New York Mets manager Terry Collins is leaning heavily toward David Wright as his No. 2 hitter this season, explaining that players with a high OBP and OPS at the top of the lineup can get the offense going.
“We are going to go back to the importance of what we did last year, and one of the things we did was take the guys with the best OPS, the best on-base and stuck them in the front of the lineup,” Collins said on Saturday. “As you saw throughout baseball, the No. 2 hitter became a big hitter in a lot of lineups.” (New York Post)
Despite missing most of the season, Wright led the team with a .379 OBP in 38 games in 2015, followed by Curtis Granderson who was second with a .364 OBP. The Mets captain has a career .377 on-base.
When Collins was asked if second baseman Neil Walker could be an option to bat second, but the Mets skipper said he preferred him batting lower in the order.
“He’s had some issues a little bit right-handed because he really doesn’t face a lot of lefties,” Collins said. “Still, to have his bat as a switch-hitter in the middle of your lineup, perhaps as opposed to being early, you might benefit from it.”
A couple of weeks ago, Collins previewed his starting lineup as follows:
- Curtis Granderson
- David Wright
- Yoenis Cespedes
- Lucas Duda
- Neil Walker
- Michael Conforto
- Travis d’Arnaud
- Asdrubal Cabrera
Funny thing about Collins referring to OPS… Last week in an interview with USA Today, he actually mocked that stat specifically, saying he doesn’t need stats like that to know a good player when he sees one.
