit to manage young team and organization thats looking to change their identity. They wouldnt fade away at the 2nd half like under TC for the past 2 yrs, not saying he was the only one to blame but he does have an extended history of QUITING or having his team quit on him.
1996(Astros)- He was fired after a “LATE SEASON COLLAPSE” by his team….most blamed TC for the collapse.
1999(Angels)-Collins “resigned(quit) with 29 games left in the season” the Front office gave him a vote of confidence although the players petitioned the gm to fire him.
2008( Orix Buffaloes,JAPAN)-Collins resigned(quit again) mid-season when his team the Orix Buffalo were in 5th place and struggling. But the funny thing is after he left the team played much better and finished in 2nd place.
2011-2012(Mets)-Well we know how this ended, 2nd half collapses in 2 years!!!
Terry Collins career shows a pattern of QUITTING!!! Whether its them quitting on him or him quitting on them. Either way its not a good look…A Zebra never changes there stripes, neither do managers.
BBLB I totaly agree: To those who say wait for Wally until we contend I say Wally will be in another organization i.e. bench coach for Davy ready to take over, or manager of Astros or any other team with a managerial opening. TC is an excellent player development guy. As I said in a prior post Wally has seen these young players at Brooklyn Binghamton and Buffalo. Wally ‘s time is NOW that is 2013 season.
Not sure how Ike or any left handed hitter on the Mets for that matter can improve against Left handed pitching when Terry Collins refuses to play them vs Lefty’s.
Collins has said numerous times after the collapse that he would leave the leftys like Ike,Duda,Murph in the lineup going forward but everytime he hands in the lineup card we see Bay or Torres in the OF. Recently he has gone as far as starting Murphy at 1B over Ike Davis.
I’m so tired of Collins and these terrible lineups Baxter is a good 4th OF but nothing more I’d rather see Duda play more this season and if he failed at least we know he is not capable. Torres should be used as defensive replacement he is terrible. Cedeno is a good utility guy but I dont want to see him with regular playing time. Turner shouldve received more playing time at 2nd base than Cedeno.
This is the only team where the manager goes out of his way to bench his starters in order to get the bench players playing time. They were signed to be backups a start here and there is fine but when a manager says,”We have to get Cedeno, Turner, Baxter in the game there is a problem”…sure they need at bats every now and then but not at the expense of the starters. Backups get playing time when you are resting your starters….RESTING!!!
Terry Collins sucks as a manager! IMHO!
If he needs to hit lefties, then why does he get benched against lefthanders? Terry’s use of him is assinine. He can’t improve if he’s not allowed to play against them.
First off he has half the PA vs Lefties as Righties. Some of that is because there are more RHPs than LHP but some of it (as others have said here) is about not playing him vs Lefties….MISTAKE!
And I don’t really buy the numbers used to illustrate the point because they don’t reflect the real Ike Davis and are lowered by his long early season slump.
If you had showed me the numbers from June till now vs Lefties and had the same dropoff I might buy the premise.
In his Career Davis has the following numbers (and these include this year)
RHP 902 PA .265BA .356 OBP .493 SLG .849 OPS
LHP 344 PA .220BA .279 OBP .363 SLG .642 OPS
He might actually improve on those numbers if he wasn’t shielded from facing them.
And if we had a power hitting RH bat to protect him he would do a lot better vs Lefties than he does.
Hairston and bay are not that guy!