No Worries About Wright

David Wright is leading the National League in strikeouts and hitting only .271. However, I see no reason for concern, since this is Wright’s M.O. for April. He is a notoriously slow starter, and we’ve come to expect subpar numbers from him in the first month of the season.

But don’t listen to me, check the stats — his career batting average in April/March is .283, a full 25 points below his career average overall. Strangely enough, he has walked more times (74) in the initial month than in any other (covering 114 games total).

Ted Berg of MetsBlog astutely noted:

Wright is now hitting .270 with a .370 on-base percentage, .371 slugging and 23 strikeouts. After 18 games in 2007, Wright was hitting .261 with a .363 OBP, .333 SLG and 20 Ks.

Last year, Wright started off hot, then cooled off quickly — he was hitting only .262 after 32 games.

In both 2007 and 2008, Wright eventually got going, and finished strong — he batted .364 in the second half of 2007 and .330 in the second half of 2008.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
  1. isuzudude April 28, 2009 at 8:57 am
    This sounds like good advice a fantasy baseball owner should adhere to who has David Wright on his team, which I am one of. Still, it’s tough to see David amassing as many extra base hits with CitiField routinely turning home runs into long, loud outs.
  2. joe April 28, 2009 at 9:03 am
    But he’ll get you triples!