New York Mets captain David Wright has played third base in his entire major league career so far and has been pretty solid at it. He is a two time Gold Glover who won the award at third base back in 2007 and 2008 and his defense has been good for a long time. Until 2015.
Wright has struggled defensively this season mainly because of the spinal stenosis injury that caused him to miss a large portion of the season. From 2012-2014, Wright averaged 11 defensive runs saved per year, and his total of 34 ranked him fifth at the third base position. But in 38 games in 2015, his defensive value cost the Mets eight runs.
His issues went unnoticed during most of the regular season because the Mets were winning. But in the World Series, mainly in Game 1 and Game 5, it became more noticeable. In Game 1 Wright committed an error in the 14th inning that led the way to the winning run scored for the Royals. In Game 5, his slow throw to first base in the ninth inning was a big factor to Eric Hosmer‘s decision to run to home plate which he did score as the tying run.
What has affected Wright most defensively, was his throws. His arm now consistently loops throws across the diamond. It just shows how serious and significant Wright’s spinal stenosis injury was.
According to Mark Simon of ESPN New York, one solution could be Wright perhaps learning another position. First base appears to be the most logical option. Wright can play it 20 or 30 times next season, and he can platoon with Lucas Duda there, with Wright starting against tough lefty pitching.
One player Wright can look up to for this supposed transition is Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman who was a third baseman for awhile before recently switching to first base. Wright and Zimmerman are long time friends from back in their Virginia days growing up.
Simon adds that Wright can still hold his own at that position offensively. He may not hit 30 home runs, but he should still be good enough for 20 home runs a season if he’s healthy. His on-base percentage in 2015 was a solid .379.
Wright. who is still owed $87 million over the next five seasons, could play first base part time in 2016 and then he can transition to full time in 2017. The Mets then could trade Duda if needed and could get good value for him because of Duda’s power prowess.
When Wright plays first, the Mets can turn to Wilmer Flores at third base, or they could consider bringing back Juan Uribe.
