Eric Campbell has shown enormous flexibility on the field for the Mets in 2014. He has played everywhere except center, and catcher, and has a .698 OPS to show for very sporadic playing time. However, just last year his OPS stood at .910 for the entire season, and early this year, he posted a .967 over 33 games in Las Vegas. Play it off as friendly confines if you wish, but there is evidence to suggest that Campbell is better suited to play every day, rather than be wasted in utility.
The argument has been made throughout 2014 by various writers at Mets360 that Campbell deserves more playing time. His longest stretch of games came between June 24th and July 7th. During that span, he played LF, 1B and 3B and had at least four ABs in ten of those 12 games. Over that period Campbell hit a ridiculous .415/.455/.512, driven by an even more ludicrous .567 BABIP. Between the small sample size and the video game type numbers, it’s easy to sign this off as a lucky hot streak. But if you recognize that Campbell has improved himself as a hitter nearly every year since 2010, a case can be made that Campbell is not merely a super-utility, but rather could benefit by being a mainstay in the lineup.
Campbell’s OPS per season reads like this: .770 in 50 games at Double-A in 2010; .688 in 126 games at Double-A in 2011; .830 in 115 games at Double-A in 2012; and as previously stated, .910 last year in Las Vegas in 120 games. Campbell showed major improvements in AVG, OBP and SLG as well, but his wRC+ (which attempts to quantify a player’s total offensive value) is the bigger story. His wRC+ was 148 for 2013, and 134 in 2012. Two totals that have been league and park-adjusted, and show Campbell as a above-average to possibly elite offensive player. Add in his incredible K/BB%, and you have a player who can routinely get on base and make solid contact in a starting role.
Campbell’s hot numbers took a dip for a multitude of reasons; natural regression, intelligent pitchers, and reduced playing time, the last of which is more telling than the other two. After that stretch of playing time ended on July 7 when Campbell was tearing the cover off the ball, he did not see the plate more than once until July 13th. Then he didn’t play again at all until July 21st. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about Babe Ruth, no player can sit for half a month and be expected to stay hot with the bat.
To be sure, the Mets had a variety of reasons not to play Campbell. Lucas Duda was entrenching himself at first, and there was no reason to take him out unless he was facing a tough lefty. And the Mets foolishly carried six outfielders at one time, again drastically eliminating time for the man who was the best hitter on the team for a stretch. Sitting Campbell to find playing time for Chris Young and others seemed like bad management at the time. Looking back, it appears to be inexplicable incompetence. And not just by Terry Collins, mind you.
Campbell was relegated to pinch hitting assignments until mid-August, but by that time it was too late to rekindle the magic. Campbell resurfaced on August 19th and 20th against Oakland, going 4-8. But instead of riding the hot hand, he was benched again. The same thing happened on August 27th and 28th, when he went 3-7, but was quickly shown the pine, only to get more pinch hitting duties. Two good games in a row does not make Campbell an All-Star, but it shows how his handling was poorly managed. Labeling Campbell as a utility player and thus given him sporadic time at the plate was like branding him with a scarlet letter. He’s been unable to break out of that ill-conceived role ever since.
Eric Young, Jr. had a big day versus Colorado on September 10, and went on to play four more games in a row. He stayed hot for two, then cooled off, then sat on the bench for four more days before playing again. This is in September, mind you, when teams aren’t supposed to be figuring out what they have in their backup outfielders who’ve already proven they can’t handle a starting role. If now isn’t the time to play Campbell more, especially with David Wright, Dilson Herrera and Juan Lagares out for the remainder of the season, then when is exactly? Instead, management is putting Ruben Tejada back into the lineup, and moving Wilmer Flores over to second-base, a position that is already claimed by one All-Star, and being circled by another highly regarded prospect. These are the types of roster manipulations that neither serve the present, nor the future.
Campbell and his adaptability have served the Mets well this year, but management hasn’t served him well in return. Instead of rewarding his better than average play, they continue to stumble upon relics of a past team that have proven unable to compete. Campbell may not end up being an everyday player, and may even fail as a utility player next season. However, there is evidence to show he can be more than that if given a chance to play everyday. We just might never get to find out.
For whatever reason, the Mets seem to be pumping out these 2B/3B types in bunches here recently. Murphy, Herrera, Satin, Campbell and Flores all currently on the major league roster, Lutz and Turner no longer in the org and Muno, Reynolds, Mazzilli, Rivera and maybe others in the minors.
I like the way the ball seems to jump off Campbell’s bat but I also recognize he may be just the flavor of the month. Like you said, I wish he got more playing time here in 2014.
Campbell could be useful as a platoon player, but the problem is that the Mets need more than he can provide. He’s never going to hit for power, which would be fine if the Mets had pop in CF or at SS. If Flores can be that hitter, then Campbell can get regular AB’S platooning with Duda and Den Dekker. If not, Campbell will be a casualty when they bring in an outfield bat.
Nice research and presentation Patrick.
I have found the use of Campbell very frustrating. He should have been the right handed hitting part of the left field platoon after CY was cut.
He should now be playing third base and Murphy should go back to his second base position. Alderson has implied that Flores may be the 2015 shortstop yet in these last 6 meaningless games TC is going to move him off the position. ???
At this point the Mets should know what they have in EY and Tejada. The season has been over since the Harper home run so why not evaluate the newer players.
He’s done well—and very surprising to see another fold of ability with enough speed to Play in a very large RF–he has a good range of gloves that he can capably use, and he hits a bit—nice, nice bench guy. Maybe he’ll play his way to more, but it’s a huge step up from what they’ve had for 3 plus years.