Kirk Nieuwenhuis Making Most of Second Chance with New York Mets After Three-Home Run Game

Kirk Nieuwenhuis
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

When the 2015 season began, Kirk Nieuwenhuis had long since solidified his role on the New York Mets as the team’s fourth outfielder. But with a .079 batting average in the middle of May, the Mets had little choice but to let him go. After his struggles continued during a brief stint with the Los Angeles Angels, the Mets brought Nieuwenhuis back into the fold and sent him to Triple-A, where he hit .293 with seven home runs over 15 games. His OPS skyrocketed over 1.000.

He has since earned a promotion back to the big leagues and is making the most of his second chance with the Mets, as evidenced by his three-home run performance on Sunday to help New York close out the first half of the season with a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The complete lack of production from Nieuwenhuis early in the season was a surprise after he excelled in the fourth-outfielder role last season. Instead of picking up where he left off in 2014, Nieuwenhuis was part of an abysmal Mets’ bench during the early part of the season, forcing the team to designate him for assignment and ultimately trade him to the Angels for cash.

It would have been easy for the Mets’ front office to wash their hands of Nieuwenhuis completely after that, but to their credit, they kept their eye on him.

After proving that he can annihilate Triple-A pitching, the Mets gave Neiuwenhuis a second chance, and he has started to make the most of it. After making minor contributions in his first handful of games back with the Mets, Nieuwenhuis exploded with a three-home run performance to close out the first half of the season. That performance gives Nieuwenhuis four hits in 10 at-bats since his return, not to mention a huge confidence boost that he can be productive at the major league level.

The damage to Nieuwenhuis’ batting average is already done, and getting his average over .200 by season’s end will be a challenge, but he has a chance to become an important player for the Mets during the second half of the season. With Michael Cuddyer battling a knee injury and Juan Lagares playing through a variety of minor injuries this season, there will be opportunities for Nieuwenhuis to play during the second half of the season. Moreover, short of trading for an outfielder or promoting top prospect Michael Conforto, the Mets may very well need Nieuwenhuis to be an important part of the team the rest of the season.

With his three-home run performance, it appears that Nieuwenhuis has put his struggles from the first three months of the season behind him. If that’s the case and he can hit for a decent average the rest of the season, the defense, athleticism and occasional power that Nieuwenhuis provides will be most helpful to the Mets during the second half of the season, as Nieuwenhuis looks to make the most of his second chance in New York.

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.

 

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