The New York Mets are finally a threat for the long ball. Since the All-Star break the Mets have hit a total of 38 homeruns. They are tied for first with one other team in the National League – the Colorado Rockies. The Mets will meet up with those Rockies when they begin a three game series in the bandbox known as Coors Field this coming weekend.
While there is a lot to contribute to the Mets recent surge to the top of the NL East, one must certainly be the fact that the Mets are starting to not only hit homeruns, but at a consistent rate. They currently have three players with 20+ homeruns in their starting lineup, Curtis Granderson (22), Lucas Duda (21), and Yoenis Cespedes with 20. The Mets are the only team currently in the NL that can say that.
While homeruns just may be one aspect of the game, it’s one the Mets have lacked the past several years. In 2009 the Mets were dead last in the NL with just a total of 95 long balls. Since that year the Mets have never been better than 9th overall in the NL in that category. They finished 9th just last season with a total of 125 homeruns, and the 2015 Mets are easily on pace to beat that total having already hit 113, good for 5th in the NL.
Part of the issue is that since the likes of Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado have come and gone, the Mets have never really had a true power hitter. The Mets finally found one in Lucas Duda last year, when he hit a total of 30. Accompanying Duda now are the likes of Curtis Granderson and Yoenis Cespedes, as well as guys like Wilmer Flores, Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson, and suddenly the Mets are now more apt to hit the long ball in any game at any time.
It’s critically important for this Mets team to continue this trend. They are not the fastest team in the league by any stretch of the imagination, and while playing station to station baseball is all well and good, it sure helps a team’s confidence when they can take a three run lead on one swing of the bat.
So while I’m not asking you to stand up and jump for joy over this, it’s still a sight for sore eyes to see the Mets finally have multiple homerun threats up and down their lineup. It’s something they haven’t had for quite some time, and it’s something that will hopefully continue down their stretch run to the playoffs.
