With Ike Davis tearing it up in Las Vegas, his return to the majors will happen at any moment now. As it is, the Mets will be facing a slew of lefties in the next 6-8 games and the Mets seem hellbent on recalling Davis when the time is right—i.e. when they are set to face a stream of righties.

Obviously, Davis needed to be sent down in order to restore some lost confidence, as his production with the big club was inarguably pathetic. I don’t think I need to lay out the numbers for you, but, suffice to say, a .500 OPS will not cut in the major leagues.

Whether it’s the tutelage of Wally Backman or what not, Davis has taken to Vegas like a pair of dice. Davis has rediscovered his stroke and as of Tuesday, Davis was sporting a healthy .306/.460/.714 slash line. In 49 at-bats with the 51s (granted, the stadium and level of competition play a huge factor), Davis has more than doubled the OPS he had with the Mets, as he is carrying a hearty 1.175 OPS in Vegas.

Good for Davis.

Davis bid his time in Vegas, restored his lost confidence and took all instructions in stride. All that’s left now is when he gets the call back up.

So, when Davis comes back in the next week or so, what is next for a player with so many questions surrounding his future?

Does Terry Collins  pencil him in as the everyday first baseman, or does he platoon him with (perhaps) Josh Satin as part of a lefty/righty split?

I’m of the opinion that if you bring up Davis, you got to take off the kid gloves and get him in there every day. After all, it seems readily apparent that the front office thinks (barring a trade) Davis is still their first baseman of the future. Then again, I do see the benefits of sitting Davis against lefties in order to slowly build his confidence back up.

For the better part of three months, Davis was a lost soul at the plate and one in search of answers. It could prove to be counterproductive for him to come back and then struggle against lefties and undo some of the good things he learned in Vegas.

Also throwing a wrench into the plans is the latest injury to Lucas Duda.

In a roundabout way, I asked a couple of weeks ago, who should the Mets commit to long term: Davis or Duda? With the two players almost identical in build, game and approach, the Mets can’t go into the 2014 season with both of these players on the squad. They have to commit to one and trade the other.

Well, with Duda now on the shelf, Davis will have a good chance to reclaim his job for good. When Davis comes back and if he does well, it could spell the end for Duda in a Mets’ uniform.

These next couple of weeks leading up to the trade deadline could get real interesting. If Davis is flourishing and is part of the team past the trade deadline, then there is a strong chance the Mets will commit to Davis for the future.

In any event, when Davis returns to the Mets, he has to capitalize on this new-found opportunity. He can’t afford to go into another extended slump-although we should all preach patience. Davis has to treat his recall as a fresh new start and build on the momentum he gained in Vegas.

Safe to say, the next chapter in Davis’ Mets’ career is about to be written in the coming weeks.

14 comments on “What’s the next chapter in Ike Davis’ future?

  • Name

    LOOGY. Watch out Scott Rice!

    On a more serious note, he should be back before by July 4th. I will be interested to see what he has changed and to see if he has gotten an attitude adjustment.

    • amazin

      Last time I looked Davis couldn’t hit righties or lefties. So after two weeks in Vegas he’s fixed and let’s play him every day. Doesn’t make sense to me. He was terrible. If you have to bring him up start him in out in a platoon both for his sake and the team’s. He’s probably a platoon guy and PH going down the road anyway.

      • Name

        I’m not making any judgement on Davis right now. I will give him the benefit of the doubt when he comes back up and view him with a fresh clean slate. I never said he was fixed; only postulating that he would be up soon.

  • David Groveman

    Chapter 3: I have returned to the Mets and thus far they haven’t realized my plans.

  • Charlie Hangley

    If they can get anything for Duda, Sandy is more a miracle worker than I realized. I still say “Lucas Duda = Kevin Maas.”

  • Jerry Grote

    If Josh Satin continues to deliver, I’d like to see a platoon for Davis. Let him hit RHP all day long, give Satin the ABs against LHP and pinch hit.

    I’d like the Mets to remain committed to the guys that have brought them to the dance. Yesterday (and let’s face it, for all of July) it’s been new faces to the lineup that made the difference. Q’s play in the field, Lagares with defense and some not bad plate appearances, Satin’s elevated OBP, Young’s all around play, the three new guys in the BP.

