Lost in the midst of a thrilling win over the Philadelphia Phillies last night was the fact that the Mets starting catcher, Travis d’Arnaud, plated yet another run last night. He continues to lead the team in that category with seven RBI’s in as many games.
Lucas Duda has also emerged as the best all-around offensive threat on the team when many were unsure he’d be able to even replicate last year’s performance. Given the current rate of play for both players, combined with the fact that David Wright and Michael Cuddyer may both miss time due to injury, the Mets may need to circle back on how their lineup is structured.
Ironically, the Mets have batted Wright second in a metrics driven attempt to maximize his plate appearances, but the best hitter on the team has been Duda. The traditional approach would obviously be to bat the 29 year old first baseman cleanup, given his power potential, but the number three spot has made him a balanced hitter with options in terms of run production.
With high on base candidates batting first and second, he’ll have opportunities to drive in runs. In 2014, with runners in scoring position, Duda was a .303/.444/.664 (1.108 OPS) hitter and so far this year, he’s continued that trend with RISP, going 2-5 with a walk and five runs batted in. The top of the order has been key for him, whether or not that the on base production that’s existed in front of him so far will stay consistent is questionable, mainly due to the loss of the team’s third baseman.
Wright has always been an on base machine and he continued generate great production on the year before tweaking his hamstring last night. A key piece to the theory established in this article is finding a viable replacement in the number two hole, as Wright’s on base skills have been crucial for Duda’s RBI production. A possible solution is to move Granderson back to to the two hole with Juan Lagares leading off, as was the case in spring training, but the latter has got to improve his plate discipline before that combination will be effective.
Thankfully, Curtis Granderson has generated a league leading 10 walks, while getting on base at a .406 clip and scoring six runs in eight games. We all know he was paid to be a middle of the order power threat, but hey, he’s producing at a valuable rate- just much differently than we all anticipated.
Regardless, Duda (.406 OBP) can play a big part in run production, even in the event that the RBI opportunities created by Wright fail to be replaced in the Captain’s absence. Look, at 6’5 and around 255 lbs, no one is expecting Duda to be a speedy base threat, but he gets on base at a high clip and can still score from second on a base hit. Michael Cuddyer was off to a slow, albeit improving, start before being nailed by a pitch last night so the power hasn’t been directly behind Duda to take advantage of his high on base percentage. Enter Travis d’Arnaud.
With bases empty, d’Arnaud has been taking some serious home run cuts that often result in a wasted plate appearance, but his compact, line drive hitting approach with men on base has been extremely efficient. TDA has shown a ton of maturity at the plate in RBI situations this season and in the cleanup spot, he may unexpectedly maximize the scoring potential for the hitters in front of him- even a mack truck of a human being like Lucas Duda.
Honestly, Duda and d’Arnaud have the potential to be the best hitters on the team and while I can appreciate the respect Terry Collins has for his veterans, the willingness to sacrifice production just to fit a traditional school of thought will only increase the pressure on the skipper to get the offense going. Drop Michael Cuddyer (upon his return) and Daniel Murphy in the order and let Duda and TDA get the run mill churning at the #3 and #4 spots.
Lets! Go! Mets!
