Year 2 of David Wright Stance Changes

David Wright is back to his old tricks from 2009, changing his stance, messing with his timing mechanisms, pulling off the ball, and looping his swing back and around vice keeping it on plane.

People say he's changing his swing, but truthfully it's his stance that changes and the difference in swing is the result.

Out of spring training I thought he had gotten over the habits of making major changes, but it's back.  I don't mind small adjustments, hitters mess with their swings all the time, but they usually don't change their stance so much.  David Wright makes major tweaks and tinkers too often with his, and he goes too far.  Ted Williams he aint.

Long a frustration of mine, here is a blow by blow:

April 5th, 2009 I wrote:

Have you noticed that David Wright has opened his stance up about half a foot?

I'm very curious as to why he would do this right before the season opens. His stance this weekend was more open than I've ever seen it, and it's changed even since the WBC.

Could this lead to a bad start by our superstar third baseman?

Anyway, no alarm bells here, just something I'll be keeping a close eye on this week and as the season progresses.

On April 30th, 2009, I followed up with:

Well we are now one month into the season, and my worst fears have been realized.  That is not a typo...he is on pace for 208 Ks and 62 RBIs.

DW has actually closed his stance back up to last year's position, but his early struggles have obviously gotten into his head and the loop is there. This has thrown his timing off, and the results have been disastrous.

Thankfully DW is extremely hard working, and he is battling to groove his swing back to keep the bat on the correct plane and recognize pitches early.

This leaves the question of when is he going to break out of this slump? For all Mets fans, the hope is that the work he has been doing with HoJo will pay off this weekend.

 Finally, on May 30th:

It's been getting better and better and better, and he broke out of his slump a while ago. The next step was for him to get fully on plane and drive the ball--that's been coming too, and last night, it all clicked. DW had finally closed his stance back to the proper position, and it looked like he was taking batting practice against the Giant's pitchers.

Keith Hernandez noticed it in the booth and commented on what a "strong hitting position" Wright was working from now that "he closed his stance". Gary Cohen paid scant attention to that comment, but we heard it loud and clear.

Line drives are popping off his bat, the outside pitch doesn't look 2 miles away to him, and right field is his friend.

 There were more references throughout the year, but you get the idea.

What happened to David Wright?  Why does he continue to mess with the stance with the resulting changes to his swing and swing plane?

Coming out of spring training I wrote about how stable his base looked, which shortened his swing and kept his head steady.

He is now back to looping the swing and pulling back as he begins his arm "drop", which causes his head to bob and slows his bat while negating any possibility of him hitting the outside pitch..

That, and he has also abandoned the little timing mechanism that seemed to be working for him.

I love David Wright, truly we all do, but for him to regain some consistency he needs to abandon the major stance changes and swing adjustments he makes.

I would tell him to look at Albert Pujols.  The man has the same stance time after time after time, and he adjusts to the pitch with his hands.  Pujols also has a stroke with little wasted motion, a stable base, and no head movement.

Please DW, get your base stable and shorten that swing.  Close the stance back up and focus on driving through the ball and staying closed.

Jeff Francoeur is Optimistic...I Agree (a little)

The always excellent Kevin Kernan has a nice piece on Jeff Franceur's optimism going forward for 2010.

Francoeur has been something of a tough case for Mets fans, especially those of us who like more advanced stats.

The good: Francoeur was a very welcome shot in the arm when he came over late last year...he's like a permanent 5-hour energy drink. He also has the ability to relax those around him, plays decent (albeit overrated) defense, and he certainly has life in the bat. Lastly, he is extremely durable, can go out there every day and hits lefty's like an all-star.

The bad: It all centers around his inability to get on base. Francoeur has a lifetime .311 OBP in almost 3,000 big league plate appearances.

So why should we be as optimistic as Francoeur?

First off, he has steadily cut down on his Ks.

In the past 4 seasons his K numbers have showed a steady decline: 132, 129, 111, 92

His SO% has decreased in each of his 5 big league campaigns: 21,2%, 19.2%, 18.5%, 17.0%, 14.6%

What hasn't changed, however, are the key stats that lead to a decent on-base percentage.

