Mets outfielder/first baseman Lucas Duda is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. He’s home grown, he’s come out of no where to play an important role on a plucky Mets team and most importantly, he’s got one of those names that you can type into the FanGraphs search box and not end up having to choose between the Lucas Duda who played from 2010-present and the one who played for the Cleveland Bronchos in 1902.
Offensively, Duda does everything you can ask for from a rookie player. He gets on base, hits for power and has a manageable strikeout rate. He’s even 9 for 30 versus lefties this year, which is a great bonus. An even greater bonus is that Duda has a great nickname that I can shout whenever he comes to the plate or gets a hit or just shows up on the TV screen.
“The Dude.” It’s great. It doesn’t matter whether you casually mention “The Dude” as he scoops a grounder at first or scream “THE DUDE!” as he watches a game-tying homer leave the yard. What a guy.
There are plenty of one-year wonders in the majors each year and guys flame out all the time after promising rookie campaigns, but it’s still very possible that Duda turns into a reliable major league hitter. The problem is, just like Daniel Murphy before him, the Mets struggle to find a position for Duda to play on defense.
Right now with Murphy and Ike Davis on the shelf, Duda can play a passable first base, but with Beltran traded away there’s a big hole in right field to fill. That’s OK because Duda would have to play right field next year anyway with Davis back, but it’s also not OK because Duda’s UZR is already -1.7 at the position this season in just 99.2 innings.
UZR is not a rock solid fielding measure, but it’s not as though Duda looks like a prototypical right fielder to begin with. Add to that the more defensive-minded Kirk Nieuwenhuis being primed for a call up next season, and it appears the Mets will have some tough decisions to make.
Assuming Duda continues to hit next season, the Mets will have to at least try him out in right field to see if he can stick there. That means that Nieuwenhuis maybe stays in Buffalo until either Angel Pagan or Jason Bay hit themselves out of the lineup. Of course, there’s no guarantee that either of those things happen. Should Pagan and Bay both hit well, the Mets may be forced to return Duda to Buffalo just so that he can master right field without the big league scrutiny.
Oy. There are certainly a lot of way this outfield situation can sort itself out. No matter what happens, it will be fun to see how Duda’s play affects decisions by the Mets front office going forward.
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