Curtis Granderson continued his recent surge with three hits on Saturday. He came to the plate in the eighth inning needing a double for the cycle. Granderson grounded out and while the Mets scored a run in the ninth, he was two batters away from getting another chance to be the team’s 11th player to hit for the cycle.
According to Baseball-Reference, since 2000 there have been 64 players in MLB who’ve hit for the cycle, a bit surprisingly no one has done it yet this season. By contrast, there have been 44 pitchers to throw a complete game and not allow a hit in that same period, making a cycle almost as rare as a no-hitter, if nowhere near as revered. If you throw a no-hitter, most of your team’s fans will remember. If you hit a cycle, it’s a big deal at the time but likely soon forgotten.
To honor those in Mets history who’ve hit for the cycle, here they are:
Scott Hairston (2012)
Jose Reyes (2006)
Eric Valent (2004)
John Olerud (1997)
Alex Ochoa (1996)
Kevin McReynolds (1989)
Keith Hernandez (1985)
Mike Phillips (1976)
Tommie Agee (1970)
Jim Hickman (1963)
Granderson became the 44th player in team history to miss a cycle by failing to hit a double. His is by far not the most surprising name on the list. Both Duffy Dyer and Jerry Grote did it in 1972 but even they likely take a back seat to the immortal Doug Flynn, who somehow hit both a triple and a homer in the same game in 1979.
Cycles and trivia aside, Granderson’s three-hit game yesterday is a continuation of his bat continuing to produce in the past two weeks. After taking the collar for the second straight game on May 25, Granderson saw his season-long slash line fall to .199/.297/.404 after 195 PA. But in the last two weeks, he has a .283/.381/.642 line, with a .306 BABIP.
From the eye test, Granderson seemed to still be making solid contact, but it appeared that he was hitting balls right into the shift and just not having a ton of luck. His .222 BABIP in his first 45 games speaks to his lack of good fortune in the hits falling in department. Now let’s check his exit velocities to see about those hard-hit balls.
Here’s a comparison of his season-long exit velocities in 2015, broken down by general pitch speed, versus his monthly totals here in 2016, taken from Brooks Baseball:
| Time | Hard | Breaking | Offspeed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 91.74 | 86.16 | 85.38 |
| April | 88.74 | 91.0 | 71.25 |
| May | 90.27 | 86.38 | 86.71 |
| June | 91.06 | 86.75 | 83.67 |
In April, Granderson appeared to be making worse quality contact against hard stuff and especially offspeed pitches. But here in June he seems to be back on pace, mirroring what he did a year ago.
Line drives are the balls most likely to result in hits, yet not all line drives are created equally. So far this year in the National League, hitters have posted a .648 AVG and a 1.041 SLG when they’ve hit a line drive. However Tony Blengino pointed out that you have to have an exit velocity of at least 97.5 mph to hit a line drive for a homer and while you can still be a productive average hitter down to 65 mph with your line drives, once you drop below that threshold, your results crater.
Here are Granderson’s monthly average exit velocities on line drives this season:
April – 83.82
May – 89.29
June – 95.13
Granderson has nine hits this month and they’ve had the following mph exit velocities: 98, 94, 99, 94, 105, 101, 104, 89, 105. In April and May, 12 of his 40 hits had exit velocities lower than his lowest one of 89 here in June.
No matter how you slice it, Granderson is hitting the ball hard here in June and the results speak for themselves. With a player of his age, anytime you have an extended period of poor at-bats, you have to wonder if the player has passed the point of no return. But Granderson has been smoking the ball in June, leaving us with a lot of hope that he’s not done as a productive player. Everyone talks about making a trade for another bat but a return to the Granderson of 2015 would be a shot in the arm to the Mets’ offense for the rest of the season.