Coming off an NL Player of the Week Award, Juan Lagares was named the everyday centerfielder, further cemented by Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ demotion to AAA Las Vegas.

He has posted numbers like a .352/.400/.537/.937 slash and a .393 wOBA, albeit helped by a .462 BABIP, in July and has played plus defense at a prime position.

While Lagares has been swinging a red-hot bat for the better part of July and has shown signs of promise, his game needs to improve if he’s going to have long-term success.

The first thing that pops out as needing improvement in Lagares’ game is his strikeout rate. For the season it currently sits at an Dave Kingmanian 25.3%, while his ISO sits at a Daniel Murphian .131.

Even during his success in July, Lagares has struck out in about a quarter of his plate appearances while managing an ISO under .185.

A strikeout rate that high is not intolerable, but it is difficult to strike out that much and hit for little power and still be a productive hitter.

Looking at Lagares and by seeing that he’s listed at 6’1” 175 lbs, there certainly seems to be room for him to grow and develop more power (even if it’s ‘only’ doubles power) as his career progresses.

The only worry if that happens is that additional size would perhaps hamper his ability to play centerfield to the standard he has set so far in his young career.

It’s also conceivable that as his career progresses and he works more with hitting coach Dave Hudgens, his strikeout rate will decrease as he learns better pitch recognition.

There is evidence that this transformation is already taking place in his walk rate, which has increased from 1.4% in June to 6.7% in July. While that 6.7% may not be the prettiest number, it represents a vast improvement, although it may just be the result of random variation.

Speaking of walk rates, that happens to be another area of his game that could use some improvement.

As I just mentioned, while it has improved in the month of July, the sample sizes that we have to deal with are so small it’s nearly impossible to tell if any statistically significant improvements have been made.

Looking at the much larger sample of his minor league statistics, the highest walk rate he posted was last year with Binghamton when he walked in 6.8% of his plate appearances. Putting that into perspective, Cesar Puello, noted for being an impatient hitter, is walking in 7.3% of his plate appearances this year.

Perhaps more patience at the plate will come with more experience. Perhaps he’ll hit for enough power to negate the poor walk rate (see Byrd, Marlon).

While I was never terribly high on Lagares as a prospect, I find myself finding that he may very well turn out to be a productive major leaguer the more I watch him play.

If he could put it all together and either develop a little more patience or a little more power, the Mets could find themselves with a 2-3 WAR centerfielder with plus defense at a prime position; a nice complimentary piece on a team that figures to be competing for a pennant in the not-so-distant future.

Joe Vasile is a play-by-play announcer and radio host. Follow him on Twitter or visit his website.

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