David Wright had just four hits in 20 bats during the team’s recently-concluded five-game home stand.
He struck out roughly half of his plate appearances.
Wright did make two fantastic plays on defense Sunday, which you can read about in the Daily News.
Wright is batting .405 on the road, but just .271 in Citi Field this season.
What’s worse, Wright is striking out roughly 30 percent of his at bats in Citi Field, but just 18 percent of his at bats on the road.
In looking at his season as a whole, and his career for that matter, it seems Wright is just super streaky.
He’ll appear totally locked-in for 10 games or so, looking focused, with a level swing, all while hitting the other way; then, in the blink of an eye, for the next 10 days, he’ll return to looking uncomfortable, with a looping swing, while missing outside pitches and appearing pull-happy.
In Wright’s first 38 at bats of the season, the majority of which were on the road, he hit .342.
During the next 44 at bats, most all of which were in Citi Field, he hit .227; then hit .457 through the following 70 at bats, which were split between home and away.
Since, he’s batting just .179 in his last 28 at bats, most all of which were at home over the last week.
In other words, hot, cold, very hot, then very cold.
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Is there a player in baseball that doesn’t have hot or cold streaks??
DWright has a 140 OPS+ this year which is right at his career # of 139. Despite his cold streaks, he remains one of the games top hitters.
My only concern… he leads the league in caught stealing. I’d suggest he either get better, or attempt fewer steals!
Am I the only one worried most that he only has 3 home runs? What will we think if he ends the year with 11 homers? And what would that say about his value to the team. I love DWright and I am concerned.
More often than not, it seems like wright’s troubles are happening @ Citi Field. Perhaps he is not seeing the ball as well here or is trying to adjust his swing for the ballpark. At time this week he looked completly lost, getting fooled with fastballs or changeups when he was looking for something else. If he picks it up in Pittsbugh tonight, then it might be the ballpark!
I’m not a hitting instructor, so I won’t pretend to know what is wrong with Wright’s overall hitting mechanics. However, there are some baffling and somewhat disturbing points.
1) Where is his power? Wright is on pace for 10 home runs this season. 10! Some will blame Citi Field, but Wright isn’t hitting for power on the road either.
2) Some will say that he is hitting for a better batting average, so that may be a tradeoff. Really? He is batting .333. It’s not like he’s batting .375.
3) You can’t blame Citi Field for his strike outs.
4) I have no doubt that Wright’s power will come around, but let’s not pretend that there isn’t a problem right now with his swing and approach at the plate.
Naturally, Wright is a 25 HR guy with .315+ batting average. Some years he will hit more (33 last year), and some years less (probably this year). But I don’t think we should ever expect him to be a bona fide power hitting third baseman.
Going based on his career numbers, his OBP is about 40 higher than normal, and his SLG is about 50 pts down, so it is approximately a wash towards his overall OPS…
I really agree with Hernandez when he says Wright should not be trying to hit for power. This guy may never hit 40HR but he could certainly win a batting title in his lifetime.
I’m also not a professional hitting instructor so I won’t pretend to know, but it looks to me like his swing has been more of an uppercut at home. This might be a result of him trying to put air under the ball to put one out of the park, I don’t know, just a thought.
The only thing to be concerned about is the lack of power. Im sure he will turn it around, but it isn’t like he has been hitting a lot of deep doubles. It’s been mostly gap shots for Wright, which is not a bad thing, just saying he hasn’t been approaching the ball as a power hitter which is ultimately a good thing with the way this team plays ball, but it would be nice for him to be able to punish a pitcher for hanging a pitch or grooving him one.
Wright has had stretches in which is power has disappeared…The clearest example to me is Post ASG 2006 – April 2007…I have no clue why it happens, but it does, and his power does come back. When it does, he shows it often, hitting HR’s in bunches. The weather is starting to warm up, and when it does, the ball tends to fly. Lets see how is HR numbers look in about a month.
That being said, Wright isn’t a masher….He is at his best when he is spraying line drives to all fields, and he has been doing that this year. At the end of the day, his HR’s are down, but his OBP is 40 points better than his career norms, resulting in a OPS roughly flat to his career rate. For the record, this CAN affect his road games, as he is becoming more conscious about maintaining a level swing, due to how Citi plays, and that is the same swing he uses on the road.
Furthermore, pitchers have been working around him more, as a result of little protection (when batting #5)- the evidence of this is in his BB totals…Per 162 games, Wright has been gobod for about 80 free passes. However, he is on pace for 104 this year.
This approach from pitchers could also partly explain his high K rates, as Wright tries to do too much, when the pitcher tries to work around Wright…I can understand how that would be frustrating for him. However, as his recent hot streak showed, when he stays within himself, he gets ample opportunity.
I think Citi Field is in the heads of many a met hitter and they need to just focus on putting good swings on the ball, homeruns will come, even in that park. April/May late Sept and Octover are going to be dead ball months there. It is going to carry better June, July, August.
On Wright, he is pressing in front of the home crowd, he and anyone else can say differently but he is no longer taking what is given to him he is thinking far too much.
lol, ya know, Whenever a player says they are not pressing…why would we believe them. Not to say that’s always the case, but a player isn’t gonna say “you know, I’m real nervous at home, and ya know, with the crowd and giant scoreboard staring me in the face, I’m pressing big time”
Exactly what I was going to say. Matt’s statistics prove more than anything that he’s not just streaky, but that he’s having trouble in Citi. May be the pressure’s a little more, may be he still gets the jitters, but whatever the reason, he seems a lot more loose and relaxed on the road.
