I just read a solid all-encompassing article on the newest Mets Chris Young by ESPN’s Mark Simon. I’d encourage you all to read the full article here.
Pros
Young does two things as a hitter that would seem to be appealing to Mets management. One is that he hits for power, with four seasons of at least 20 home runs. And the kind of power that should survive Citi Field.
Of his 12 home runs last season, six were termed “no doubters,” by Hittrackeronline.com, meaning the ball cleared the fence by at least 20 vertical feet and landed at least 50 feet past the fence.
The other is that he walks in 11% of his plate appearances over the last three seasons.
Cons
Young is a career .235 hitter. His batting average rates fifth-lowest among the 136 players whom Baseball-Reference.com deems active, who have at least 3,000 at-bats. His .200 batting average in 2013 also ranked fifth-worst among those with at least 300 at-bats (he had 335).
The other is that he hits a lot of fly balls and pop ups. When Young has hit the ball over the past three seasons, it has been a fly ball or line drive 70 percent of the time, the highest rate in the sport.
Thoughts
Simon says that Young has been inconsistent on defense and is a decent base-stealer with a 76% success rate. He compares him to a former Mets center fielder which I wont divulge as you really should check out his complete article. It’s a good read and very informative.
I don’t know how I feel yet about this signing. I’m going to wait and see what some of the other moves are and then figure out how all the pieces fit together. But on it’s own, I can’t say that I’m excited.
