Prior to last week, the Mets had used 143 third basemen in their history, although for the last 11 seasons, the position had been stabilized by David Wright.
But now that there are more questions than answers surrounding Wright’s future, third base has once again become a revolving door over the first eight weeks of the 2015 for the Mets.
That revolving door has not been productive for the Mets to date. They’ve produced a .670 OPS with only two home runs and only 19 RBI, both the second-fewest of any position on the club.
Enter Ruben Tejada, who the Mets are attempting to mold their mysterious young infielder into something he hasn’t been to-date: a third baseman.
Tejada made his third consecutive start at third on Sunday without incident defensively. In fact, some of the plays he made would suggest he’s been playing there for years.
But he also went 5-for-12 with two doubles and four RBI at the plate, including a bases clearing double on Saturday to plate three runs and tie the game at five a piece.
Between his stabilizing defense and his recent performance at the plate, Terry Collins anointed Tejada his primary third baseman until Wright returns.
“[Tejada has] earned it, and as we all know he can do a lot of things when he’s playing well, and right now he’s playing well,” Collins said on Sunday afternoon. “I’m really pleased. To have him step up and come through in a big way this series, even though we only won one game, is real promising because we need somebody to step in and give us some offense.”
Of course, three good games could ultimately prove to be fools gold for the Mets. It is a small sample, and this front office and coaching staff does anything but rely on insufficient data. Tejada is in foreign lands at third base, he has a history of spurts followed by doldrums and lapses, and he’s a man in foreign lands at third base.
Not every game will be as pretty as the last three have been for him. as he has said he still has to learn the speed of the game and the angle of the ball off the bat from that spot on the field. But baseball is a meritocracy, and Tejada has earned the chance to show he can at least stabilize the position until Wright gets back, if he gets back at all.
But for now, Tejada is enjoying the new life he’s been given by one of his greatest supporters, and hopes to prove once again he belongs on the field everyday.
“To get a big opportunity to play, it’s really good,” Tejada said.
Just Mets 
2 responses to “For now, Terry Collins has found stability at third base in an unlikely player”
Nice post. Corner positions, whether IF or OF, typically are reserved for heavy lumber. However, Flores and Murphy are producing from the middle IF positions, which counterbalances Tejada’s relative lack of power.
Baseball is a meritocracy. Often a players performance is enhanced by actual incentive. Perhaps the novelty of playing a corner IF position, coupled with the security of batting 2nd in the order, is just what Tejada needed to mine his considerable baseball skills on both sides of the ball.
What is really nice is Granderson’s ability to get on base, Tejada’s ability to extend at bats and wear pitchers down, followed by Duda, TDA (whenever), Cuddyer, Murphy & Flores…
Should Tejada enjoy success at 3rd base, it will be reminiscent of the Cardinals converting Jose Oquendo – an excellent shortstop, to playing right field. For some reason, it sat well with him and he enjoyed a very productive few years as Cardinal.
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Productive and Ruben Tejada should never appear in the same paragraph. Since 2013 he’s hit a whopping .223 and for his entire 1628 big league career has just 8 HRs, 128 RBIs and 14 SBs. If you want to write off Eric Campbell (who incidentally hit .237 to Tejada’s .223) over the same period, fine. But Danny Muno has gotten a whopping 14 ABs and then the typical Terry Collins treatment of young players — “Sit on the bench, young man. We’d rather trot out known mediocrity than give a shot to anyone new unless injuries force our hand!”
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