4
2012
Wright Is Batting .246 Since The All-Star Break
An article by 
One of the bright spots in this Mets roller coaster season has been the resurgence and leadership of All-Star third baseman David Wright.
His .400 average through nearly the first two months of the season, and the MVP talk alongside Andrew McCutchen and Joey Votto in early July, gave fans something to get behind in addition to the Amazin’s surprising first half. However, with the fall of Flushing’s Finest off of cloud nine, so too has gone the season for the Mets’ franchise player.
| AB’s | AVG/OBP/SLG | Runs | Hits | 2B | HRs | RBIs | BB | K | |
| Wright 1st Half | 302 | .351/.441/.561 | 56 | 109 | 27 | 11 | 59 | 60 | 47 |
| Wright 2nd Half | 183 | .246/.336/.399 | 23 | 45 | 10 | 6 | 20 | 31 | 56 |
Through the first half, David Wright was on pace for a 22 HR and 117 RBI season with 210 hits, 111 runs and 119 walks.
He was among the league leaders in average, OBP, OPS walks, hits, doubles and RBIs. More importantly however, Wright was making contact, going down on strikes only 15.5% of the time. Working with Dave Hudgens, the 29-year old was seemingly erasing his inconsistent past three seasons. It appeared as if the David Wright of 2007 and 2008 had finally returned to form.
However, once the banners for the 2012 All-Star Game came down from Kauffman Stadium and baseball’s finest returned to their respective teams, Wright came back much more aggressive at the plate. It brought the two-time Silver Slugger a nice power stroke for about ten days, but after which resulted in a drastic spike in strikeouts. That 15.5% punchout rate, has nearly doubled to 30.6%.
20 home runs, 67 RBIs and 156 punchouts; that is the pace Wright is on in the second half. His average on the season has now dropped to a season low .311, a long stretch from his .405 back in late May. Entering this winter in which the Mets and their franchise player will likely meet to discuss –or at least entertain a discussion regarding– a new deal at some point, this regression that has been the second half for Wright could play a major role in determining his future with the organization. From Alderson and the ownership’s point of view, this player has not had a consistently productive year since 2008. Is it too much a risk to sign him to a 5,6, 7 year contract? Doesn’t this all sound all too familiar?
David Wright carried this Mets offense through their first half, but once he faltered, so too did the ballclub in the standings, losing 13 of their first 15 games after the All-Star break, a stretch in which Wright had a .233 average and a .319 OBP. Obviously there were more factors in that pitiful stretch, but this lineup is so centered around him that once his bat goes silent, this offense is anemic at best.
It also brings up the question, Can David Wright be relied upon as “that guy” in the middle of your order you can be burdened with that responsibility? Is he someone the Amazin’s can build around, or is he better suited helping another team form a championship, because 2013 is Wright’s contract year, and this team is still a long way away from becoming a serious World Series contender.
This season was as Wright said “baby steps”, for both the Mets, and him. He began to come back from his rocky 2009-2011, however has taken a turn down the road that led him to that three year mental battle. The question is, were these baby steps enough for Wright to want to remain with the Mets, and Wright’s baby steps enough for Sandy Alderson and ownership to feel comfortable retaining their star third baseman.
As David Wright goes, so do the Mets.
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
47 Comments + Add Comment
Recent Comments
- Scott Rice’s Surgeon: on Reds vs Mets: Harvey Looks For Sixth Win, Hawkins Unavailable Today, Red Hot Byrd Batting Fifth: Why am I Terry Collins' only fan...
- Michelle: on Reds vs Mets: Harvey Looks For Sixth Win, Hawkins Unavailable Today, Red Hot Byrd Batting Fifth: The Mets just need to get 2...
- BadBadLeroyBrown: on Sandy Disappointed With Some Of His Moves And The Team’s Performance: "Plus D’Araud can be an all-star for...
- Jimmy Pernil: on Sandy Disappointed With Some Of His Moves And The Team’s Performance: Actually, Balderson inherited a team who was...
- USMF: on MLB Denies Mets Appeal On Harvey Run: How does he still have a job?...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5381 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1269 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
hard to understand why you would change anything mid-year (on purpose) considering how well he was doing. Unless somehow the “need more HRs” mindset crept back in?
if that was the case, this stretch should be neough to prove he has to go back, and stay back, at the old style regardless of how many HRs he hits (though he was at a 20+ pace anyway, so hard to think that was the reason,?)
