Mets Fans Know Best: Don't re-sign your lease, J.D. Davis

Who knows the New York Mets better than the fans who die and cry with every game? Nobody has a better pulse of this team than those who follow it. And according to our recent poll on Twitter, J.D. Davis should have his bag packed.

We posed an easy question to the fans with three options because Twitter has yet to figure out how to expand polls beyond just four choices. The question: Who is least likely to be on the 2022 Mets Opening Day roster?

Given the choice between Davis, Jeff McNeil, and Dominic Smith, it was Just Dingers who came away as the big winner.

Mets fans don’t have much confidence that J.D. Davis will be around for long

From the moment Davis began to hit for the Mets he seemed to become a trade candidate. It’s kind of odd. When he first happened to arrive prior to the 2019 campaign, he looked like nothing more than a minor depth piece. He turned into a whole lot more thanks to an awesome year.

Davis sunk our hearts a little more in 2020 and more so in 2021. His struggles last year could be partially attributed to injuries that limited him to 73 games and 211 plate appearances. A year prior, he managed to play in 56 of the team’s 60 scheduled matches.

The last two seasons have been far different from the 2019 season which saw him slash .307/.369/.527. It’s that slugging percentage that has changed the most drastically. His OBP has actually improved in each of the last two years from .371 in 2020 to .384 last year. However, he slugged just .389 in 2020 and didn’t improve it much in 2021 with a .436 total at the season’s end.

What made Davis so special in 2019 was his ability to swat home runs. He finished the year with 22. Pair it with his 22 doubles and the Mets looked like they might have a guy capable of hitting 30 in a full season. Unfortunately, after hitting 22 in his 453 trips to the plate in 2019, his last 440 plate appearances in 2020-2021 have resulted in only 11 trips around the bases.

Defensively limited at third base and left field, Davis profiles best as a DH with some questionable power. I think he has done enough to showcase his ability to take on big league pitchers and do damage. However, with the power number sliding backward, it can be hard to justify an everyday role for him.

The Mets have some tough roster choices to make before the season begins. According to Mets fans, it’s Davis they’re most likely to deal.