Mets' Jason Bay 2010 Slow Start

Mets' Bay at bat against the Cardinals' in the first inning of their MLB National League game in St Louis" width="234">

Hey, readers. My name’s Doug Gausepohl. I’m a new columnist here at The Mets Report, mainly to give a different perspective to give all readers something to chew on. I’m 20 years young, so I haven’t been through any Mets “glory days”, unless you consider 2000/2006 glory days (I don’t).

If you watched the game last night, you noticed Jason Bay struck out to end the game with the tying run on base. If you’ve watched the Metropolitans on a consistent basis this year, you’ve noticed that Jason Bay’s production has not yet been as advertised.

Through 31 games this year, Bay has hit .248, with 1 HR and 14 RBI.

In my opinion, the most startling differential in his stats so far is his slugging percentage. He has a career .515 SLG, and this year it’s only .389. At his current pace, he’s going to finish with 5 HR and 71 RBI. Let the second-guessing for the Mets not pursuing Matt Holliday further commence.

Is Bay pressing? Probably. Carlos Beltran did it in his first year here, it took him all the way until spring training 2006 to feel comfortable in a Mets uniform. These things can kind of take a back seat when the Mets are winning on a consistent basis, but it’s a glaring black eye when the Mets aren’t.

That said, Bay is a professional. and I fully expect him to up his production in the coming months. He’s always been a streaky hitter and these first 30 games are most likely just part of a prolonged power outage.