There have been many reasons for the struggles of the New York Mets this season, a season that continues to whither away, leaving everyone searching for answers.
One reason that cannot be discounted has been the performance – or lack of – from outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who has been less than what anyone expected going into the 2017 season.
So far this year, Cespedes is hitting .273/.328/.491 with nine homers and 20 RBI. These numbers are all the more troubling when you consider Cespedes was off to a tremendous start this season, after an April that saw him post a .270/.373/.619 batting line with six homers and 10 RBI.
Since June 24, nearly a month, Cespedes is batting .190 with a .203 OBP and .206 slugging percentage. In that span of 67 plate appearances he has just one RBI and no homers. Manager Terry Collins, addressed the issue on Tuesday with reporters.
“Obviously, power is huge from the legs. Just looking at the swings, the lower half seems to be fine. He’s just not getting the bat out in front. He’s getting beat on some balls in. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the lower half because I think that’s still intact, but I can’t say it isn’t.”
Cespedes, 31, missed 37 games earlier this season with sore quad and a strained hamstring. The quad and hip issues are very concerning and have now plagued him for two consecutive seasons. Unlike last season when he was allowed to play through the injury before ending up on the disabled list, the Mets have been much more cautious this time.
But Cespedes keeps showing signs that he may not be 100 percent healed right now. He is hitless in nine at-bats since missing Sunday’s game with a sore hip and one can only wonder if that hip is affecting his performance.
Collins said yesterday, that Cespedes feels fine and he remains optimistic that things will eventually turn around for him and that we’ll soon see the Yoenis Cespedes we’ve all become familiar with.
“He hasn’t complained about it. He’s just not getting the bat to the baseball where he normally does. I’m not sure he’s ever been through anything like this before in his whole career. He’s trying to get himself undone and get it going and when he does he’ll start to carry us again.”
Hopefully, we’ll see Cespedes return to form and become the dominant force in the lineup the Mets were counting on when they signed him to a four-year $110 million dollar contract last offseason. Looking forward to 2018, the team needs Cespedes to be that MVP-caliber player we all witnessed in 2015 and 2016.
