Just Mets

It’s been a season that’s severely lacked offense so far for the Mets, to say the least.

But there is one Met, however, who has been productive at the plate this season.

Often times, it’s been hard to notice, but Curtis Granderson has quietly been the most consistent player for the Mets all year long.

After going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an important RBI single that gave the Mets breathing room against the Nationals in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, Granderson is now batting a very solid .251/.346/.426 this season.

He’s also enjoying a five-game hitting streak (.318/.400/.545 with two doubles and a home run over that span) during the club’s most critical stretch of the season, and hitting .284/.382/.558 with six home runs over his last 24 games.

People have knocked Granderson, myself included, after he hasn’t been the big-time run producer fans had hoped he would be, but the reality is, he never was truly a prolific power hitter.

Aside from his two full seasons with the Yankees, playing 81 games a year in the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium, Granderson has never had a season where he’s driven in over 74 runs.

All things considered, it’s really been a solid year for the 34-year-old outfielder. His current batting average (.251) is significantly better than it was last year (.227), he leads the Mets in home runs with 14 and he’s driven in 31 runs, which is pretty good coming out of the lead off spot–a spot that he’s done well in considering this team has no true lead off hitter on their roster.

Sure, he still strikes out, he’s still a bit of a streaky player, he’s hitting just .123 against left-handed pitching and his defense leaves much to be desired in right field, but if he’s valued for what he is, rather than what he isn’t, he’s been a pretty valuable player for the Mets this season.

As the rest of the team has struggled and the team continues to fight and claw just to score runs on a daily basis, Granderson’s contributions have flown a bit under the radar, as the rest of his teammates have failed to produce. Lucas Duda, Michael Cuddyer and Juan Lagares are all having tough seasons offensively, while players such as Kevin Plawecki, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Ruben Tejada and Eric Campbell have been unable to replicate the offense of the injured players they’ve been asked to replace.

The hope is by the deadline that the Mets will add a piece or two and as time goes on that Travis d’Arnaud and maybe David Wright will make their way back to the team as well, this bolstering this lineup.

Until then, if there’s one bat the Mets have been able to rely on, it lies on the shoulders of Curtis Granderson.