Was the best Mets season by a position player David Wright in 2007?

David Wright had a phenomenal year for the New York Mets in 2007. Was it the best individual season for any player in team history?

The 2007 season was perhaps the best season of David Wright’s career. As an established star in his fourth big league season, Wright was well on his way to becoming a New York Mets legend.

When we think of the best season by Mets players, I’m not sure we always think of Wright in 2007. After all, the team’s collapse in September seemed to overshadow much of what any individual did this year.

There were no notable records set by Wright, no incredible ending to the season, or even a lasting positive impression.

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Anyone Mets fan who lived through 2007 knows the season was a disappointment.

However, Wright’s individual performance that year remains a standout campaign. Although he would later set some new personal highs in 2008 in multiple categories, this was the year when Wright did set one franchise record that holds today.

In 2007, Wright had the highest WAR of any position player for a member of the Mets. This includes offense and defense. By just a decimal point, Wright beat out Carlos Beltran’s 8.2 from 2006 with an 8.3 of his own.

Beltran’s 2006 season may be the best contender for the greatest individual season by a Mets player. Although, one could argue what Pete Alonso did in 2019 is definitely worthy of consideration even if his WAR total doesn’t quite match up.

We can’t look strictly at WAR to judge the greatness of anything in baseball. Other things need to be considered. But even when we do, Wright’s 2007 season seemed to include a little bit of everything.

For what it’s worth, Wright hit 50 points higher in 2007 than Beltran did in 2006. Normally, batting average isn’t something we should weigh too heavily. However, this is just maddening with how many more points he had.

In franchise history, the .325 Wright hit in 2007 is tied for eighth. His .416 OBP is ranked tenth. Meanwhile, his .963 OPS is eighth.

These offensive numbers don’t necessarily convince me that 2007 is the best season by a Mets position player. It’s what Wright did on the other side of the baseball.

Although he had just a 1.5 WAR on defense—tied for 30th place all-time in Mets history—it was enough to push him past Beltran in 2006. This year was the first of Wright’s pair of Gold Gloves.

For all of his efforts, Wright finished fourth in the MVP voting. It was certainly a banner year for Wright, but was it actually the best?

It’s as subjective of a question as any. In baseball, it’s tough to really answer “the best” unless of course there’s an individual statistic that weighs heavier than any other. If you ask someone who the best Mets player of all-time is, it’s an easy answer: Tom Seaver. Ask us which season of Seaver’s was the greatest, you might find yourself a debate.

Whether or not Wright’s 2007 campaign was the best individual season by a Mets position player doesn’t really matter. The year wasn’t the best at anything other than an accumulation of productive numbers from a number of categories.

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It may be the best or it may fall somewhere in the top ten. Wherever you rank it, no other player in team history has had as great of a combination on offense and defense as the Captain did in 2007. In all of the years prior and all since nobody has yet to match what Wright gave the ill-fated Mets during a season we expected to see them go much further than they did.