Mickey Callaway decided to start Juan Lagares against left-hander Gio Gonzalez last night, who he has owned throughout his career to date.
Coming into last night’s game, Lagares had gone 17-44 (.386) against the Gonzalez for his career. He continued that trend Tuesday night as he went 2-2 with a walk against the lefty while making out in his last at-bat to go 2-3 on the night.
Okay, for starters, Lagares needs to play whenever the team faces Gonzalez as he just flat out has owned him for his career.
However, this is not the only pitcher that he has fared well against this season. So far, the 29-year old has played well against most of his match-ups, having a .385 average in 26 at-bats this season.
Yes, that is obviously a very small sample size.
The thing to keep an eye on his how he has been used and how he is responding right now. So far, he has only been used on an occasional basis, mostly against left-handed pitchers, which has been working out very well.
On top of it, his calling card, as we all know, is his defense which has been superb in its own right. He already has three defensive runs saved this season, which if he were to get at least one more this month, would put him on pace for around 24 on the season.
That number is easily considered Gold Glove caliber, especially when it is factored in that he has only started seven of the Mets first 16 games.
With a crowded outfield, that might be all we can expect to see from the center fielder, as there simply is just nowhere to put him in the lineup on a regular basis right now.
Whatever the case, Lagares has been proving throughout the month of April that he still has a role on this team, and an important one at that.
