Just Mets

It hasn’t been an easy road for Ruben Tejada.

He was anointed the Mets shortstop when Jose Reyes departed for the Marlins after the 2011 season. In the first half of the 2012 season, the club looked like they could do ok without Reyes, as despite not possessing the lex Tejada was hitting .325 with a .381 on-base percentage.

But then Tejada injured his quadricep muscle running to first base, and it’s been a struggle for Tejada seemingly ever since.

Tejada finally lost his job at shortstop in 2014 after the club waited patiently for him to grow and mature as a baseball player. Coming into the 2015 season, Tejada found himself in a utility role, and not playing a lot even after the Mets lost both David Wright and Dilson Herrera to injury.

But now that third base remains a black hole in Wright’s absence, Terry Collins is experimenting with Tejada there, a position he has never played during his entire professional career.

“It’s so much faster,” Tejada recently told me. “There’s no time to think. It’s reaction and it’s difficult at times.”

Despite the adjustment Tejada has to make, he has taken to the position since he was granted the opportunity earlier this week. He has shown some good reaction time, and really has yet to make any kind of mistake either with his glove or his arm.

He’s also looked like that Ruben Tejada from the first half of 2012.

Tejada has gone 4-for-8 with a bases clearing double during Saturday’s 9-5 loss to the Marlins. Overall, Tejada has a .722 OPS thanks to a .344 on-base percentage for the year.

“This is a big opportunity for me to play and try to help the team,” Tejada said on Saturday.

Tejada is still best suited in a utility role and a backup middle infielder. It’s hard to ignore what he showed as a full-time player of the last couple of years. But while it’s a small sample, what he’s shown in the last couple of days are steps towards restoring the faith Terry Collins seemingly always had in Tejada’s abilities.

“There was a reason why all winter long and even in spring training I was kind of in his corner,” Collins explained about Tejada on Saturday. “I’ve seen this guy play like this a lot. Why he’s had the last couple of years the way he’s been? I can’t answer it. I’ve tried to answer it with him, but Ruben Tejada’s a solid player. The last couple of days he’s shown what he can do with good at-bats, great hands, a great arm.

“There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be out there more. I’m going to run him out there again and hopefully this gets him going and he becomes a real important part of our club because he’s a real good player,” Collins said.

For now, he’s really all that’s left as an option for Collins, so he’s kind of inherited this opportunity as the last man standing. But, going to get an opportunity to prove his value to the Mets, not just as a third baseman but as a guy who can play three infield positions on any given day.

But, he’s going to have to learn on the fly at third base. Every day won’t be a bed of roses for him at the position – he is still getting used to the speed of the game there, working on the footwork and recognizing angles off the bat. In the end, he’s another Met playing out of position on the infield, so he has work to do – he’s off to a good start with his assignment.

It can be intimidating for Tejada, especially when someone like Giancarlo Stanton steps up to the plate. He said he has a good plan of attach against guys like Stanton.

“Duck,” he said.