Sunday, May 25, 2008
Mr. Wright Swing the Bat
I do not think that I need to point this out, but if you have watched some of the Met games this year David Wright has taken a much different approach at the plate. This isn't like last season when he changed his approach and began to rake he just won't swing the bat.
It seems that at every at-bat David Wright leaves the bat on his shoulder and watches the ball hit the catchers mitt. Taking so many pitches has really hurt his batting average. After hitting .325 last year, OBP of .416, and walking 115 times his average has dropped considerably to .289, OBP of .384, and has 30 walks. He has not been waiting for the pitch he could crush and driving it to right field he instead has let it go by for a ball or strike.
Last year in September everytime a pitcher made a mistake up in the zone or out over the plate David drove it over the right field fence or hit it into the gaps for a double. The results have not been the same. His pitch recognition still is amazing, but he is not using it the same way. Even if the pitch is an inch high, but right in the hot zone Wright watches it in amazement. His hits(52) are down, but his walks(30) are up. On a Mets who is struggling for offense does not need their star player, hitting 3rd in the lineup to walk, they need him to hit.
He still hasn't slacked up in the home run department and is on pace for a slightly better season of about 32 long balls. His walks are also on a greater pace increasing around 12% for the season. Other than that everything is down: hits, doubles, average, slugging, and on-base percentage.
Some of his comments like the one underneath are alarming because even though we all know it is okay to lose I never want to here my team's leader saying it.I can accept losing. Not easily, but every team loses here and there. But to go out and give the effort we’re giving, to go out and lose without a fight…I just don’t think we have the fire I would hope we’d have.
Mr. David Wright just please get the simple message and swing the bat, taking less pitches because it seems everytime you do something good seems to happen to both the Mets and you.
