Worst Base

The Mets cadre of first basemen not named Ike Davis are struggling mightily at the plate this spring.

The strange part is that the group of experienced professionals the Mets brought in or retained have a solid pedigree and the proven ability to play well.

Unfortunately, to this point in camp none of them have been able to grab the horns and put on the type of offensive showing that would leave little doubt as to who deserves the job.

Sorry Mike Jacobs, but the fact that you hit a bunch of homeruns in the past does not guarantee you anything. Your 2009 and current performance means a heck of a lot more.  To this point the only good news we've had is the fact that you've only struck out "a few times"...wow, amazing, how about adding in a few hits?

Let's look at the Spring Training numbers:

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG
D Murphy	10	30	5	4	0	0	1	4	7	2	5	.176	.233	.133
M Jacobs	9	23	3	4	0	0	2	2	10	5	4	.321	.435	.174
F Tatis	7	17	2	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	.059	.118	.059
Catalanotto	9	16	3	2	1	1	0	4	5	2	2	.211	.313	.125

This crew isn't exactly covering themselves in glory, which brings us to Ike Davis, he of the gaudy numbers and the 9th inning heroics yesterday off the bench:

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG
Ike Davis	11	24	7	12	3	0	3	10	24	3	7	.556	1.000	.500

We know that Jacobs and Catalenatto are battling for the final roster spot, and that the odds favor Jacobs at this point, but it would sure be nice if one of these guys won the job with their hitting.

Catalanatto is actually more versatile in the field, as these stats show, having played 2B, 3B, OF and 1B during his career.

Jacobs is younger, and has more pop, and both guys have trouble hitting lefty's.

Catalanatto is a career .240 hitter against lefty's, and Jacobs is even worse, sporting a career .221 average with a pitiful .240 OBP.

In that respect, a platoon of Tatis against lefty's and Murphy (or Jacobs) against righty's makes the most sense, but truth be told, I cannot get excited about any of the current combination's.

As for now, I cannot figure out how the Mets are going to get big league production from first base...we will get slightly below average to maybe average production there with this crew, but at this point it is certainly more worst base than first base.

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