Lucas Duda continues to struggle mightily at the plate and Wednesday night’s 0-for-5 performance with four strikeouts might have been his worst showing yet. He followed that up with another hitless performance and two more strikeouts in the 6-1 loss in the series finale against the Cubs.
“It’s a pretty prolonged stretch for me, just because I’m not doing the things I’m capable of,” Duda told reporters.
Duda has just seven hits in his last 52 at-bats, a .135 average since June 17. His average has dropped 27 points, on-base percentage 24 points and slugging percentage 56 points.
Duda’s struggles are just a microcosm for the Mets’ offense. They have been shut out nine times this season, including four times since June 17, and have been held to two or fewer runs in 12 of their last 14 games.
“I’ve hit a few balls hard right at people, but that’s the nature of the beast. It’s frustrating, obviously, when guys go out and pitch well and we’re not able to capitalize with runners in scoring position. It’s very frustrating.”
He’s not making any contact and he looks like a deer in the headlights when he’s up at the plate. He’s taking first pitch strikes at an alarming rate and once he’s in the hole he’s just chasing pitches out of the zone like we saw a lot of in 2013.
Duda is also a big reason for the Mets appalling record on the road, the worst in baseball. Batting predominantly in the third spot, the Mets first baseman is batting .216 on the road with a .628 OPS in 148 plate appearances and only 8 runs batted in.
He looks lost up there and he has to find a way to work his way out of this if the Mets are to have any chance to make some noise in the second half.
Duda was one of those players we were counting on this season. He was playing the one position that the Mets were supposedly set at. In fact, both sides were even discussing a multi-year contract extension before the season. Talks ended on opening day after both sides failed to reach an agreement.
Hitting coach Kevin Long worked extensively with Duda in the offseason and spring training, and after a hot start in April, Long told reporters Duda was on the verge of super-stardom. That seems so long ago now. We’ve got to get him back on track. Give him a couple of days off, review some video, and get him in the cage. Without him returning to that lethal force in the middle of our lineup, we might be doomed.
(Updated 7/3)
