Juan Lagares collided with Michael Cuddyer on a play in the outfield on May 5. While Lagares managed to catch the fly ball, he injured his rib and armpit in the process.
In late May, Terry Collins said Lagares was still hurting from the collision, but said the injury affected his ability to run and move more than his swing, and attributed his struggles to wildly swinging at balls well out of the strike zone, a problem which has plagued Lagares to this point in his career.
None the less, Lagares was ineffective at the plate for more than three weeks. He had gone just 11-for-72 with one extra-base hit and five walks, seeing his batting average plummet from .311 to .253 and his OPS free fall from .692 to .591.
But over Lagares’ last 11 games, things have perked up for him at the plate. He’s hitting .349 with a .907 OPS with five extra-base hits and three RBI during that span. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI against the Giants on Wednesday, marking the fifth time in those 11 games he’s recorded multiple hits.
It was true what Collins said. Lagares was swinging at too many pitches outside the strike zone during his slump. But he’s also swinging at a lot of pitches outside the strike zone during this current hot streak he’s on and making less contact on those pitches so far in June.
One of the main differences is he’s swinging at nearly five percent fewer pitches now than he was during May. That is putting him in more favorable and predictable counts to attack hittable strikes, as well as hittable pitches outside the strike zone as well.
The Mets would obviously love to change Lagares and get him to chase less. They’ve toyed with the idea of making him a leadoff hitter over the last year, but Terry Collins has said many times he needs to be more disciplined at the plate to earn such a role. His ways at the plate are precisely the opposite to the hitting philosophy of the organization, but this just maybe who he is.
Perhaps they’ve found a happy medium in this run, which can lead to a passable level of consistency for Lagares.
Just Mets 