Just Mets

The Mets signed OF John Mayberry Jr. in December for $1.45 million after he was non-tendered by the Blue Jays.

He was signed by the Mets to be a weapon for Terry Collins against left-handed pitching. After all, five of his seven home runs in 2014 were against left-handed pitching, and he posted a .913 OPS against them in 82 plate appearances.

However, it hasn’t worked out the same so far in 2015 for Mayberry, and his ineffectiveness has left the Mets short-handed against left-handers in particular. He’s just 3-for-23 against left-handers after going 0-for-3 against Jon Lester during Monday’s 4-3 loss to the Cubs.

Despite the struggles, Terry Collins said after Monday’s 4-3 loss to Chicago he intends to stick with Mayberry against left-handed pitching.

“We’re talking about 27, 28 at-bats,” Collins explained. “I’m not sure that’s a good sample just yet.”

Overall, Mayberry is just 3-for-29 on the year with three walks and nine strikeouts.

In fairness, Collins is correct, and his use has been widely spread out over the first 32 games of the year. He’s only started six of those games and played three complete games over the first five weeks of the season.

The one thing which is off for Mayberry is he has been ineffective off the bench in games. That’s odd considering he has an .817 OPS in 208 career plate appearances as a pinch hitter.

Then again, it’s still a small sample size, and the Mets aren’t a club that makes major decisions based on insufficient data.