Juan Lagares was painfully struggling during the month of May, at one point going 11-for-72 with just one extra-base hit to his credit and five walks, seeing his batting average plummet from .311 to .253 and his OPS free fall from .692 to .591.
It was a notable slump because he began to sag the day he collided with Michael Cuddyer on a fly ball in the outfield on May 5, injuring his rib and arm pit. But Terry Collins said late last month the injury was impacting his running and mobility more than it was impacting his swing.
None the less, Lagares just wasn’t hitting. But on May 30, things began to change for Lagares at the plate. He strung together a modest four-game hitting streak during which he went 5-for-15 with a triple. He then went 0-for-4 on June 3, but put together an even better four game hitting streak during which he hit .471 with three multiple-hit games and three extra-base hits.
He’s currently enjoying a five-game hitting streak during which he’s hitting .381 with a double, triple and a home run. But it is inside this streak that perhaps his greatest offensive contribution to date this season has come, as on Sunday when he went 3-for-5 with a huge three-run home run to give the Mets a 10-8 lead in the sixth inning they would not relinquish.
“That’s an amazing win right there,” Lagares said after the game. “The whole team battled the whole game. We never gave up – great win.”
It was a great win, and one of the most exciting wins this team has had in a lot of years. They battled back being down 8-3 to win 10-8, capping their largest comeback since September 22, 2011 against the Cardinals.
Lagares was swinging at too many pitches outside the strike zone during his slump. The funny thing is, 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 his slump 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.
He’s doing just that – he’s hitting .350/.350/.567 (21-for-60) with three doubles, two triples, and two home runs over his last 15 games. The light is back on for the Gold Glove center fielder.
Obviously, the Mets would love for Lagares to adapt to their hitting philosophy. If he could, he would certainly best fit the profile for a leadoff hitter, something they’ve kicked the tires on over the last year but have not committed to. The thing is, it’s hard to make players into something they’re not, and Lagares is a free swinging, bad-ball type of hitter at this point in his career. That’s arguably been very prohibitive for him at the plate, and was certainly a main culprit to his struggles last month.
But maybe he and the team have found a happy medium where he’s still going to swing at a lot of pitches and not walk, yet be productive on the pitches he does make contact with.
Based on the last 15 games anyway, its certainly difficult to attempt to fix what is currently not broken.
Just Mets 