O Captain my Captain! our trip is still not done,
The prize we sought is still not won,
O the bleeding drops of orange and blue,
Where on the deck my Captain appears,
Fallen and ice cold.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up It yours and our dream.
That Our ship reach port and that we have won;
you know what’s truly amazing to me? How the first half of the season, well, for most of the first half the mets were winning and the word “Captain” of the team was associated to him in every comment, however, since the mets started losing, and the man went ice cold, i have not heard the word captain around here ONCE. Gets winning and hitting gets you to be phantom captain of the team huh?
My problem with it is, that a “captain” of a team should be mention whether the team win or lose no? this is a losing team, considerably a losing franchise, why the need for a captain on a losing team? You don’t see KC having a captain do you? Because they’re a losing franchise, losing franchise do not assign team captains.
The late Ron Santo was named captain of the cubs from 1960 to 1973. The cubs won nothing especially during 1969.
My post was a takeoff of Walt Whitman’s poem ‘O Captain, My Captain’ which he wrote after the assassination of President Lincon.
Ahhh… Yeah… That’s the main reason why.. If you got a losing team, a losing franchise, why on earth would you name somebody a captain. Of what??? a losing team? please, gimme a break!
My friend I am one of the biggest critics of DW. I never said he should be named captain in my post. I think we should consider offers and sign and trade him if the return with prospects and at least one everyday player filis a need warrants trading him. Ron Santo’s captainship tenure dispels your statement about captains only on winning teams. What the heck did the cubs win when he was captain. Answer nothing.
Alex knows I have fought his biases towards Wright for many years but I think the idea of naming a captain is quite ridiculous. This isn’t high school baseball, these are guys paid to perform.
That being said, I think at this point the best thing the Mets can do is exhaust every attempt to extend him between now and the winter meetings and if nothing is worked out I am not sure you have a choice. However, where on earth are the Mets going to replace his offense, streaky or not in the next 2 years?
Question for you TRS, how much would you give him??
Great question, I am not sure my teaching and coaching supplement will be enough to cover him… LOL.
As for the Mets?
I think something along the lines of 5/90-110 with some option years is about my max.
Fair enough.. I think about the same to be honest. 5 years MAX though.
I think 5 years is the max for guarnteed for sure. However, I would leave some option years in with buyouts that can accommodate both sides. Basically 6th year, 20M contract with 5M buyout, for each additional year the buyout would decrease.
I agree, and that is what I have thrown out there in the past.
something like pick up the option (17?), then add 5/90 to it, with an option for 18. 3 mill buyout.
that would be 6/110 guaranteed, with potential for 7/124. And that is probably stretching it, since he will be what, 31 when the extension kicks in?
If that won’t do it, and he can find a team to go over the top, then he will be gone.
Your last line, if the Mets do offer a fair contract and Wright doesn’t sign by the winter meetings then so be it indeed. See what you can get but keep that contract talk silent because it will lower his value tremendously.
This I agree with.
If they do give him an offer and he turns it down, you have to trade him now.
As to keeping it quiet…..lol…..like that’s happening….
Well much to the dismay of some of the counterparts of the FO this one does seem to keep things closer to the vest so it’s entirely possible that they could even be working on that contract right now.
Yeah this. Captains in MLB aren’t really anything more than a cheesy PR-type thing. It has no real meaning.
And the Mets should extend Wright. Yeah it sucks that he sucked so far in the second half…but slumps happen. He’s still more productive than anyone they are going to get…especially at 3b
Exactly, captains are named for the fans. Leaders are ones chosen by their teammates.
Hotstreak, i am not disgreeing with you, my point is/was that wright’s name was thrown out there as a leader, captain etc when the team was winning, as soon as the mets started free falling, the word leader or captain associated with his name was and has not ever been heard again.. Because nobody wants a captain or to be a captain for that matter of a losing team/franchise….
Alex: I see your point. But with a young team you need leaders like Wright ( see note) who is NOT officially a captain. A leader loses his leverage when he does not perform well. Maybe that answers your question. My post on ‘O Captain my Captain’should be considered a paradoy and not one by a person (usually female) who goes agog over DW. By the way how is Derek Jeter leading the Yankees these days.
Note: DW is not a true leader but a mentor. There is a difference. A leader is comfortable holding team meetings and gets the team to respond to his message. A mentor goes one and one with a rookie and teaches him how to dress and carry himself etc.