His pitches per plate appearance have remained steady at around 3.4 per plate appearance. It's pretty tough to take walks with those numbers, but more importantly, Francoeur doesn't allow himself enough patience to wait on the most hittable pitch in an at-bat.

So the optimism must remain "cautious" at this point. Francoeur did make better contact with the Mets than he had in previous Brave campaigns. His batting average and slugging jumped by leaps and bounds, and he certainly looked aggressive and confident at the plate.

If Howard Johnson's work, and Francoer's maturity, can harness the talent into a 25 HR, 90 RBI, .330 OBP type of player, than it is a win all around.

Francoeur is never going to get on base a ton--this we know--what we want is for him to get on base "enough" while providing a solid presence in the lower half of the lineup.

I am optimistic about that.

Interesting Facts: All-Time Mets Records

I'm getting a bit tired of the countdown to spring training writeups, and the various "who did well and poorly over the winter" rants bashing the Mets, so I've been going through the Mets all-time stats courtesy of the Ultimate Mets Database (Ultimatemets) and found some interesting facts.

Here are a few:

David Wright will break the Doubles record the first month of the season:

1.	Ed Kranepool	225
2.	David Wright	222
3.	Howard Johnson	214
4.	Edgardo Alfonzo	212
5.	Mike Piazza	193
6.	Darryl Strawberry	187
7.	Cleon Jones	182
8.	Mookie Wilson	170
9.	Carlos Beltran	167
10.	José Reyes	162

Feared slugger Rey Ordonez is 6th all-time in Mets Intentional Walks:

1.	Darryl Strawberry	108
2.	Howard Johnson	101
3.	Ed Kranepool	89
4.	Mike Piazza	82
5.	Jerry Grote	70
6.	Rey Ordóñez	64
7.	Keith Hernandez	59
8.	Rusty Staub	56
9.	Todd Hundley	51
10.	Cleon Jones	42

Lance Johnson has the highest Batting Average of any player with at least 500 Met at-bats:

		Name	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	TB	Avg.	Slg.	OBP
	1.	Lance Johnson	947	160	309	41	27	10	434	.326	.458	.369
	2.	John Olerud	1662	288	524	109	5	63	832	.315	.501	.425
	3.	David Wright	3185	552	983	222	13	140	1651	.309	.518	.389
	4.	Tommy Davis	577	72	174	32	0	16	254	.302	.440	.342
	5.	Rickey Henderson	534	106	159	31	0	12	226	.298	.423	.416
	6.	Keith Hernandez	3164	455	939	159	10	80	1358	.297	.429	.387
	7.	Paul Lo Duca	957	126	284	57	2	14	387	.297	.404	.334
	8.	Mike Piazza	3478	532	1028	193	2	220	1885	.296	.542	.373
	9.	Edgardo Alfonzo	3897	614	1136	212	14	120	1736	.292	.445	.367
	10.	Dave Magadan	2088	275	610	110	11	21	805	.292	.386	.391

Pedro Feliciano will move into second place all-time this year in Pitching Appearances:

1.	John Franco	695
2.	Tom Seaver	401
3.	Jerry Koosman	376
4.	Jesse Orosco	372
5.	Pedro Feliciano	367
6.	Tug McGraw	361
7.	Armando Benitez	333
8.	Dwight Gooden	305
9.	Aaron Heilman	305
10.	Jeff Innis	288

Among pitchers with 50 decisions as a Met, Doc Gooden stands alone at the top of an impressive list of hurlers:

Name	W	L	Pct.
	1.	Dwight Gooden	157	85	.649
	2.	Rick Reed	59	36	.621
	3.	Tom Seaver	198	124	.615
	4.	David Cone	81	51	.614
	5.	Ron Darling	99	70	.586
	6.	Al Leiter	95	67	.586
	7.	Pedro Martinez	32	23	.582
	8.	Bret Saberhagen	29	21	.580
	9.	Rick Aguilera	37	27	.578
	10.	Bobby Jones	74	56	.569

Anyway, I highly encourage you to check out the Ultimate Mets Database (Ultimatemets)...you can seriously have hours of fun over there.

I know I do.

