Injuries to Lucas Duda, Travis d’Arnaud and Wilmer Flores have left the New York Mets with a new lineup tonight, including Jay Bruce at 1B.
With Lucas Duda leaving Wednesday night’s game after suffering a hyperextended elbow, Terry Collins has been forced to make some major changes to the New York Mets lineup tonight against the Phillies.For the first time in 2017, the red hot Jay Bruce will be on the diamond at first base. Bruce is coming off his best game of the season last night, where he accounted for all of the Mets’ offense, driving in five runs on two homers in their 5-4 victory. He’s now batting .309 on the year with six home runs and 14 RBIs.
Michael Conforto is back in the lineup playing center field tonight, and he may be there to stay if he continues to produce. So far this season, Conforto has impressed in every chance he’s received, making him possibly the best bench player in the majors. He’s hitting.286 with two home runs and six RBIs in 2017 so far.
It’ll be interesting to see if Duda could lose his starting job for good, if he does indeed go on the disabled list.
Last season, Duda only played in 47 games, due to a lower back stress fracture. In that time, he hit .229 with seven home runs and 23 RBIs.
Duda has never been able to show signs of consistency at the plate and has therefore become one of the streakiest players in the MLB. Of his 112 career home runs, 31 have come in only 15 games.
Many feel that Conforto is the future of the franchise, but will Collins and Sandy Alderson decide that that future is now?