Happy Birthday to New York Mets third basemen David Wright!
As Wright turns 27 today, we still have so much to look forward to from our homegrown all-star third baseman.
Last year David Wright had the worst season power-wise of his career. Wright hit just 10 homeruns, but with 39 doubles and 72 RBI. Also on the downside, he saw his strikeout rate jump 8% over his 2008 level. There were, however, still some positives from Wright. He posted a very solid .307 batting average along with a .390 OBP. The question is, where did his power go?
As we all know, 2009 was a terrible season for the Mets in terms of injuries. Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, and a slew of others missed significant time which crippled the heart of the Mets order.
The only player to not miss any significant time last season was David Wright, that is until he was hit in the head by a pitch toward the end of the season, but still he returned faster than anyone could have imagined.
As usual, Wright was positioned into the 3 hole and he was expected to hit his typical 25-30 homers while driving in 110 plus runs. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way, and worse yet he saw his contact, both inside and outside of the strike zone, fall significantly. His performance was down against almost all pitch types, most notably fastballs and sliders which he usually smashed. His offensive woes even translated negatively on the defensive side of the ball.
The argument for Wrights hitting woes was that Citi Field had diminished his power stroke, but his power was down both at home and on the road.
I’m not sure what this all means for Wright in 2010, but personally I still have the same lofty expectations for him as I’ve always had. Wright can still work some miracles for the Mets.
So Happy Birthday David Wright, and have yourself a great day!
You deserve it!
