One of the biggest trends in Major League Baseball is how numbers are used to evaluate players. Statistics have been around for a long time in baseball, but they used to be just space holders on the back of baseball cards. Nowadays, statistics seem to run organizations’ front offices, and help determine who is the best player/team. Therefore, I think it would be fun to analyze some of the best seasons in Mets history. As seen in the graphic above, I have made a bracket giving some of the best seasons Mets’ players have ever had. For the next seven weeks, summaries will be provided for you to read about each of the players’ seasons…and you will get to vote on who was better. Voting will start when this article is published, and will end at 10 p.m. the following Tuesday. So, without any further ado, here is this weeks comparison.
Jose Reyes, 2011: In 2011, Mets shortstop Reyes became the first ever player in the history of the New York Mets to win a batting title. With a .337 batting average, Reyes beat out Milwaukee Brewers’ outfielder Ryan Braun for the batting title by just simply dropping down a bunt in the bottom of the first and taking himself out of the game. But more than that, Reyes also hit 31 doubles, 16 triples, and stole 39 bases. Reyes finished 11th in the MVP voting that year, and also made the All Star team. He finished the season with a 4.7 WAR, and had 44 RBI’s in 127 games…which is pretty good for a leadoff hitter.
John Olerud, 1998: In Olerud’s 10th season in the major leagues, and second on the Mets, he had a season to remember! Olerud had a batting average of .354, and hit 22 homers. He also had 307 total bases, and finished 14th in NL MVP voting. His WAR for the season was 7.6, with a 6.2 oWAR and a 0.5 dWAR. Olerud also played in all but two games in 1998, and drove in 93 RBI’s. At the time, it was one of the most dominant seasons for a position player on the Mets, and still stands strong today. Of course, Olerud did not have the same stolen base numbers as Reyes did, but he made up for it with the rest of his statistics.
Two great players, two great seasons. And now it is up to you to decide who was better. In order to vote, click on who you think did the better job on the poll below. Please make this a fair game, and only vote once.
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I like the article very much Dan, but the bracket you spoke of isn’t included.
Yes, I do realize that and I apologize. The bracket will have four matchups to begin with (two batting matchups and two pitching matchups) and the winners of the batting matchups will play eachother, as will the pitchers. In the end, there will be one batter going up against one pitcher, and whomever wins that matchup will have won the bracket. Hopefully this makes sense. If it doesn’t, just let me know and I will try to simplify it a little bit more.