3 former Mets players who were One Hit Wonders

Mike Vail of the New York Mets
Mike Vail of the New York Mets | Focus On Sport/GettyImages
3 of 3

3) Juan Lagares

Juan Lagares was a shortstop and the Mets converted him to centerfield. And if you saw him play centerfield, you would say he was the second coming of the Atlanta Braves’ Andruw Jones. He was a joy to watch.

He arrived to the Mets in 2013 and was not expected to hit right away. He had a fairly good season and replicated that in 2014. But his first year as the anointed starting centerfielder of the New York Mets was 2015, and the Mets felt that they had seen enough to hand him a four-year contract extension beginning at the start of the 2016 season.

And it looked like the Mets had done the right thing as Lagares looked like the real deal during that 2015 season. And as every Mets will recall, the deadline acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes would propel the Mets to the World Series. It would also relegate Lagares to the bench and a defensive replacement role.

Once Lagares was cast aside, whether it was the right decision or not, he would never be an effective player again. His hitting was always a bit suspect, but suddenly his fielding became as bad as his hitting. What if he had remained a shortstop? One can only wonder.

Schedule