Switch In Time, Part 1

Here are the first four places in a proposed Mets Switch-Hitter All-Time Lineup, the rest to come in my next entry:

C Todd Hundley
In NL history, only Ted Simmons had a clearly stronger career than Hundley among switch-hitting catchers. Old-timer Duke Farrell, who played well for several NL teams in the 1890s might have have had a comparable career value to Hundley. The Mets just picked up Johnny Estrada in a trade, and if he does play for the team this year, he will become the only other switch hitting catcher in team history.

1B Eddie Murray
David Segui and Tony Clark also switch-hit and played first the Mets. Murray is far and away the best switch-hitting first basemen in major league history.

The group after Murray consists of old-timers Lu Blue, Tommy Tucker, and Dan McGann, three guys who together represent a euphonious trio of baseball names and three really fine players, too. Lu Blue was a Dave Magadan-type first baseman (high on-base percentage, low slugging percentage). Over the period 1921 through 1931 only Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby and Joe Sewell were on base more times than Blue. Back in the 19th century, Tucker was the first real good switch hitter in baseball history. He was also a renowned heckler of opposing teams, and was designated with nicknames such as "Foghorn" and Noisy Tom". McGann was a tough guy long associated with the rambunctious player and manager John McGraw; McGann also died violently, apparently a suicide, not long after his major league career ended.

Mark Teixeira has a serious shot at moving past all three of these guys and becoming the #2 all-time switch-hitting first baseman before he's done. Teixeira already has 104 Win Shares and won't turn 28 until April. Blue, Tucker and McGann all had between 175 and 200 Win Shares for their careers.

2B Gregg Jefferies
Wally Backman was technically a switch-hitter but he was just awful as a righty hitter. As a second baseman for the Mets he had 353 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers; in those PAs he had .140 BA, .232 OBP, .166 SLG and .398 OPS. No wonder the Mets needed Tim Teufel for a platoon.

Indeed, the Mets have had a whole bunch of fine ball players play second baseman for them and also switch-hit: Roberto Alomar, Carlos Baerga, Lenny Randle, Tommie Herr, Jose Reyes, Jose Valentin and the current incumbent, Luis Castillo. But none of these guys has played long enough for the Mets at second base, with as much ability to hit from both sides of the plate, to put them ahead of Jefferies on this particular list. Of course Jefferies couldn't really play second base despite the many games he did so for the Mets, so picking the right player for the second base spot here is a tough call. Mets fans hope that Castillo's new contract means he will make himself the obvious choice for this list over the next few years.

3B Howard Johnson
Hojo was certainly one of the best switch-hitting third basemen ever. Chipper Jones has moved past him decisively, and you can make an argument for Ken Caminiti and Terry Pendelton ranking ahead of Hojo, but that's about it. The only other significant switch-hitter to play mostly third base for the Mets was Lenny Randle, who played well but was only with the Mets for two seasons.

More to come....