SaberMets.com: Wiggie On The Mend, But Who Cares?

May 04, 2004

Wiggie On The Mend, But Who Cares?

Ty Wigginton is getting ready to rejoin the Mets, but should he be allowed to start? When he landed on the DL on 4/23, Wigginton was batting a robust .188/.216/.333, for an OPS of .549. He had three extra base hits (two homeruns) and two walks. He didn't strike out much, only five times in 13 games, but everything he hit he did so into the ground, sporting a 1.83 groundball/flyball ratio. He was also last among ML third-basemen in P/PA (pitches per plate appearance), looking at only 3.02 offerings before grounding out.

Meanwhile, his replacement Todd Zeile has been a man possessed. Zeile is hitting .322/.414/.458 with nine walks, a homerun, and leads ML third-basemen with 4.73 P/PA.

Zeile has also been better in the field than Wigginton (based on rudimentary ESPN fielding stats). He holds an edge in RF (Range Factor) of 3.27 to 2.31, and an edge in ZR (Zone Rating) of .744 to .676. Not that Zeile is a defensive whiz by any stretch, he has just been superior to Wigginton, and would likely continue to be so.

Until Zeile stops hitting altogether, I see no reason to put Wigginton in there unless Jason Phillips is taking a day off. Wigginton can only help the club as trade bait or a placeholder, though he no longer seems qualified for either.

Eric | May 4, 2004 - 10:41 AM EST | TrackBack: 1
Category: Mets Injuries

Comments

jeter was 0fer whatever- does that mean you wouldnt play him-i agreethat until zeile cools he should play more, but a small sample size means nothing-ted williams in the WS hit 200, does that mean you would have released him- i know wiggy is no jeter nor ted but still

Posted by: luis - May 4, 2004 at 11:49 AM EST

Wiggie has shown almost zero ability to hit Major League pitching on a regular basis. He's decent bat off the bench, but his hitting and patience at the plate is deplorable, and his defense is an atrocity as well.

You're right about not reading too much into small sample sizes, but Wigginton has over 700 ML at-bats and has shown me nothing to indicate that he deserves to be playing even semi-regularly.

You're also right about Wiggie being no Jeter, so I'll leave it at that.

Posted by: Eric Simon - May 4, 2004 at 12:20 PM EST

Seriously, Wigginton wasn't even all that great in 2003. Sure, he played hard, but Wigginton was pretty bad at the plate for a second basemen last season, let alone a third basemen.

Posted by: GM - May 4, 2004 at 07:49 PM EST

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