Joel Sherman

Joel Sherman

MLB

Mets would follow Royals model — but there’s just one problem

The Royals are currently the patron saints for not surrendering too early on a season.

Two weeks ago they were threatening, as a team, to not out-homer Nelson Cruz. And there was sentiment mounting for Kansas City to concede it was a poor team that should think long-term by trading free-agent-to-be ace James Shields.

Then Kansas City fired its hitting coach on May 29 and has now won 13-of-17 to transform from four games under and 6 ¹/₂ games out of first to five games over and a half-game out after winning Monday’s litmus-test series opener 11-8 over the AL Central-leading Tigers.

The standings throughout the majors are the LIE at 5 p.m., so jammed that just about every club believes it is one of these Royals runs away from changing its 2014 fortunes. When play began Monday, just one team, the Rays, was more than 7 ¹/₂ games out of a playoff spot. Twenty-three of the 30 teams were either in a postseason position or within five games.

The Mets were five games out going into their series against the Cardinals. And the Royals should resonate with the Mets. Both earmarked 2014 as go-for-it campaigns — KC particularly was feeling pressure because it surrendered four prospects, notably Wil Myers, to Tampa Bay after the 2012 season for Shields and Wade Davis, and both could depart after this year.

The Mets — facing many of the same offensive issues — actually changed hitting coaches three days before the Royals. But the results, so far, have not been the same.

Maybe KC was going to begin producing offensively no matter who was offering counsel. People who know the new hitting coach, Dale Sveum, say he believes in pulling the ball with authority, and perhaps that message resonated with a club struggling to find its power.

Kansas City had 21 homers in 52 games and was averaging 3.8 runs before hitting coach Pedro Grifol was reassigned and had 15 homers in 17 games since, while averaging 5.5 runs.

Mets hitting coach Lamar JohnsonPaul J. Bereswill

The Mets, comparatively, had seen no boost from the May 25 firing of Dave Hudgens. They averaged 3.9 runs with him in 49 games and 3.9 in Lamar Johnson’s first 20 games as hitting coach, and their OPS actually fell from .662 to .644. Johnson’s message is not demonstrably different from Hudgens, and the Mets’ inability to score at home (3.1 runs under Hudgens, 3.2 under Johnson) and hit in the clutch (.246 with runners in scoring positing under Hudgens, .179 under Johnson) has been like the message — mostly unchanged.

So do the Mets need a new message? The front office insists aggression in identifying the right pitch and doing damage to it is stressed, but to watch the Mets is to see too much at-bat passivity. Or do the Mets simply need better players?

Consider the individual Royals who have awoken under Sveum are all prime-aged and have been viewed as players with high ceilings — notably Billy Butler, Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and even Mike Moustakas, who has performed better since a brief demotion.

Since Johnson took over as Mets hitting coach, Bobby Abreu is arguably their best hitter. Abreu, at 40, is nearly three years older than the next oldest NL position player (the Marlins’ Reed Johnson). So his present is limited and his future with the Mets is nonexistent. Curtis Granderson, 33, has continued a strong turnaround that began under Hudgens, and Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada have been more productive.

But unless you stretch the definition with Duda and Tejada, there is hardly what you would call high-ceiling, prime-age players. And the Mets’ best hitter, David Wright, has arguably performed worse under Johnson than at any point in his career.

One key will be whether Travis d’Arnaud could follow the Moustakas model and come back more productive from Triple-A. Beyond sharing being demoted by a frustrated team, d’Arnaud is the same age (25) and from the same 2007 first round as Moustakas.

But the Mets just do not have many prime-age players with upside to grow — at least not nearly as many as the Royals. It makes it harder to believe they could have the kind of run that has re-energized Kansas City. Unless Sandy Alderson can find a hitter (or two) in the marketplace — and quickly.

Gwynn’s stunning stats and boundless joy

The sadness was palpable within the game over the passing Monday of Tony Gwynn, a victim of cancer at age 54. He was a great player and wonderful ambassador for the game. He lived to hit and loved to share that passion with fellow players and journalists.

Tony Gwynn (1960-2014)Reuters

In the immediate aftermath of his death, there was an attempt to sum up just what a remarkable hitter Gwynn was. There simply is not enough space here to provide too much detail, so I will offer just this: The Braves’ Big three of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz were in their prime facing Gwynn, and in 287 plate appearances (roughly half a regular season), he hit .381 off the trio with 19 walks and three strikeouts. Yes, three strikeouts, and none (against 11 walks) in 107 plate appearances against Maddux, one of the great control artists ever.

My strongest memory of Gwynn, though, was not as a hitter. Gwynn was 38 when he reached just his second World Series in 1998. He was in many ways the Tim Duncan of the Padres (sans championships) – a great player willing to take smaller contracts to stay where he loved, his only franchise. I don’t think I ever have seen a player who combined an understanding of the game’s history and his own history, and enjoyed the melding more than Gwynn did at the opening of that series.

He had never set foot inside Yankee Stadium before the workouts prior to Game 1. He took his son Tony Jr. (now a Phillie) to Monument Park before even heading to the clubhouse. And then, for wave upon wave of reporters, he talked about the experience of being in what he called “the mecca” of baseball, hoping to try to put the Padres on the map. On this terrible day, I will remember his face that day, full of joy and gratitude and possibility.

‘Reel’ quick promotion for Marlins’ top arm

The Marlins are ahead of the Mets in the standings and also in their ability to promote their top pitching prospect.

Andrew HeaneyAP

Miami summoned lefty Andrew Heaney to the majors Monday. Before the season, Heaney was rated between the 29th-30th best prospect by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com, compared to the No. 11-16 range for Noah Syndergaard. But while Syndergaard has battled health issues and the hitter’s paradise at Triple-A Las Vegas, Heaney went 7-2 with a 2.47 ERA between Double- and Triple-A this season.

One MLB personnel head saw Heaney as a legit MLB No. 3 starter, citing his fastball, changeup and slider as all above average and praising Heaney’s strike-throwing ability and feel for working hitters.

The Marlins and Mets are in an arms battle to try to become steady NL East contenders. Like the Mets with Matt Harvey, the Marlins have lost their ace (Jose Fernandez) to Tommy John surgery, but in 24-year-olds Henderson Alvarez and Nathan Eovaldi, Miami has two young righties pitching well. Now they add Heaney, 23, the ninth overall pick in the 2012 draft. That year, the Mets selected 12th and took Gavin Cecchini over Michael Wacha, who went 19th to the Cardinals and starts Tuesday against the Mets.