I wonder what has gone through Jake Marisnick’s head this off-season? He comes to the New York Mets via trade as the Houston Astros cheating scandal sweeps across the world of baseball.
He instantly becomes the 4th outfielder of a solid offensive group that could use his speed in the lineup. He also knows his playing time could be cut if Yoenis Cespedes is healthy as well.
Then Michael Conforto gets injured and possibly ends up missing Opening Day. It’s unclear if that would have led to an increase in Marisnick’s playing time, but it probably would’ve resulted in a few extra plate appearances a week.
Then boom… the COVID-19 virus sweeps across the world and puts a stop to everything. It’s been a pretty crazy few months.
The Mets acquired Jake Marisnick from the Astros for Kenedy Corona and Blake Taylor. Jake was acquired essentially because the Mets needed a defensive minded center fielder.
This will be BVW’s second attempt at filling this type of role via a trade. His first attempt with Keon Broxton did not work out well (for either team in that trade) last season.
Marisnick doesn’t get on base much, but he does have some pop in his bat as evidenced in the difference between his OBP and SLG below.
2019 Stats: 318 PA, 292 AB, 10 HR, .233/.289/.411, 1.2 WAR, 68 DRC+
Cespedes is hoping for a comeback this season and the Mets outfield already has Nimmo and Conforto locked in at center and right field respectively.
Manager Luis Rojas had been hinting that Jeff McNeil and J.D. Davis were going to be bounce between the infield and left field. This doesn’t leave a lot of room for Jake but the Mets need someone who can play well defensively so his playing time should be safe.
Marisnick’s projections seem to fall along the same lines of his 2019 season. He won’t get on base that often, has some modest pop but that’s about it. We’ll have to wait and see how Rojas ends up balancing out Jake’s playing time.
Obviously with the cut in games for the 2020 season, it’s unlikely that Jake will see double digit homers except maybe if the Baseball Reference projection holds true. They are quite keen on his power, projecting his slugging far ahead of everyone else.
(Citations: BP projections come from the Baseball Prospectus Annual, a must read for all baseball fans and can be purchased here. ESPN comes from their fantasy baseball projections and can be found here. Both ZiPS and Steamer are found on FanGraphs. ZiPS can be found here, Steamer can be found here. BR comes from the Baseball Reference for this specific player and is linked earlier in the article)
