Lucas Duda unquestionably has transformed as a hitter, and as an all around baseball player over the last year.
The transformation began last April when team brass decided it would be Duda who will become the everyday first baseman. The team traded away Ike Davis just a couple of weeks into the 2014 season, and the Mets therefore placed a bet on the raw skills this front office craves: power, discipline, and patience.
The Mets obviously won their bet last year. Duda posted an .830 OPS and broke out with a 30 home run, 92 RBI campaign in 2014.
But there was still something missing to complete Duda’s puzzle. His main weakness was against left-handed pitching – he hit just .180 with just two doubles and two home runs and 41 strikeouts in 125 plate appearances against southpaws.
So, Duda went to work.
Mets hitting coach Kevin Long can be credited for working with Duda over the winter and in spring training, utilizing drills which could make him more competent against left-handlers. That worked was clearly visible on the back fields at the team’s minor league complex in Port St. Lucie in February and March.
But Duda also sought a different mentor over the winter. A five-time All-Star, former National League MVP and first baseman who also thrived in a pitchers era from the early 1970s through the late 1980s. A man who hit .291 in his career against left-handed pitching.
He called former Met Keith Hernandez, who gave him some sound advice.
“I just told him basically my experiences against left-handers over 17 years, what left-handers are trying to do, what they like to do,” Hernandez explained on Thursday afternoon. “So it was nothing to do with any alterations of swing, or anything changing in him mechanically. It was all just how I approached left-handers.’’
It’s that’s approach, as Hernandez put it, which might have been the biggest key for Duda in this latest transformation.
“Essentially, just kind of stay short and take what they give you. I’ve tried to apply that. To hear and to apply it, two different things. It’s hard to apply that. It’s a process,’’ Duda explained of his talks with Hernandez. “I know the depth of the pitches they like to throw in certain counts, just seeing them more often [is helpful].’’
Duda smoked two home runs on Thursday, one against Jaime Garcia and the other against Randy Choate, both left-handed pitchers. That’s as many home runs as he had against left-handlers in 125 plate appearances in 2014.
One of Duda’s favorite words to describe his success is, “process.” Part of that process is of course learning and listening. But the other part of that process – which is the hardest part – is the application of that process. Duda has been able to apply the knowledge he’s obtained from both Long and Hernandez, which is spitting on the bad breaking balls and waiting on the pitches he can hit and driving them to the opposite field. That’s a credit to Duda more than anyone – Long and Hernandez can only advise, but they can’t apply.
He’s quiet, modest and never wants to take credit for anything. But he deserves credit for not being satisfied and wanting to protect and improve upon his weaknesses. He had done that at first base previously and has arguably become one of the best first basemen in the league. Now he’s worked again through that process to complete his game at the plate, and as an all-around player.
For a guy who so many doubted, he’s developing into a true baseball star, and the Mets are reaping the rewards for that gamble they made a year ago.
Just Mets 