David Wright is being walked a lot more because opposing pitchers don’t fear the Mets’ lineup. I saw him walked three times in a recent game and when he is pitched to the pitchers can be more selective. I like his approach at the plate and remember pitchers catch up to the hitters in the second half of the season, even the good ones.
Or… Or… It’s because that new phylosphy of “patient” approach has caught up to him?? No?? Maybe? It seems OBP is more important to players than get the RBI. Pathetic..
Alex, do you honestly think that Wright is suddenly taking a more patient approach? Like OBP is suddenly something he cares about?
I don’t.
I think the rest of the league woke up and realized Wright was the only legitimate threat in that lineup and were giving absolutely nothing to hit.
Maybe his OBP was high and good enough and now he needs HR’s. Which leads to a higher and expensive contract
Moving your target now Alex? I know one thing, I am sure you are now more comfortable and in your element now that he is struggling.
Now lets finish your first accusation before moving to the next.
Wright’s OBP from 2005-2009 was .394, I guess Hudgens approach was getting to him then too?
Noticed the Wink?? Again, we should trade the guy imho. i am tired of hearing excuses as to when he’s struggles, this is what he is, he’s a streaky kind of hitter, when he’s hot, you cannot get him out, when he’s cold, this is what he is.. He’d still probably finish around 300 with roughly 20 HR and 90+ RBI. which is still pretty good, however, considerably bad if we compare it at the pace he was at a one point during the season where he was projected to hit 350 28 126 435 568
We all knew his numbers in the beginning were not sustainable. But even if he is streaky and not the cornerstone of the offense, who the hell are we getting to replace his offense if he is traded? I am not saying I wouldn’t consider it and I know pitching is more important but now that we are starting to get our head above water with young pitching, we have NONE, NO offensive players even close to being ready and being an impact player to replace Wright. So at this point, I know it seems odd but if Wright is traded it has to be for impact offensive players and I am not sure if that is available through trade anymore.
Because his average is still well over .300 you would thing all is fine with Wright, but the truth is he’s looking like the same Wright we saw from 2009-2011 and that player we saw in the first half was the fluke and not what we are seeing now. But he’s still a top five third basemen and should be re-signed. He’s just a very good player and not a super star like Fred Wilpon said.
That’s what we need to remember, that regardless if Wright is A or B he is still playing a position where offense is not a guarantee and even in his down years he was among the NL leaders. If you decide to trade him for a bounty of prospects, you have to have some idea how to move forward replacing his production, even if it isn’t enough to carry a team.
This again? Why would any pitcher give David Wright anything to hit when the players around him are hitting .190?
Why do you think Wright leads the Majors in intentional walks!
What we saw earlier this season, and have also seen in the past, is how great Wright can be when the hitters behind him and in front of him are doing at least a good, but not great job of hitting.
When Duda, Nieuwenhuis and Murphy were in the .300′s early in the year we saw the effect on Wright. He was raking. When those guys started to slump Wright saw less and less pitches to hit.
What we need is a bonafide power bat or two from Alderson this offseason.
For just one month I’d like to see Davis and Wright both hot at the same time? Can you imagine the ripple effect on the entire lineup? Can you imagine a legitimate right handed power hitter batting fifth behind Ike and what that would do for both #5 and #29?
Very true, for Wright to not chase breaking pitches and get behind in the count he has to have a pitcher willing to pitch to him.
Exactly!!
Well to be fair, Ike is hitting much better now that he was earlier in the year. And since he’s hitting directly behind Wright he probably has more impact on the pitches Wright sees than anyone else. (Though he still looks awful at times, especially against LHP so maybe pitchers don’t really fear him yet).
And Murph and Duda weren’t exactly lighting it on fire consistently the whole first half. They both had brief hot stretches, but stunk for awhile too…and Wright still hit well pretty much the whole first half. So I don’t think its all about the rest of the lineup. He was getting pitched around a ton in the first half too…the difference was he wasn’t swinging at the bad pitches (and he was hitting the pitches when they did throw strikes)
Ah…didn’t see this reply when I responded above.
What you said, Gina. Makes perfect sense.
Again, Mets fans don’t learn because they’re so in love with this guy for some reason.
- He’s NOT a go-to guy. Like I said in the past he’s a 3rd or 4th best player on a team, or even a 5th if you include his entire game
- He’s NOT a guy you build around. He’s a guy you acquire to build around the pieces you have
- He’s NOT a leader. He’s only the guy with the most time served on a bad team but he’s NO leader. The only reason the leader/captain thing lasted so long this year is because most of the team is newer guys. Before that we heard the captain thing every single spring and it usually disappeared like 2 weeks into the season when the rest of the team would wind up following guys like Beltran or somebody else.
