As injuries continue to ravage the Mets, and with the team flailing as the season comes to a close, many players will get an opportunity to make their case for future inclusion with the Mets.
Enter Nick Evans.
Evans has really turned a corner late in the summer and is in the midst of an impressive streak. Evans is now batting .409 with one home run, six RBI’s and seven runs scored in the month of August.
For four years now, Evans has shuttled back and forth between the minors and Queens, but has never been able to take up permanent residence with the Mets. Is this his time now?
While the Mets continue to rack up ugly losses, GM Sandy Alderson has no other choice but to attentively look to the 2012 season and beyond for respite. Alderson will have to figure out who has a place on next year’s team and where they would fit in.
That makes the case of Evans a particularly interesting one.
So, what kind of future does Evans really have with this club? It’s a question Mets’ brass have wrestled with for far too long.
No one will argue that Evans should be an everyday starter, but he can be used in a pinch in several spots off the bench at both the corner outfield and infield positions.
Evans should have a place on this team for two reasons. A)He’s reasonably young (25-years-old) and will fortify the youth movement that Alderson company want to implement and B)He does incredibly well hitting against lefties.
Consider his career splits against lefties as opposed to righties:
Vs. Lefties .300/.369/.487 for a 856 OPS
Vs. Righties .181/.221/.305 for a 526 OPS
While Alderson has his homework to do in preparation for how this team will look in 2012, with the way Evans is playing, just maybe he should pencil in him as at least a reserve considering guys like Scott Hairston and Willie Harris will likely not be coming back.
It’s time to keep Evans on the team for good this time. Just limit his at-bats against righties and you’ll have a very productive bat off the bench. If he stays for good, it will only help his confidence in knowing that he has job security.
Again, we’re not talking about a superstar, but Evans has earned the right to play with the big boys.