Everyone’s claiming not to be a hitting instructor, yet deposit their 5 cents anyway. It’s easy to tell that he’s pulling off balls and looping his swing – it’s the correcting the swing that’s difficult. It’s not like Xbox where you can make a quick adjustment, he has to control his body and it’s not that easy…
the 2-strike approach has really gone down hill. He looks like his buddy HoJo now. WIld hacks at balls up around the shoulder, instead of shortening up to drive the ball to RF (and taking pitches out of the zone).
wonder if this goes to moderation too? I’ve been there for a long time now!
Wright definitely seems to be pressing especially at home. He swings for a HR every single time up there. I don’t mind a lower BA at home but he needs to make contact, especially when there are runners on third with less than 2 out. He needs to be able to sac fly them in. He takes a lot of pitches for called third strikes and looks like he is totally shocked. I wonder if the background at Citi is a good hitters backdrop. It doesn’t seem to bother Santos or Sheffield. The lack of HR’s is expected based on the park he is in but he should be hitting some on the road. In fact I don’t remember the last HR he has hit period.
Trade Him! the guy’s no good! Core? who needs Core! He’s no brandon Inge!!
Sincerely, Mike Francesa
I don’t know that I would say that Wright “in general” is super streaky. I think Citi Field and his treatment at home is in his head more than a little bit, and I think EVERY hitter in this game is at least a little bit streaky. If for no other reason then because when they are “on” they are heads and shoulders above the rest of the game so when they are not “on” it is move obvious.
Wright is somewhat streaky yes, but I think his troubles at home has more to do with the stadium and his home treatment than just that “streakyness” (ohh that definitely not a word)
As for Wright, I think its that darn contest he is having with Jeter.
I wish they would bar any such contest in the future.
I’m not sure this is news. Wright’s been streaky for most of his career. Beltran’s been that way too, which makes us unbeatable when they’re both on, but rahter vulnerable when they’re both off.
And yes, Wright’s power is down, but I think it’s a good thing. Early in the year he was trying for the home run everytime and hitting lots of 400 ft. outs (particularly at Citi). His swing’s more level now, which will serve him well in the long run. He’s an RBI man, not a slugger; #3 or #5 in the order, not #4 (Manuel, at least, seems to get this). It’s not like he’s turned into a singles hitter; he’s still got gap power and speed. Sure, he’s “only” hitting .333, but he was hitting closer to .360 before this most recent slump. I’ll take that kind of production any day, even at the cost of his home runs.
If he was not on a pace to k more than Ryan Howard I would agree. But he is, and I do not think it was nearly as much an upper cut as a failure to go with the pitches he is given.
Come on, are you kidding? the guy’s batting .330 what else do you want? I don’t care if he strikes out 200 times, if he can bat .330 in the 5 hole I’ll take that ANY day
I care if he strikes out 200 times. There have been lots of times he has struck out with a guy on 3rd and less than 2 outs where contact would have meant a lot.
i agree with this point to some degree – better to strike out than ground into double plays. but it seems wright is incapable of hitting a sac fly. with less that 2 outs and man on 3b, strike out hurts much more
I’ll be amazed if he can bat .330 with 200k’s…is that even possible, realistically?
I agree though, b/c hitting .330 in the 5 hole means lots of RBIs (assumption being runners on base when the #5 hitter bats)
I agree that he’s always been streaky but the Ks are a big concern. He’s striking out like a power hitter but hitting HRs like a slap hitter. It just doesn’t seem like he’s seeing the ball that well with swings and misses in the strike zone and alot of pop outs where he just isn’t making good contact. I love Wright and it’s been frustrating to watch.
I don’t know if it’s related but his fielding has suffered as well (great DP yesterday notwithstanding). 7 errors already. I hold my breath when he lets the ball go. Hoping it all evens out and he tears it up this summer.
I tend to believe what another poster wrote: that DWright is just simplying pressing b/c lets face it: the Mets are struggling to just keep a healthy team around him. But I have to be honest, the fact that he’s on pace for just 10 HR’s this year is very disturbing!!!
If you have to say you are pressing, you probably are.
It does seem like at Citi Field he is pressing. A lot of Ks makes that seem right.
The lack of power is troubling, but hopefully will come around.
Watching him this year seems like he’s back to where he was bad last year. He has virtually eliminated the “negative motion” or back twist portion of his swing most of the time. His top hand is very pronounced, and often he is rolling his wrists through the ball pulling ground balls foul. The back twist allows for him to hit the ball earlier in his swing, producing opposite field hits prior to his wrists rolling.
In the end, its a timing mechanism, but one he needs to rely on for success.
Looks to me that again he is pulling off the ball. He seems to get in this habit when he gets pull happy.
If Wright batting 350 with a 470 Slugging and 400 OBP is our biggest problem of the season we will in pretty good shape at the end of the season. Yes he is “steaky” he clearly is not “on” his game so far this year, the fact that he has done what he has done while not being on his game is a good thing not a bad thing. Wright will be fine, we have more than enough real things to worry about without worrying about Wright and Beltran.
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