Allan Dykstra, the All-Star first baseman for the Binghamton Mets, is the focus of this week’s Farm Report from Adam Rubin of ESPN New York. Rubin did a nice job displaying Dykstra’s journey from being taken 23rd overall in the 2008 draft by his hometown San Diego Padres, to reviving his baseball career in the Mets organization.
Sandy Alderson and Paul DePodesta were a part of the front office in San Diego when the Padres selected Dykstra with their first overall pick, so they already knew him pretty well, and liked him a lot. They traded Eddie Kunz in May of 2011 to San Diego in order to acquire the big, left-handed hitter in what was viewed as a “change of scenery” trade. Both players were former first round picks by their respective organizations, but neither were performing up to expectations. Dykstra has taken advantage of his second chance, while Kunz is no longer playing professional ball.
This is the first baseman’s third year in the Eastern League, but first All-Star selection. In fact, it’s his first All-Star selection of any kind since becoming a professional ballplayer. He joins four other B-Mets teammates for the game, which will be held in New Britain next week on July 10th. Dykstra has had a tremendous year, hitting .316/.478/.587 with 12 homers, 52 RBIs, 35 runs scored, and 20 doubles. My favorite stat? Through 206 at-bats this year, he has as many walks as strikeouts (62).
Like fellow teammate and All-Star, Cesar Puello, Dykstra is all over the Eastern League leader board with regard to offensive statistics. Here is where he ranks in various categories:
- batting average: .316 (5th)
- on-base percentage: .478 (1st)
- slugging percentage: .587 (2nd)
- home runs: 12 (3rd most)
- RBIs: 52 (5th most)
- walks: 62 (1st)
- doubles: 20 (4th most)
This is some kind of season he’s put together, especially considering what numbers he’s put up in recent years. He was asked if he thinks he’s back on the radar, and here’s his answer:
I can’t personally say that. I hope that’s true. I’m having a great year. Personally, my confidence is back. I feel like I did when I got drafted, where I know what I’m doing with my swing. It’s not really up to me to decide if I’m back on the radar or not.
If he’s not back on the radar in some respect, then I would think there’s a problem. He’s everything the Mets organization is looking for: a powerful bat with good eye at the plate and an incredible on-base percentage.
Rubin makes the point that we’ll find out soon whether or not the Mets have future plans for Dykstra, as he’s due to become a minor league free agent at the conclusion of this season, if he’s not added to the 40-man roster. I hope we continue seeing him in the Mets organization into next season; with the status of Ike Davis currently being up in the air right, New York can use all the depth they can get at the first base position moving forward.
(photos courtesy of Gordon Donovan)
Him and Puello really need to go up to Vegas after the All Star Game. Then we can see what we have in them!
Over the weekend a FanGraphs post analyzed Double-A hitters factoring their power production based on homeruns, their base-on-ball percentage ( the higher the better) and their strikeout percentage ( the lower the better) and used a formula to come up with a score. Batters were compared with other power hitters in their league, in Dykstra’s case the Eastern League, and the scores were then merged across all the Double-A leagues to come up with a Leaderboard. And, guess who was in the top spot of that Leaderboard? -You guessed it – Alan Dykstra.
They had a separate Leaderboard for power hitters 23 years old or younger and Cesar Puello ranked seventh there.
what do you do with this guy? Does he have any value in a package trade? I can’t see how he gets a shot at the ML level absent figuring out Ike and Satin and maybe Murph and where does Flores go and. . . .
Plus, Boyd is right behind him, no?
You’re certainly right. It will be interesting to see how the Mets handle Dykstra, if they handle it at all. I wonder if he does have any type of trade value at this point. He’s having a great season, but is still a 26-year-old in Double-A. It remains to be seen if a team is willing to put him in a package for a trade involving an impact player.
I’m glad you spotted that… so did we. There will be something on the site noting that later today :).