Sweet 16: Mets Set RBI Record You Didn't Know About

The New York Mets did something this year that they had never accomplished during their first 49 years of existence.  No, it wasn't a fourth place finish in the NL East (they're getting quite used to that spot in the division by now).  Let's peruse the team's final RBI totals for 2011 to see if you can figure out what I'm talking about.

Despite being traded in late July to the San Francisco Giants, Carlos Beltran led the Mets in RBIs with 66.  He was followed by David Wright (61), Jason Bay (57), Angel Pagan (56) and Justin Turner (51).  But let's take a look a few other Mets and their RBI totals.

Lucas Duda had a strong second half to finish with 50 RBIs.  Finishing one RBI behind Duda was Daniel Murphy (49), who missed the last seven weeks of the season with an injury.  After Murphy, we had National League batting champion Jose Reyes (44), Josh Thole (40), Ruben Tejada (36), Nick Evans (25), Ike Davis (25), Scott Hairston (24), Willie Harris (23), Jason Pridie (20) and Ronny Paulino (19).

That gave the Mets a total of 16 players with at least 19 RBIs in this just completed season.  (Dang you, Ronny Paulino for not getting an extra RBI to make this a list of the sweet sixteen players who reached the round number of 20 RBIs in a single season.)

So why is 16 players with 19 RBIs or more worth writing a blog about?  Because it's never happened before in Mets history.

In 2007, the Mets had 13 players with 19 or more RBI, led by Carlos Beltran (112) and David Wright (107) and rounded out by Ruben Gotay (24) and Luis Castillo (20).  The 2005 Mets also had 13 players reach that RBI figure, as did the 2004 team.  To find a Mets team with at least 14 players reaching that not-so-round RBI total (seriously, Ronny Paulino, it was just one stinkin' RBI.  Was that too much to ask for?) you have to go all the way back to 1972.

In the first season after the untimely passing of manager Gil Hodges, the Mets had a roster that included 14 players who drove in a minimum of 19 runs.  That 1972 team, which finished 83-73 in the NL East (six games were wiped out due to a players' strike), were led by Cleon Jones and his 52 RBIs, which represent the lowest RBI total for a team leader in that category in franchise history.  The other 13 players following Jones in the RBI department were Tommie Agee (47), John Milner (38), Rusty Staub (38), Duffy Dyer (36), Ed Kranepool (34), Ken Boswell (33), Jim Fregosi (32), Wayne Garrett (29), Bud Harrelson (24), Jerry Grote (21), Ted Martinez (19), Jim Beauchamp (19) and some guy named Willie Mays (19).

Prior to the 2011 season, no Mets team had ever had at least 15 players with at least 19 RBI.  This year's team wasn't satisfied with having just 15 players reach that figure.  They went out and made it a sweet sixteen.  (Do you see the photo below, Mr. Paulino?  Wouldn't that have looked better with a "20" where the "19" is?)

It's very rare for a team to have that many players accumulate enough at-bats to drive in as many as 19 runs in a season.  After all, most teams carry 11 or 12 pitchers at any one time, leaving 13 or 14 spots on the roster available for the starting eight and the bench players.  Many bench players only drive in 10 or 12 runs because they only pick up 100-200 at-bats per season, mostly through pinch-hitting appearances and spot starts whenever a regular player needs a day off.  That wasn't the case for the 2011 Mets.

Because of injuries that kept a number of regular players out of the lineup for months at a time (see Davis, Ike and Wright, David) and one particular trade (Carlos Beltran), the Mets had a number of their players accumulate more at-bats than expected.  Ten players had 300+ at-bats and three others had over 200.  The more at-bats a player gets, the more likely he is to drive in a few extra runs.  That was certainly the case for the 2011 Mets.

However, the Mets didn't set this team RBI record just because they had so many players getting an inordinate number of at-bats.  Players such as Nick Evans (25 RBI in 176 at-bats) and Scott Hairston (24 RBI in 132 at-bats) were both excellent with men on base, with Evans hitting .308 in those situations and Hairston clubbing nearly half of his extra-base hits with runners on (7 XBH of 16 came with men on base).  Putting Hairston's performance into perspective, Ike Davis (who was on his way to a fabulous sophomore season before his day-to-day injury kept him out for the remainder of the season) had four more plate appearances (149) than Hairston did (145), but only had one more RBI than the utility player.

