Eric Young Jr, who was scratched with a sore knee before the start of yesterday’s first game, is expected to return to the lineup today against the Nationals.
Young experienced soreness a day after his collision at first base with Tim Hudson on Thursday.
Young says he is not in any pain and proclaimed himself ready to play today.
“It felt a lot better today, Young said. “It’s just a matter of if I needed to explode, or score that run from first, could I give it that all-out that I’m capable of doing. With that question mark, there’s no sense.”
Young has cooled off considerably since starting his Mets career off wielding a .350 bat. He is batting .237 (9-for-38) in his last ten games and his average as a Met is now down to .275.
In an earlier post, I said that I see Young more as a solid 4th outfielder cut out of the same mold as Endy Chavez. I still stick by that. I hope he is not presented as an everyday player in 2014 because that’s been tried a few times in Colorado without much success before they waived him.
But you never know with this group… They’ve been making some terrible player personnel decisions in the past two years that have left me scratching my head and sometimes they get all hopped up on small sample sizes like fans do. Front offices are not supposed to do that.
Original Post 7/27
Yesterday in the game against the Braves, Eric Young Jr. was removed after three innings right knee pain. Young collided with Tim Hudson on Wednesday night who suffered a fractured ankle to wipe out his season.
“He’s OK, a little sore,” manager Terry Collins said after the game. “He came off after running the bases and said, ‘Listen, I’m having a tough time putting weight on it.’ So I took him out just to make sure. Hopefully there’s no damage and in 24 hours he’s OK.”
“We took precautionary X-rays,” Young said. “Everything came back negative. It’s just a matter of my comfort level.”
Sounds like it’s nothing too serious. Losing Young even for a few days puts a huge strain on the lineup given how ell he’s performed in the leadoff spot. Before the speedy outfielder arrived, Mets hitters were batting only .209 from the leadoff spot with a .289 on-base.
Now, since acquiring Young on June 18, he has grabbed the leadoff role and ran with it. He is batting .279 as a Met with a .351 on-base and he’s stolen 12 bases.
“He’s done such a nice job for us in the leadoff spot,” David Wright said. “If he had to miss any time it’d be a blow.”
What I love most about Young is how he bursts out of the box and runs full throttle on every hit ball, putting pressure on the opposing team to get him at first. He make every infield grounder such a close play and on many occasions he earns a basehit just on his hustle.