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• Who's the Gehrig of the Mets? Try Ed Kranepool. (nytimes.com)
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David Wright's Stance, Part III

By jove I think he's got it!

Back during the WBC and in spring training David Wright's stance had me very concerned.

On April 5th, we wrote "David Wright's Stance":

Have you noticed that David Wright has opened his stance up about half a foot?

I'm very curious as to why he would do this right before the season opens. His stance this weekend was more open than I've ever seen it, and it's changed even since the WBC.

Could this lead to a bad start by our superstar third baseman?

Anyway, no alarm bells here, just something I'll be keeping a close eye on this week and as the season progresses.

Well, the alarm bells did go off, and he had some difficulties adjusting--on some night's he looked lost up there. Thankfully, DW is an extremely hard worker with a hitter's mentality.

On April 30th, we did another update, "David Wright's Stance, Part II":

Back in the WBC and Spring Training I noticed that David Wright's stance had changed from last year. He was open and stood a bit further from the plate.

At the time I worried that he would struggle early as he didn't seem able to drive the fastball to the gaps and make good contact with breaking pitches.

Furthermore his swing became very upright and loopy as he tried to "re-plane" his swing from the more open position.

Well we are now one month into the season, and my worst fears have been realized.

2009 Season Stats
SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	21	82	15	23	4	1	1	8	12	27	3	2	.280	.372	.390	.763
Career	724	2732	479	842	187	11	131	497	352	526	95	24	.308	.388	.529	.917
Last 7	7	29	5	7	1	1	0	3	2	11	2	0	.241	.290	.345	.635
Projected	162	633	116	177	31	8	8	62	93	208	23	15	.280	.372	.390	.763

That is not a typo...he is on pace for 208 Ks and 62 RBIs.

DW has actually closed his stance back up to last year's position, but his early struggles have obviously gotten into his head and the loop is there. This has thrown his timing off, and the results have been disastrous.

DW is battling to groove his swing back to keep the bat on the correct plane and recognize pitches early.

This leaves the question of when is he going to break out of this slump? For all Mets fans, the hope is that the work he has been doing with HoJo will pay off this weekend.

At some point he has to hit, and that time is now.

It's been getting better and better and better, and he broke out of his slump a while ago. The next step was for him to get fully on plane and drive the ball--that's been coming too, and last night, it all clicked. DW had finally closed his stance back to the proper position, and it looked like he was taking batting practice against the Giant's pitchers.

Keith Hernandez noticed it in the booth and commented on what a "strong hitting position" Wright was working from now that "he closed his stance". Gary Cohen paid scant attention to that comment, but we heard it loud and clear.

Line drives are popping off his bat, the outside pitch doesn't look 2 miles away to him, and right field is his friend.

The last piece to this is the longball, and it I fully expect DW to hit a bunch in his next 10-15 games. In fact, I'll go ahead and predict he'll be at double digits by month's end.

Welcome all the way back David, it's great to see.

2009 Season Stats
SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	34	130	24	43	8	3	3	20	19	38	9	6	.331	.417	.508	.925
Career	737	2780	488	862	191	13	133	509	359	537	101	28	.310	.390	.532	.922

David Wright's Stance: Part II

Back in the WBC and Spring Training I noticed that David Wright's stance had changed from last year. He was open and stood a bit further from the plate.

At the time I worried that he would struggle early as he didn't seem able to drive the fastball to the gaps and make good contact with breaking pitches.

Furthermore his swing became very upright and loopy as he tried to "re-plane" his swing from the more open position.

From the article I wrote on April 5th:

Have you noticed that David Wright has opened his stance up about half a foot?

I'm very curious as to why he would do this right before the season opens. His stance this weekend was more open than I've ever seen it, and it's changed even since the WBC.

Could this lead to a bad start by our superstar third baseman?

Anyway, no alarm bells here, just something I'll be keeping a close eye on this week and as the season progresses.

Well we are now one month into the season, and my worst fears have been realized.

2009 Season Stats
SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	21	82	15	23	4	1	1	8	12	27	3	2	.280	.372	.390	.763
Career	724	2732	479	842	187	11	131	497	352	526	95	24	.308	.388	.529	.917
Last 7	7	29	5	7	1	1	0	3	2	11	2	0	.241	.290	.345	.635
Projected	162	633	116	177	31	8	8	62	93	208	23	15	.280	.372	.390	.763

That is not a typo...he is on pace for 208 Ks and 62 RBIs.

