Interesting stats from Juan Lagares

Juan Lagares' first big league season was an interesting one, as he set a franchise rookie record in outfield assists, and had a solid 3.5 dWAR, which ranked second behind Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez (4.6) among National League outfielders. He earned a spotlight on himself because of his incredible defense, defense so good that it actually out-shined his poor offense. Here is a look at his offensive numbers from the 2013 season:

	Games	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	BB%	K%	BABIP	AVG
2013 (Triple-A Las Vegas)	17	82	3	13	9	2	4.9%	17.1%	.393	.346
2013 (New York Mets)	121	421	4	35	34	6	4.8%	22.8%	.310	.242

As you can see, he clearly spent most of the season with the varsity squad. The biggest number that jumps out to me is his walk percentage, which at 4.8% is way below the league average (which is about 8% percent.) At this point, most people know that Lagares needs to work on his pitch selection, as it is also increasing his strikeout rate, which at 22.8 % is not very solid (18-20 % being the league average.) 

Lagares also has a history of low walk ratio's, and high strikeout ratio's from the minors, which concerns me quite a bit. I understand many people have been thinking "as long as he plays solid defense, his bat won't matter as much." The only way I'd agree with that theory is if the Mets surrounded him with two solid hitting outfielders to compensate for his poor offense, which at this point seems unknown. 

Lagares' .320 BABIP does imply that he will get better in the near future, so there is that to look forward to. He'll likely start the 2014 season with the center-field job at his fingertips, so in essence it's his job to lose. The Mets should, however, monitor his bat closely, as it is clearly not the strongest aspect of his game.