J.D. Davis Is Leading the Mets’ Charge
As Ben Clemens succinctly put it on Tuesday, “Here come the Mets.” If you have read Ben’s piece, I’m not going to bore you with the same details. If you haven’t, you should go do so.
In short, the Mets were bad, and now they’re good. But even with this current stretch of newfound dominance, their seemingly high-octane offseason remains a mixed bag. Edwin Díaz and Robinson Canó still haven’t lived up to their high expectations after being brought in from Seattle, Jed Lowrie hasn’t played a single game due to a calf injury, and Jeurys Familia won’t stop walking hitters. For all the talk about how good the Mets’ offseason was, it’s still not those players who are leading the charge. That is, save for this one obvious exception:
Player | Position | Acquired | PA/BF | 2019 WAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
J.D. Davis | INF/OF | Trade (Houston) | 297 | 1.6 |
Robinson Canó | INF | Trade (Seattle) | 346 | 0.4 |
Wilson Ramos | C | Free Agent | 364 | 0.3 |
Edwin Díaz | RP | Trade (Seattle) | 196 | 0.2 |
Justin Wilson | RP | Free Agent | 89 | 0.0 |
Luis Avilán | RP | Free Agent | 81 | 0.0 |
Jed Lowrie | INF | Free Agent | 0 | 0.0 |
Adeiny Hechavarría | INF | Free Agent | 147 | -0.1 |
Jeurys Familia | RP | Free Agent | 173 | -0.5 |
In a sense, J.D. Davis has been the Mets’ savior. As they’ve heated up, he has not only been one of their best offensive players but also one of the best bats in baseball. In the 30-day period between July 8 and August 6 — as the Mets’ playoff odds have increased by 35 points — Davis has slashed .385/.468/.615 in 77 plate appearances. His 187 wRC+ during this time is the seventh-highest in baseball. His defense has limited his overall value a touch, but even still, his 0.9 WAR in this time period ranks 32nd out of 181 qualified position players. Read the rest of this entry »