DW has actually closed his stance back up to last year's position, but his early struggles have obviously gotten into his head and the loop is there. This has thrown his timing off, and the results have been disastrous.

Thankfully DW is extremely hard working, and he is battling to groove his swing back to keep the bat on the correct plane and recognize pitches early.

This leaves the question of when is he going to break out of this slump? For all Mets fans, the hope is that the work he has been doing with HoJo will pay off this weekend.

At some point he has to hit, and that time is now.

The All-Time Mets Team by Season

If you could go back in time, and pick and choose your greatest Mets starting lineup, pitchers and bench from all the players in Mets history, who would you choose?

What years would you pick?

What would your lineup card look like?

There have been so many amazing individual seasons--it's tough to narrow down--also, when you look at the all-time Mets stats, it's amazing how much better our lefthanded pitchers have been over the years. We have several great righty's, Tom Seaver and Dwight Gooden come to mind, but for individual outstanding seasons, the lefty's dominate.

The bench was difficult--you need speed, pinch hitting, and defense. There are several obvious omissions, but only so many slots. HoJo is my utility guy.

Overall I think this team would win about 125-130 games over a 162 game season and sweep the playoffs and World Series. Then again, we might lose 1 or 2 games in the playoffs with Benitez and Franco as the closers.

Here are my picks for the greatest Mets team ever:

The Starting Lineup:

Jose Reyes, SS, (2006 season), 122 Runs, 64 SB
Edgardo Alfonzo, 2B, (1999 season), 123 Runs, 122 RBIs, 125 OPS+
Carlos Beltran, CF, (2006 season), 41 HR, 116 RBI, 150 OPS+
David Wright, 3B, (2007 season), 113 Runs, .325 BA, 34 SB, 150 OPS+
Darryl Strawberrry, RF (1987 season), 39 HR, 104 RBI, 36 SB, 162 OPS+
Gary Carter, C, (1985 season), 32 HR, 100 RBI, 138 OPS+
John Olerud, 1B, (1998 season), 197 H, .354 BA, .447 OBP, 163 OPS+
Cleon Jones, LF, (1969 season), .340 BA, .422 OBP, 16 SB, 151 OPS+

The Bench:

Mike Piazza, C, (1999 season), 40 HR, 124 RBI, .303 BA, 134 OPS+
Keith Hernandez, 1B, (1984 season), 15 HR, 94 RBI, .311 BA, 143 OPS+
Lance Johnson, OF, (1996 season), 117 R, 227 H, 50 SB, .333 BA
Bernard Gilkey, OF, (1996 season), 108 R, 30 HR, 117 RBI, 155 OPS+
Howard Johnson, 3B/SS, (1989 season), 104 R, 36 HR, 101 RBI, 41 SB, 169 OPS+
Rusty Staub, PH, (1981 season), .317 BA, .398 OBP, 147 OPS+

The Starting Pitchers:

Tom Seaver, RHP, (1969 season), 25-7, 208 K, 165 ERA+
Dwight Gooden, RHP, (1985 season), 24-4, 268 K, 228 ERA+
Jerry Koosman, LHP, (1976 season), 21-10, 200 K, 1.09 WHIP
David Cone, RHP, (1988 season), 20-3, 213 K, 146 ERA+
Frank Viola, LHP, (1990 season), 20-12, 182 K, 141 ERA+

The Bullpen:

Jesse Orosco, LHP, (1983 season), 13-7, 17 SV, 247 ERA+
Armando Benitez, RHP, (1999 season), 4-3, 22 SV, 128 K in 78 IP, 240 ERA+
John Franco, LHP, (1996 season) 4-3, 28 SV, 219 ERA+
Pedro Martinez, RHP, (2005 season), 15-8, 208 Ks, 145 ERA+
Al Leiter, LHP, (1998 season), 17-6, 170 ERA+
Tug McGraw, LHP, (1971 season), 11-4, 200 ERA+

I'd absolutely want Gil Hodges managing this team with Davey Johnson as his bench coach.

