The former 4-time Mets all-star was welcomed back in the Big Apple with open arms while playing his new position at 3rd base. With David Wright being transferred to the 60-day DL, Reyes could re-ignite the Mets’ offense and put them ahead of the Nats. Reyes has not hit like a superstar since he departed the Mets in 2012, mainly due to injuries, but in the last 2 seasons, he has played in a mere 260 games putting up good numbers close to what he put up in NY. With the Mets batting just .239, can the star leadoff hitter light a fire under the reigning NL champs?
A true leadoff hitter is a player to get on base any way they can, most of the time a single and a stolen base is what a star brings to the top of the lineup, but the Mets need more than that. The Sabermetric stat Secondary Average (SecA) is basically a player’s true batting average. BA is hits divided by at-bats, not factoring in what type of hits the player collects, where as SecA accounts for the value of extra base hits in BA. Reyes collected 100 triples in NY and had 4 double-digit home run seasons. 3 seasons in the Queens, Jose collected a SecA above .315. Yoenis Cespedes has been the only bright spot in the Mets lineup thus far this season, as David Wright’s injury has taken some spirit out of Citi Field, so another fan-liked player could help significantly.
Jose Reyes was the next most popular player other than David Wright in the first decade of the 2000’s for the Mets. Hopefully his re-emergence will keep lifting the spirits of the Mets franchise, as it wasn’t just Cespedes arrival mid-summer 2015 that lifted the Mets to the Series, but the fans enthusiasm. With Jose Reyes atop the lineup healthy, and Yoenis in the middle of the lineup swinging a big stick, the Mets could create just enough run support for the pitching staff for them to make a run at taking the NL East crown from the Nats. Throughout Reyes’ career, he has produced a OWn% of .568, which means that a lineup of 9 of him would produce 90 wins in a 162-game season. At the age of 33, he may not be as explosive as he was in his 20’s, but is fully healthy. Jose Reyes may not be a great guy in the locker-room and may be accused of assault, but on the field is where the Mets are having trouble, so with his style of play at the top of the lineup, a few more runs could very well propel the reigning NL champs in the offensive power rankings and NL East.