He’s not a go-to guy, he’s NOT a leader. He’s a good player that can hit well, is a 3rd – 4th best run producer on a good team and should be paid as such. He’s also an okay fielder, his hustle leaves a lot to be desired and although he has had some big hits this year you put it into the context of the type of season they had. Let’s see him get big hits during a pennant run for whatever team he winds up with before i can ever believe he’s turned some kind of corner in that department.
So until then, he’s STILL not a clutch player either.
*should read 3rd or 4th best player on a GOOD team
This is true I couldnt have said it better.
I was also surprised when all the young players and guys like Willie Harris(A Vet) mentioned Reyes as the unquestionable leader of the team.
And quite honestly if you payed attention throughout the season it was evident Reyes was the leader with something subtle as that claw/spotlight thingy that every player on the team did. Which was spearheaded by Reyes.
A lot of people didnt like it but i loved it and im sure many young kids(fans) loved it as well, they looked like they were loose and having fun. I would bring my kids to one of those Mets game if they were having fun and playing like they did last year because I know theyd have fun watching that team. But not this year this team is a drag they are lifeless, last years squad fought even when they were losing
So you are saying last year’s team fought harder than this year’s team? Boy that’s quantifiable.
TRS is right in saying:
Well much to the dismay of some of the counterparts of the FO this one does seem to keep things closer to the vest so it’s entirely possible that they could even be working on that contract right now.
Like for example, not making an offer to Jose Reyes, who can honestly say they saw that coming?
LOL, I am pretty sure most of us assumed he was not coming back. There are exceptions to every rule but I stand by the fact that they are not as open in the media.
Just an FYI, but did you see this post?
http://metsblog.com/metsblog/david-wright-has-struggled-in-the-2nd-half-this-season/
Looked like it came right out of yours.
Joe D and Metsmerized has officially surpassed Cerrone & SNYblog……..Ooops I mean….Metsblog.
He definitely should have linked Claytons article since thats where he got the idea. They do it with Adam Rubin all the time, they have become a strictly copy paste blog.
I also love how he suggests Wright is struggling because he is trying to overcompensate for the teams struggles and mentions 2007 & 2008 just totally skips over the most recent years of 2009 to the present 2012 the most recent trend!!!
I’m tired of that excuse that Wright is struggling because he’s trying to carry the team. When is Wright ever struggling because of bad pitch recognition, bad at bats….When is he ever to blame for his poor play???
EXCUSE EXCUSES EXCUSES!!!!
I’ve never heard Pujols is struggling because he is trying too hard to carry the team. That is pure fanboy talk
They should re do here what they did there… Lol, just for kicks sake..
Team MMO
Joe D – Executive Editor
Met Maniac – Pitching Analysis
Alex68 – Position player Analysis
Metsie – Fan Correspondent
Vinny B/Leroy – Roster Analysis
Donal – Intern.
LMAO!!!!!!!!
How about do Joe D riding Shotgun with Justin Hampson lololololoolllool….
Lmao, next to that happening he should write “the greatest moment of my life” !!!
Actually they did use that excuse earlier in the season for Pujols when he was struggling.
I am not big on the idea of a “captain” naming but I also believe many people just use this “leader” aspect as a talking point to hear the sound of their fingers tap a keyboard.
First – who are we to say whether he is a leader? I’ve heard players and TC say that Wright as well as Johan are the team’s leaders. Heck in June he even said he wasn’t going to give the team any pep talks prior to playing NYY but leaving it to Wright & Johan.
So what I don’t really understand is if we’re being told he’s the leader – who are we to say it’s wrong?
Second – Who is the leader on Baltimore? Oakland? Pittsburgh? etc. Does it default to the best player?
What do you want from a “leader” that you don’t see from David Wright? You can’t tell me performance, because there’s no rule that says to be the leader you need to be the best on the team (See: Jason Varitek). And Wright’s performance has clearly lead the team in many areas. I mean, are we trying to say he was a leader in the 1st half but not the 2nd half?
You can’t tell me actions because he fought to stay on the field, has played through injury, and has stood up for his teammates (like when Ike got upset over called 3rd strike).
So what do you want? What makes a baseball player a leader to you? I feel like people just say it because it makes them sound more knowledgeable.