DENVER -- With the Mets scheduled to face left-handed starting pitchers on Friday and Saturday, Terry Collins indicated Josh Satin will get one or both starts over Lucas Duda.
Satin enters that opportunity hitting .158 (3-for-19) on the season, including producing an RBI single against Cole Hamels on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Josh Satin
#13 1B
New York Mets
2014 STATS
- GM11
HR0
RBI3
R1
OBP.304
- AVG.158
Meanwhile, fellow righty-hitting corner infielders are tearing things up with Triple-A Las Vegas.
Eric Campbell, who is not on the 40-man roster, is hitting .348 with three homers and 23 RBIs and has a .430 on-base percentage in 26 Pacific Coast League games. Zach Lutz, who is on the 40-man roster, is hitting .323 with four homers, 21 RBIs and a .458 on-base percentage in 27 games, albeit entirely at third base.
Still, Collins offered no indication Satin is in any danger of losing a big-league roster spot.
The manager suggested Satin may not be as sharp as is optimal because he is playing infrequently. The Mets have faced only five left-handed starting pitchers this season through 27 games -- "far fewer" than in recent seasons. The Mets had faced 12 southpaw starters in their first 27 games last season.
The Mets faced 51 left-handed starters overall in 2013, and 59 the previous year.
Collins noted that if another player were to come up, he would face the same challenge of mostly riding the bench.
“He’s done it. He has a track record here,” Collins said about Satin. “The job he did last year when he played a lot says something. You’re insinuating, ‘Geez, are you going to send Josh Satin down?’ Guys who are going to come up to replace him, guess where they’re going to be? So how good are they going to be? Because they’re used to playing every day, too.”
