Mets Season in Review: T.J. Rivera

How’d he fare in 2016?

You always remember your first.

After five years of hard work, it culminated with his promotion to the Mets in August. He made his MLB debut on August 10 in a home game against Arizona where he went 1-for-5 at the plate.

Though it was a smaller sample size, the hits continued to rack up at the highest level for Rivera. He finished with a .333 batting average in 105 at-bats. Rivera continued to show the same traits that he had in every stop before. Rivera added a much needed spark and some depth to this Mets lineup.

Rivera’s overall career hasn’t been flashy by any means, but it offered some wow moments during the Mets’ stretch run.

The biggest one of all was his game-winning home run off Mark Melancon in a 4-3 victory over the Nationals on September 13. Not only was it Rivera’s first MLB homer, but it kept the Mets in front in the wild card race. That was also the first homer given up by Melancon in a Nationals uniform.

In the field, Rivera mostly saw action at second base with the injury to Neil Walker. Rivera did play some third as well and had a couple of hiccups along the way. The series at Arizona where Rivera committed three errors in two games was a rough patch, but he was serviceable overall in his chances at the hot corner outside of that stretch.