Mets 2017 Season Preview: Who will be the Mets’ kryptonite this season?

By Michelle Ioannou

Mar 17, 2017

Mar 2, 2017; West Palm Beach, FL, USA; Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy (left) greets Nationals shortstop Trea Turner (right) on scoring a run against the Houston Astros during a spring training game at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

2 of 9

JT. Teran, Editor

While Michelle went more general with the team she picked, I went more specific with Daniel Murphy as my pick last year, and will do so again this year. Unfortunately, I don’t think I realized how good he was going to be against the Mets then, so while I’m still picking him in 2017, I’m really hoping Murphy is less impactful this time around.

Michelle already stated his impressive numbers before but it cannot be understated how surreal it was to watch him play at times. It honestly felt like every time Murphy came up to bat, he would deliver in a big way against the Mets.

Washington would end up 12-7 against the Mets, and a big reason for those wins was Murphy’s bat. In just 75 at bats against his former team, Murphy hit 7 home runs and drove in 21 runs. It was just 19 games. He was seriously a one-man wrecking crew last season.

Murphy would eventually finish second in the batting title race, and although he tried his best, his postseason heroics weren’t enough to get the Nationals out of the NLDS.

What I’m basically trying to get at here is although he’s due for a down year, I don’t think it’s going to happen. Murphy has officially evolved into a hitting machine, and we’re going to just have to ride this wave out — a wave that still has two full years left on its current contract.

He’s going to be a thorn on our side again this year, but I’m confident with another year gone, maybe the Mets pitching staff can figure out a way to keep him under .400 this year at least? I don’t think that would be too much to ask.