The 2011 Mets might have had an unusually high number of players getting more at-bats than expected, but those players who would have normally spent the majority of the season on the bench or in the minors came through when given the opportunity.  This record is not a fluke or a statistical aberration.  It is a testament to the team put on the field by Terry Collins.  The Mets' manager might not have had the best players to work with, but he did have players who contributed when called upon to do so.  A team like that deserves to have a record such as this one, don't you think?

Two Ways For Mets Fans To Remember This September

September has rolled around and the Mets will almost certainly be left out of the postseason party. Going into the final month of the season, the Mets find themselves 22 games behind the first place Phillies and 14½ games behind the wild card-leading Braves.



But although October is only a rumor at Citi Field, there are two events that are still visible on the horizon for the Mets and their fans - a winning season and a batting title for Jose Reyes.



The Mets have a 65-69 record as they begin play in the month of September. Although the climb back to (and hopefully over) .500 could be daunting, it's not an impossible task. In fact, the Mets have twice before entered September with a losing record, only to turn things around and finish of the bright side of .500 at season's end.



In 2001, the Mets began the month of September with a 64-71 record, seemingly out of contention in the NL East after winning the National League pennant the year before. But an 18-9 mark in September and October (the season was pushed back a week due to the tragic events of 9/11) kept Mets fans hopes up and more importantly, gave them a winning record for the season (82-80).



Similarly, the 1973 Mets appeared to be going nowhere fast in the NL East. With a 62-71 record after their final game in August, the Mets were on a one-way ticket to disappointment just one year after finishing ten games above .500. But all it took was a little "ya gotta believe" and a 20-8 mark in September and October, and the Mets found themselves in the playoffs (albeit with an 82-79 record), finishing one win short of their second World Series championship.



Both the 1973 Mets and the 2001 Mets were more games below .500 entering September than this year's model. A 17-11 record this month would make the 2011 Mets the third team in franchise history to achieve this feat.



Now, let's talk about Jose Reyes and his personal quest to become the team's first batting champion.



Entering September, Reyes was leading the National League with a .336 mark, just slightly ahead of Milwaukee's Ryan Braun and his .333 average. However, Braun went 1-for-5 in his first September game (a day game against the Cardinals this afternoon), lowering his batting average to .331.



Prior to this season, only three Mets players had ever finished within ten points of the batting title. Cleon Jones (.340) finished eight points behind Pete Rose (.348) in the 1969 National League batting race, with Roberto Clemente (.345) sandwiched between them. Dave Magadan (.328) finished seven points behind 1990 NL batting champion Willie McGee, with Eddie Murray's .330 average sliding in between the two. Finally, in 1998, John Olerud became the first Met to finish second in the league in batting, with his franchise-record .354 average. (Larry Walker finished nine percentage points ahead of Olerud with his .363 batting average.)



Of the above batting title contenders for the Mets, only John Olerud entered the month of September with the lead in the batting race. Prior to the games of September 1, 1998, Olerud's .344 mark was two points higher than Walker's .342. But an 0-for-3 performance by Olerud coupled with a 2-for-3 game by Walker on the month's first night caused a shift in the race, with Walker taking a two-point lead over Olerud (.344 to .342). Olerud retook the lead the following night, but Walker took it back on September 3 and never gave it up for the rest of the season, hitting .640 (16-for-25) from the 3rd to the 12th of September. Even Olerud's .621 average (18-for-29) over his final ten games wasn't enough to help him claim the franchise's first batting title.



Editor's note: In 1969, Cleon Jones was hitting .351 going into September, eight percentage points ahead of eventual batting champion Pete Rose (.343). But Roberto Clemente was the league leader in batting with a .354 mark on the morning of September 1, 1969.



In 1990, Willie McGee's batting average was frozen when he was traded from the Cardinals to the Oakland A's. Since he did not bat again in the National League following his trade, his .335 mark at the time of the trade remained intact. Dave Magadan's batting average never reached McGee's mark in September, peaking at .333 on September 5.







