Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The time has come for the New York Mets to play first baseman Ike Davis every day, and that includes playing him against left-handed starters. Davis has started just one game against a lefty in the last three months, a span that does include his stint in the minors, but it’s time for that to change.
Despite a lack of power, Davis has performed better as of late, finally getting his average above .200. But he’s done that mainly against right-handed pitchers, and he needs to prove he can show that same improvement against lefties. He’s hitting just .138 against lefties this season, doing so in just 65 at-bats, and that’s not enough of a sample size to know what Davis can do against southpaws.
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Following the season, the Mets will have to make a decision on whether or not they want to proceed with Davis as their first baseman, and they need to gather as much information about him as possible before the season ends. Since coming back from the minors, he has been in a platoon at first base to help maximize his productivity, but that arrangement now needs to take a back seat to maximize Davis’ at-bats between now and the rest of the season.
It’d be great if Josh Satin could continue to get regular at-bats, but Davis is a serious option to be the Mets’ everyday first baseman next season, and Satin isn’t. Davis is a plus defender at first base and possess plus power, and if he can get the problems with his swing worked out, he’d be a great player to keep for the long term.
To know for sure if Davis if worth keeping around, the Mets have to play him every day for the remainder of the season. The time to start doing so is now.
Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com. Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google.
