Ruben Tejada: the successor to Jose Reyes.
Tejada has impressed everyone with his play so far. He has shown he can get on base, field, do almost anything the Mets need him to do. However, there is one thing that has impressed me the most about Tejada this season: patience at the plate.
In Friday night’s loss to the Giants, Ruben Tejada was up with two outs in the ninth inning. Josh Thole was on sevond and Mike Baxter was on third with Sergio Romo pitching for the Giants against Tejada.
Romo has one of the best sliders in baseball, moving inside to outside against a right-handed hitter. Tejada fought off pitch after pitch. He worked the count to 3-2 as well. Tejada was taking some pitches that were so close to the strike zone that many 15-year veterans of the game could not pass up. He struck out, but it was one heck of an at-bat against a guy with great stuff.
Tejada has shown great strides this season at the plate. When he was called up to the majors in 2010, he was a weak-hitting shortstop whose glove had carried him through the upper levels of the minor leagues. His career minor league average is just .270, including a .264 mark in Triple-A. However, since his call-up, Tejada has worked hard on his hitting, and has clearly improved.
Now, Ruben is a big league hitter. If you stretch out his stats from his first 13 games into a 162-game season, he has 88 doubles, 88 RBI, 75 walks, and 75 runs. Obviously, this hot streak can’t continue the whole season, but the numbers are certainly a promising sign that Ruben Tejada has a bright future with the Mets.
What do you guys think? Is Tejada a future star or just an average starting shortstop?
7 comments
gategem
4/22/2012-12:32pm at 12:32 pm (UTC -4)
I agree with your assessment with the following caveat, it’s too darned early to appoint him the successor to Jose Reyes. Presently he occupies the position but will he be a long term replacement? I haven’t the slightest idea. He may still end being only a temporary replacement until the true successor comes along.
kingman 26
4/22/2012-12:49pm at 12:49 pm (UTC -4)
Tejada showed huge improvement in his full seasons at A and AA at ages 18 and 19. While he tailed off a bit in AAA, this could be partly explained by his being rushed to the bigs and going back and forth and not just having one full year in AAA.
Still, he shows great instincts, appears to be calm and fearless, works the count and does not K a lot, and overall there is a LOT to like about this kid, who won’t be 23 until October.
darknova306
4/22/2012-4:29pm at 4:29 pm (UTC -4)
Calling him calm and fearless is dead on. He looks way more mature out there than a 22 year old should. I don’t think anyone could have asked for more than what Ruben has given the team so far. It’s such a pleasure to see this.
I’ll take what Tejada has given the team this year over spending $100M on a questionable hamstring.
srt
4/22/2012-6:59pm at 6:59 pm (UTC -4)
My feelings as well – especially given Ruben’s age.
wanny
4/22/2012-1:47pm at 1:47 pm (UTC -4)
88 doubles should an all star make.
gategem
4/22/2012-4:53pm at 4:53 pm (UTC -4)
If you take Connor’s numbers and using simple mathematical induction stretch it out over a 20 year career you’re talking about one of the truly greats to ever play the game.
Stickguy
4/22/2012-4:57pm at 4:57 pm (UTC -4)
so far, impressive. He is doing a lot more than I expected him to.
Not going to predict “star” or anything close at this point. But does he have the potential to be a solid starter for a long time? Certainly seems to.
So, I have no problem with him holding the job, though if someone better comes along, he could get superseded.