    Damn it, the kids play. Let them know they can have a future with this team, that we’re not committed to bad ideas that have failed (more than once). If Davis earns that spot AND Satin fails, then fine.

    I think TC sends all the absolute worst messages to this entire team. I’m sorry, I just see it that way.

  • Brian Joura

    Should we really be ready to declare Ike Davis “fixed?”

    An Arizona native, Davis had a remarkable four-game series when Vegas played at Tucson, where he went 8-13 with two doubles and four homers. In the 10 games outside of Arizona, all of which were in Vegas and three of which have come after the Tucson series, Davis is 7-36 (.194) with 1 HR.

    I’d like to see him at least be productive in Vegas (of all place) before we call him cured and promote him.

  • blastingzone

    Ike Davis: To play or not to play that is the question? Lets say the mets bring him up ASAP and he hits then he should play everyday because he didn’t hit over 30 hrs last year off of
    just right handed pitchers and then fire the hitting coach and promote AAA’s hitting coach
    to the mets because he’s done an amazing job with Ike and it makes you wonder what he could do
    with the rest of the team? I know Vegas is great for hitters but when Ike left NY he couldn’t
    hit his mother and two weeks later he’s fixed WOW bring Ike up now and the hitting coach with him and while your at it fire TC and replace him with Wally!!

  • steevy

    Frankly,I’d be happy never to see Ike Davis in Met uniform again.Also,fire Terry Collins already!

  • Chris F

    Everyone proclaimed that between his attitude and mechanics, the fix for Ike would take ages. And “poof” like Houdini hes now fixed. I recall Sandy recently dressing down Waly for saying he could fix him, with the implication that our crack coaching staff in Flushing has been failing, which pissed of SA. What are we left with? Who knows if the PCL numbers are meaningful. Add the fact the Ike apparently threw a nutty the other day when Lutz was promoted, which required Wally calling Sandy in intervene. Ive had my fill of Davis. If this reset gives us trade value, Im all in. I dont believe 4 weeks is likely to undo a career of bad habits and thinking. Platoon is fine, but hes now costing the team millions to be sitting out LHP. Im in agreement with Jerry Grote, time to keep the youngin’s playing and see what we got, and with Brian that he has to have sustained improvement outside of his home.

  • Metsense

    Trade Duda or Davis or both. Neither is a cornerstone player.This trade can hopefully occur before the deadline. Duda not in LF allows the pitchers to have 3 out innings instead of 4 and it shows in the pitching results. Marcum made a point of crediting the defense last night.
    No matter which one ends up at 1B, that one should platoon with Satin until Satin shows he doesn’t belong or the other is hitting so good that you can’t sit him. TC won’t platoon at the 1B position which is just another reason to let TC go.

  • Jim OMalley

    has there been any indication on what Ike has done differently to obtain these results?

  • Chris F

    So this report from ESPN about Ike Davis from yesterday continues to reinforce my feeling that he is not learning or mature enough to be a cornerstone (however you define it) player. By arguing on a called strike, a situation he knows will never have a positive outcome, he clearly boxed the team into a corner. Is that the mature reaction of a MLB cornerstone? Having looked over his past 10 games stats, it seems we might know why. Brian noted that he out-performed during the 4 game Tuscon series (batting a steamy .533, 4 HR), which really skewed his numbers. Since then, he’s back to more familiar territory (.200, 1 HR). Basically, outside of generating big numbers while in familiar ground in AZ, he’s not providing much. With TC proclaiming he will NOT be part of a platoon when coming up, it does not look to my eyes that he’s ready to return, especially because since his demotion and the roster shake up the Mets are playing a better brand of baseball.

    From ESPN:
    “Ike Davis was ejected from Triple-A Las Vegas’ game in the third inning for arguing a called third strike. With Mike Baxter scratched with his wife due to give birth, the Mets were forced to use pitcher D.J. Mitchell in right field and shift Eric Campbell from the outfield to first base. The only position player on the bench was backup catcher Kai Gronauer.

    Davis went 1-for-2 before getting tossed. He is now hitting .288 with five homers and 10 RBIs in 59 at-bats spanning 17 games with the Pacific Coast League club.”

  • […] What does Ike Davis have to do to get his job back? July 4, 2013By Dan StackSure, why not write another Ike Davis column! […]

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