NEW YORK — Earlier this week, the Mets lost first baseman Lucas Duda to a stress fracture in his back. The team did not give a timetable for his return. They only acknowledged he will miss a significant amount of time. That sort of goes without saying.
Since the start of the 2014 season, Duda has been, very quietly, one of the most productive first basemen in baseball. He ranks seventh among all first basemen with a 130 OPS+ and sixth with 64 home runs during that time. No, Duda is not a star, but he’s a productive player and the Mets will miss him.
Utility infielder Eric Campbell has been playing first base since Duda landed on the DL, but that’s not something that can last. Campbell is hitting .192/.306/.269 (61 OPS+) this season and is a career .227/.316/.320 (81 OPS+) hitter in parts of three big league seasons. The Mets need someone else.
That someone else will not be outfielder Michael Conforto. The team’s regular left fielder has been taking some ground balls at first base in recent days, but manager Terry Collins confirmed Friday they don’t view Conforto as an option there.
“He is not a first baseman,” said Collins. “We here are not here to take a kid who has never played first base at the major-league level — and in a situation were we’re expected to win a lot — and put an inexperienced guy in a tough position. As I’ve tried to gingerly say, this isn’t high school where you put the fat kid over at first.”
Collins wasn’t calling Conforto fat! He was just pointing out that first base is really difficult. There’s a lot more to it than standing at the bag and catching throws from other infielders. The footwork is complicated, holding runners is challenging, and there are cutoff throws from the outfield. You can’t just throw anyone out there.
On paper it makes sense. Conforto is not a great outfield defender, so moving him to first would allow the team to slide Yoenis Cespedes back to his natural left field and play stellar gloveman Juan Lagares in center. This isn’t a video game, though. Learning a position on the fly at the major-league level is very difficult.
So, with Duda out, the Mets will instead turn to utility infielder Wilmer Flores at first base. Flores is currently on the DL with a hamstring injury but is due to return soon. He is playing in minor-league rehab games and will be activated in the coming days, after he accumulates some more at-bats to get his timing down.
“We think he can handle (first base),” said Collins. “He’s a middle infielder, therefore he’s athletic enough to play there. Has he had enough reps? I’m not sure that’s necessary. He’s worked there enough in spring training. He’s had two or three games already this year over there. Playing in Double-A, he’s going to play first base again tonight. If he can catch a grounder and flip it to the pitcher, he’ll be fine.”
Flores was the team’s starting shortstop for most of last season before giving way to Ruben Tejada, who is a superior defender. This season Flores has played five games at third, five games at second, four games at short, and two games at first. He also played three games at first in spring training. It’s not much, but it’s more than Conforto.
Losing Duda is tough, and the Mets don’t have a perfect solution. Flores is their best internal option for the time being, but, as he showed last year, his bat could get exposed if you run him out there every day. Expect the Mets to continue to look outside the organization for a replacement first baseman. Flores is only a Band-Aid.