For a look at the all-time Mets leaders, please click here.

Mets FYI: Bases on Balls

Despite an up and down offensive start to 2008, the Mets are 3rd in the National League with 94 walks and 6th overall in MLB...we'll continue to keep an eye on it with our "Mets Walk Watch".

RK	TEAM	SO	BB	HBP	IBB	SB	CS	SB%	SH	SF	CI
1	St. Louis	139	123	6	14	11	5	69	11	5	0
2	Detroit	137	107	12	0	11	1	92	5	8	0
3	Chicago Cubs	153	103	13	13	18	9	67	12	6	0
4	Toronto	126	102	14	2	19	9	68	10	5	1
5	Oakland	162	101	7	4	8	2	80	1	9	0
6	NY Mets	136	100	3	9	20	7	74	15	7	0
7	Boston	153	96	10	8	18	4	82	6	9	0
8	Texas	160	91	10	7	12	2	86	9	9	0
9	Arizona	159	91	9	6	12	2	86	8	13	0
10	Philadelphia	162	89	10	9	10	4	71	10	4	0
RK	TEAM	SO	BB	HBP	IBB	SB	CS	SB%	SH	SF	CI
11	LA Dodgers	147	88	9	7	18	9	67	9	9	0
12	Cincinnati	134	87	2	6	11	8	58	12	6	0
13	Chicago Sox	126	86	10	5	3	3	50	2	5	0
14	Washington	153	85	12	3	6	6	50	7	7	0
15	Colorado	174	84	10	9	20	7	74	10	1	0
16	NY Yankees	133	81	7	7	10	4	71	6	5	0
17	Atlanta	123	81	0	7	6	1	86	11	6	0
18	San Diego	193	81	7	5	6	0	100	9	13	0
19	Seattle	113	80	2	11	14	7	67	6	13	0
20	Baltimore	134	78	6	6	21	8	72	4	8	0
RK	TEAM	SO	BB	HBP	IBB	SB	CS	SB%	SH	SF	CI
21	Cleveland	145	78	19	5	13	3	81	7	5	0
22	Tampa Bay	156	78	11	4	24	14	63	2	7	0
23	Pittsburgh	163	75	7	4	6	6	50	10	7	0
24	LA Angels	123	70	7	7	24	7	77	3	3	0
25	Milwaukee	164	69	13	8	15	7	68	12	8	0
26	Florida	192	69	6	9	16	2	89	12	4	0
27	Houston	140	67	6	3	24	6	80	4	7	0
28	Kansas City	144	62	3	3	14	10	58	4	5	0
29	San Francisco	174	61	4	5	24	9	73	9	7	0
30	Minnesota	146	46	1	4	22	6	79	4	5	0
LEAGUE AVERAGES		SO	BB	HBP	IBB	SB	CS	SB%	SH	SF	CI
American League		140	83	9	5	15	6	73	5	7	0
National League		157	85	7	7	14	6	73	10	7	0
Major League Baseball		149	84	8	6	15	6	73	8	7	0

Mets Taking a Walk

One little talked about fact of 2008 is that the Mets are walking, and walking, and walking....

They have already accrued 58 walks in 12 games, almost 5 walks per game. To put that in perspective the 2007 Mets walked 549 times in 162 games, 3.4 walks per game.

In Spring Training we heard Mets hitting coach Howard Johnson speak often about "seeing more pitches" and having a disciplined approach at the plate. The players obviously listened.

Another factor in the increases in bases on balls is the makeup of the team. Luis Castillo, for all his hitting woes, is an infinitely patient hitter who sees a lot of pitches. He has 7 walks in his first 9 games of the year...another reason to like him in the #8 hole.

Carlos Beltran and David Wright are both showing excellent early-season plate discipline. Beltran leads the club with 12 walks and DW is right behind him with 9.

Of note is the impact that the Milledge trade is having on the Mets OBP numbers. Both Milledge and Loduca were low walk guys with the Mets, and their replacements, Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, are sporting OBPs over .370.

We'll see if this trend continues--if it does than the Mets are going to win a ton of ballgames this year by strolling rather than hacking.