The Mets called up Michael Conforto in the middle of a pennant race, gave him extended playing time and were rewarded with a player who turned in a 132 OPS+ over 194 PA. It was reminiscent of another rookie that the Mets called up in the middle of a pennant race to be a platoon left fielder. While the team outcome wasn’t as good, Daniel Murphy was just as successful, putting up a 130 OPS+ in 151 PA back in 2008.

That’s pretty good success with a couple of rookies. How did other Mets in this same time period perform in their rookie season when they were given at least semi-regular playing time for a decent amount of time? Setting our floor as 150 PA in a rookie season, the Mets have had 19 players since 2008 to meet this threshold. Only two of those players turned in a performance that was painful. Here’s how everyone in the group did:

1. Lucas Duda – Had a 137 OPS+ (.852 OPS) in 347 PA split among 1B and the OF. Played his best ball at 1B (.884 OPS) so they spent the majority of time the next two years trying to make him an OF. Once they moved him back to 1B, he put up a 137 and a 132 OPS+ marks the past two years.

2. Conforto – 132 OPS+

3. Murphy – 130 OPS+

4. Josh Satin – Had a 123 OPS+ in 221 PA. Of course he did this thanks to a .379 BABIP. He followed up in 2014 with a .143 BABIP in 43 PA and hasn’t been in the majors since.

5. Ike Davis – Called up much earlier than expected, Davis responded with a 115 OPS+ over 601 PA. Was off to an even better start before suffering a freak on-field injury in 2011. From this fan’s perspective, he seemed more interested in succeeding on his terms rather than succeeding. Made adjustments in the second half of 2012 which produced great results and immediately abandoned them in 2013 and hasn’t been a factor since.

6. Travis d’Arnaud – 105 OPS+ in 421 PA. He couldn’t hit a lick at the beginning of the year, which earned him a return trip to the minors. Made the necessary adjustments and now the big question isn’t if he’ll hit – it’s whether he can stay healthy.

7. Josh Thole – 99 OPS+ in 227 PA. This was a strong debut for a 23-year-old backstop and he had essentially the same season the following year. But the hits didn’t fall in for him in three of the next four seasons and without any power to help him through rough spots, his MLB future is in serious doubt.

8. Eric Campbell – 96 OPS+ in 211 PA. He looked like a useful player in 2014 and a bum in 2015. Had a .348 BABIP in the former year and a .230 mark in the latter. Split the difference and you probably have a serviceable minimum wage backup, especially since he can fake it at both the infield and outfield corners.

9. Matt den Dekker – 94 OPS+ in 174 PA. Had a .290/.392/.374 line in 125 PA once given the larger half of the left field platoon, a la Murphy and Conforto. The organization that gives lip service to valuing a high OBP sent him packing.

10. Jordany Valdespin – 94 OPS+ in 206 PA. More of an athlete than a baseball player, Valdespin’s attitude won him few fans over the years. Looks about done as an MLB player but perhaps he might have had more of a career if he came up in a different organization.

11. Justin Turner – 94 OPS+ in 487 PA. Serviceable backup that the Mets cut ties to at the exact wrong time. Legend has it that he adopted hitting techniques learned from Marlon Byrd and he saw his BB% and ISO leap the past two years with the Dodgers.

12. Chris Carter – 92 OPS+ in 180 PA. When the other options were Frank Catalanotto, Jesus Feliciano, Jeff Francoeur, Gary Matthews Jr. and a past-his-expiration-date Fernando Tatis, Carter’s production was an upgrade.

13. Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 91 OPS+ in 314 PA. A streaky player, he had the good fortune of hitting right out of the box. He had a fine April and a solid June. The less said about July, the better. Strikeouts and streakiness are part of the bargain with him. But he plays all three outfield positions and worse players than him have had long careers.

14. Wilmer Flores – 90 OPS+ in 274 PA. Another streaky player, the Mets apparently decided to turn him into a super-sub after he started most of 2015.

15. Jason Pridie – 90 OPS+ in 236 PA. Perhaps nothing more than being in the right place at the right time but the Mets had a 26-19 record when he started that year. May not sound like much but the team was 51-66 when he didn’t.

16. Omir Santos – 82 OPS+ in 306 PA. Congratulations if you’ve forgotten him! Santos got his playing time in 2009, when everyone and his brother got hurt. They played him because they had no other choice and he performed much better than his minor league numbers would have projected.

17. Juan Lagares – 80 OPS+ in 421 PA. His all-world defense made him a valuable player, despite the poor year with the stick, one propped up by a .421 BABIP over a 106-PA spread.

18. Kevin Plawecki – 62 OPS+ in 258 PA. Like with Santos, Plawecki got playing time because of injury. Like Santos, he performed better than his minor league numbers would have indicated. Our translations show his Las Vegas numbers in 2015 being worth a .216 OBP and a .225 SLG in the majors and he produced a .280/.296 line.

19. Ruben Tejada – 62 OPS+ in 255 PA. In 2008, Tejada had a .588 OPS in Hi-A. The idea that he would spend half the year in the majors in 2010 was ludicrous. And it was.

*****

Some of this is a bit circular, in that the main reason these guys got this many PA is because they performed when given a shot. Satin, Campbell and Nieuwenhuis certainly wouldn’t have gotten the PT they did if they hit a buck 60 right out of the gate. Timing may not be everything but the one thing we can say for sure is that it will earn you a longer leash, regardless of your minor league pedigree.

Still, it’s hard to ignore that 17 of the 19 guys in our sample performed (at least) at a credible major league level when given more than a handful of PA. Some performed like starters and some performed like bench guys. That’s okay, you need bench guys, too. Hopefully the team can be in a constant state of evaluation, comparing actual results to expected ones to determine the most-likely scenario going forward.

Maybe a BABIP 33 points higher than an elevated minor league mark from a non-heralded guy shouldn’t be viewed as sustainable. Of course, the flip side of that should hold true, too. Maybe the default assumption shouldn’t be to view major league readiness based solely on 50 or 100 sporadic PA in The Show when anyone can go hot or cold based on nothing more than the fickle nature of the hit gods or lucky bounces.

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