Just Mets

Michael Cuddyer had staggered through most of the first quarter of the season. His average was meandering around .240, his OPS between .650 and .700, he wasn’t hitting for much extra-base power, and the offense was dragging with his unproductiveness in the middle of the lineup.

Things were bound to get better for Cuddyer. It was certainly hard to imagine it could get worse.

And, they have in fact gotten better for the 15 year veteran.

Cuddyer had a tremendous series against the Phillies this week, going 5-for-10 with three runs scored, two home runs and five RBI. It’s the culmination of a very impressive stretch of games for him in which he has hit .341/.420/.500 (.920 OPS) over his last 12 games.

He has fared particularly well at Citi Field so far this season, thanks in large measure to his recent surge in which he’s hit .381 over his last 12 home games. Overall, he has a .910 OPS with four doubles, 1 triple, three home runs and 15 RBI in 101 plate appearances over 25 games at home.

“I like hitting at home, no matter where home is,” Cuddyer said on Wednesday after helping the Mets sweep the Phillies. “You’re used to the background, you’re used to the surroundings, the confines, you’re used to everything. The more you play somewhere, the better off you are and if you look at my track record I have always hit better at home, no matter what my home was.”

That is true, although his home ballpark has been in the Metrodome and Coors Field – two notoriously good hitters parks – for the bulk of his career. But he did post an .806 OPS in 149 games at Target Field – like Citi Field, that’s a park known to benefit pitchers more than hitters.

Cuddyer was seeing a ton of pitches outside the strike zone. That can be atttributed to a lack of overall protection, but the problem was before he was swinging at way too many of those pitches and not doing anything with them which was helping to rack up the strikeouts on his ledger.

Now, while he’s making contact on pitches outside of the strikezone at the same rate, he’s been swinging at few of them as of late which is helping to put him in better hitters counts. As such, his walk rate is up, his strikeout rate has gone down, his line drive rate has gone up, and his power numbers have followed.

In other words, much better results, and a sight for sore eyes at that.