David Wright has a 12-game hitting streak after going 2-for-4 in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to against the Nationals, but the hits haven’t been the type he or the Mets expect.
“When I get a mistake, I want to hit it hard instead of a line drive through shortstop and third base,” Wright said. “I need to get back to elevating and getting those balls into the gap. That hasn’t been there for me in a while.”
That’s why Wright’s power numbers have slipped so much this season. General manager Sandy Alderson said on Tuesday he looked at Wright’s dip in power as an aberration and not as a sign of permanent decline.
Not surprisingly, the third baseman agreed.
Wright has battled a shoulder injury for much of the year, but said he didn’t attribute his lack of production to anything physical.
“It’s just little things that make me think it’s mechanical,” Wright said. “I don’t think it’s bat speed. I’m squaring the ball up at a normal rate. It’s just that I’m not quite hitting them like I usually do.”
Wright has eight homers and an OPS of .718.
“I try not to get too caught up in numbers,” Wright said.
But he has taken a deeper look at some parts of his game.
“Throughout the season, I’ve been looking at deeper numbers and trying to figure out how to get better,” Wright said. “I wanted to see if I was chasing pitches or going after balls out of the strike zone, but everything seems the same,” he said. “That’s why I think it might just be timing.”
Wright also said he was beginning to feel more comfortable, but admitted he hasn’t found any answers.
“It’s been a grind for me, trying to get to the point where I’m getting comfortable and dangerous in there,” Wright said. “I’ve always said it can be one good at-bat or swing where something clicks, but when it doesn’t happen, then you wind up tinkering more,” he said.
And that can be a problem.
“The way things have gone, you want to tinker more because you’re not getting the results, so you try different things,” Wright said.
“Sometimes that can work for you and sometimes it works against you. You can wind up going into the box trying all sorts of different things and that’s when you’re walking a tightrope. You could make things better, but you could also dig yourself deeper. Right now, I feel like I’m getting close.”