Considering everything David Wright has been through and has to go through in order to suit up, it's safe to say he's having a good season. His OPS+ is almost identical to last season's mark, and he's just a few days removed from a two home-run game. That's good, because he might need a pick-me-up after a brutal Wednesday night effort against the Phillies: he went 0-for-6 with four strikeouts.
Believe it or not, Wright's line doesn't tell just how poorly he performed. To wit:
David Wright has missed on 10 of his 11 swings (90.9%) today. Entering today, his previous high dating back to the start of 2015 was 45.5%.
— Inside Edge (@InsideEdgeScout) April 21, 2016
Wright received one more at-bat following that tweet, and made contact on his final swing. Still, how does a big-league hitter -- one as good as Wright -- whiff on 10 of his 12 swings?
The answer is by not having a beat on the opposition's offspeed pitches. Seven of Wright's 10 whiffs came on non-fastballs, including three on Jeremy Hellickson changeups -- the rest of the Mets, by the way, combined to swing and miss on three Hellickson changeups. Predictably, Wright took a lot of empty swings on pitches down or below the strike zone:
None of this is to mock Wright -- who, again, is having a good season amid difficult circumstances. It just goes to show that when it's not your night, it's really not your night.
