In Friday night’s game against the Nationals, Juan Lagares, who has spent a majority of time in center field in his major league career, got the start in left field while Yoenis Cespedes played in center.
Lagares has started 127 games in left field in his professional career. However, most of them came in his time with Double-A Binghamton as well as spending time playing left field in winter ball.
Mets manager Terry Collins said this could be a reoccurring theme going forward according to a report on ESPN New York.
“I want to get him comfortable in other places besides center field,” Collins said in regards to Lagares. “You never know where he’s going to play and what area’s we’re going to use him in. He’s open to it, but he’s got to play some other spots.”
Collins and his coaching staff are also debating whether or not to have Cespedes play center field almost on a full time basis this season.
“We’ve talked about whether or not moving him around is the best thing,” Collins said about Cespedes. He added that it’s not set in stone yet. “We haven’t decided that.”
In his time with the Tigers, Cespedes spent a majority of his time in left field, but once he was traded to the Mets, Cespedes spent most of the time in center field.
Cespedes recently told ESPN’s Marly Rivera that he is more comfortable playing left field, but is fine with playing center field for the Mets and manning down the position.
“If I had the choice, I would stay in left field. But I will play where the team needs me,” Cespedes told Rivera “If they want me to play center field, I’ll play center field, and I’ll do the best I can.”
Cespedes was widely expected to start in center field against right-handed pitching, with Michael Conforto in left field and Curtis Granderson in right field. But with a lefty on the mound it was believed Cespedes would shift to LF, Lagares plays in CF and Conforto moves to RF.
