11 Ruben Tejada, SS

The Mets would like shortstop Ruben Tejada to settle in at the leadoff role, but his struggles this season have forced them to improvise at the top of the order.

Tejada is hitting just .213 on the season, and has struggled to square up the ball consistently;  12 of his last 15 outs have been flyballs, according to MLB.com. With Tejada's lack of power, that is not what the team wants out of him.

"There's some things you've got to do to work to your strengths, and Ruben's is hitting line drives," manager Terry Collins said. "Fly balls, they're great once in a while, when you hit one in the gap, but he's got to start being that line-drive guy that we know."

Tejada hit .289 with a .333 on-base percentage last season, a number that is down to .278 this year. He has hit .213 both in and out of the top spot in the order.

"If he was giving us the at-bats that we saw last year, he is the leadoff hitter," Collins said. "The guy that even with two strikes just battles the pitcher."

According to team sources, the Mets have discussed demoting starting shortstop Ruben Tejada to Triple-A Las Vegas, reports the New York Daily News. The team considered optioning Tejada to the minors after a brutal spring training and the demotion debate has stirred again in recent days.

Tejada has struggled both offensively and defensively in 2013. He's batting .213 through 42 games and has made seven errors. He made all of 12 errors in 112 games last season.

If Tejada was demoted, then Omar Quintanilla would likely become the team's starting shortstop.

Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada ended his multi-hit slump at 10 games Sunday against the Cubs by going 2 for 4. He added one run.

Tejada came into the game mired in a 3-for-36 slump, which dropped his season average from .252 to .211. He's now hitting .219 after 41 games.

Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada was back in the lineup Wednesday after receiving a day off, but manager Terry Collins told him during batting practice that Collins wants him to stop hitting fly balls, ESPN reports.

"You’ve got to get out of that. Fly balls aren’t going to help you," Collins told Tejada.

Tejada has hit .227/.301/.295 with no home runs in 148 plate appearances this season. He has a 33 percent fly ball rate heading into Wednesday's game, according to Fangraphs.

Mets manager Terry Collins gave shortstop Ruben Tejada a day of rest Tuesday night against the Cardinals.

Tejada has been struggling, hitting just .190 in the first 10 games of May. He has gone hitless in his last nine at-bats. Justin Turner took his place in the lineup against left-hander John Gast.

"He's one of the other guys that's really been struggling lately," Collins said. "And I want to get J.T. in there. We've got one guy hitting .350. We've got to try to find him some at-bats.

"Hopefully [Daniel] Murphy is breaking out. I wanted to play Ike (Davis). There's only one other spot to go for right now, and that was at shortstop."