By Steven Inman
Through Juan Lagares’ first month in the big leagues, the outfielder hitting under .200 and didn’t draw a single walk. Ever since Terry Collins started playing him against lefties he began to hit a little and his defense in center continues to be outstanding. Lagares doesn’t have much power and doesn’t walk at all but he has caught fire in July.
Lagares has 16 extra base hits this month and has already received a National League Player of the week award. Terry Collins has said as long as Lagares continues to hit he will play everyday. The Mets optioned his platoon partner Kirk Nieuwenhuis to Las Vegas a few days ago so this appears to be Lagares job now.
Lagares doesn’t seem to make spectacular catches but simply out runs the baseball making tough catches look easy.
In Tuesday’s game against the Marlins Lagares had three hits in his first three at bats. In 196 at bats now for the Mets the 24- year old Lagares has hit .275 with 18 RBI’s.
It remains to be seen if Lagares will hit enough to play everyday. He has walked in less than 4% of his major league at bats which is around his minor league averages. Lagares has a gold glove in center which should certainly help his case to be an everyday player for the rest of 2013.
Steve – Juan Lagares continues to impress at the plate and in CF. If not for Eric Young Jr. he would be the Mets lead off hitter. In my opinion, he will continue to improve by being more selective on pitches that he swings on and either misses or fouls off. However, because he has been hitting he has demonstrated that he is a good two stike hitter. A more disciplined approach will with time and experience make him an even better hitter. In CF he plays shallow so he catches hard hit liners that would otherwise drop in if he played deeper. However, playing shallow doesn’t mean he can’t go deep to the warning track or against the wall to make catches because he seems to do it in every game. This guy is a keeper. Mike
Mike, Lagares is one of the better defensive centerfielders in baseball already. His ability to go back on a fly ball is incredible especially with how shallow he plays. I’m a firm believer that if you want a good defensive team you have to be sound up the middle. That means SS, 2B, C and CF. You can check CF off that list. The question is how will he hit when pitchers adjust to him and throw him less strikes. I agree this guy is a keeper and it would be HUGE for the Mets to go into the offseason thinking we don’t need to add a centerfielder. Thanks for the comment!