If Jose Reyes can keep his lead in the batting race past September 3, he will be the first Mets player ever to lead the league in batting that late in the season. Of course, should he manage to hold off Ryan Braun, he would become the team's first batting champion in their 50-year history.



So what if the Mets aren't even in the Phillies' and Braves' rear view mirror? There are still two reasons to root for the boys in orange and blue (especially if they wear those sweet "Los Mets" alternate jerseys). The Mets can finish with their first winning mark since the days of Shea Stadium and Jose Reyes can finally provide an answer to the decades-old question, "what will happen first, a Mets' no-hitter or a Mets' batting champion?".



Instead of thinking that there's only one month left to the off-season, think that there's one more exciting month of baseball to be played at Citi Field, a month that could give Mets fans a winning attitude and an unprecedented individual achievement for one of their heroes. You gotta believe, right?

Could Jose Reyes Follow In Willie McGee's Footsteps?

The year was 1990 and the world was a different place. The Mets said goodbye to Davey Johnson and Darryl Strawberry. The Yankees really did suck (and not just because Mets and Red Sox fans said so). Al Gore had not yet invented the internet. The Ramones were still together (and still breathing). And Jose Reyes was seven years old.

It was also a banner year for Willie McGee, who won his second National League batting title and played in the World Series with the Oakland A's. Yes, you read that correctly and no, you did not just enter a parallel universe where the A's played in the senior circuit.

So how in the world did Willie McGee become a batting champion in the National League while playing in the American League? Let me tell you a little story, and trust me, we'll get around to Jose Reyes faster than he can leg out a triple.

In 1990, Willie McGee was leading the National League in batting with a .335 average, but his performance was not helping his team, as the Cardinals were mired in last place in the NL East. Choosing to rebuild, St. Louis traded away the former NL MVP (1985) to the Oakland A's on August 29. However, since Willie McGee switched leagues in the deal, his American League numbers would not be combined with his National League numbers, meaning his NL batting mark of .335 would remain unchanged despite his .274 batting average with Oakland in 113 at-bats.

During his time in St. Louis, McGee made 542 plate appearances, or 40 more than the 502 required to qualify for the batting title. When the season ended, no National League player had been able to surpass McGee's .335 average (Dodgers first baseman Eddie Murray finished second with a .330 batting average and the Mets' Dave Magadan finished third at .328), so McGee was awarded the National League batting title, despite finishing the season in the American League. Eddie Murray won nothing but some lovely parting gifts despite leading the major leagues in batting, as his .330 mark was higher than McGee's combined .324 average with St. Louis and Oakland.

So why am I boring you with this history lesson and what does this have to do with the Mets?

Well, my fellow Mets fans, Jose Reyes is batting .337. That leads the National League entering tonight's game against the Brewers (Joey Votto is second with a .336 average). Jose Reyes' name is also being bandied about in trade rumor after trade rumor. You can probably guess where I'm going with this. What if Jose Reyes continues his hot hitting, ups his trade value, and gets dealt to an American League team at the trade deadline (July 31)?

Barring any rainouts, the Mets will be playing their 108th game on July 31. Jose Reyes has played in all but three of the Mets' 59 games. He has 265 plate appearances in those 56 games, an average of 4.73 PA per game. If Reyes plays in all 49 games left before the trade deadline, he would need 237 plate appearances (an average of 4.84 PA per game) to qualify for the National League batting title. So you see, it could happen.

Everybody clap your hands! (And while you're at it, don't trade Reyes.)

The Mets have never had a batting champion in their history. John Olerud came close in 1998, finishing second to Larry Walker. Cleon Jones and Dave Magadan also fell short, finishing third in 1969 and 1990, respectively. Could you imagine if Jose Reyes won the 2011 National League batting title after being traded to an American League team, a la Willie McGee over two decades ago? Stranger things have happened in Mets history, but this would probably be as strange as it gets.

Mets fans would have no problem with Jose Reyes becoming the team's first batting champion. But I'm sure they'd like to see him do it in a Mets uniform.