In his debut performance, Wilfredo Tovar became the fourth Met to ever accumulate multiple hits, an RBI and a stolen base in their major league debut. Tovar is accompanied on the list by Rod Gaspar, Lenny Dykstra and Preston Wilson.
The New York Mets recently called up 22 year old Wilfredo Tovar to fill in for Ruben Tejada‘s vacant roster position. In his debut Tovar went 2-4 with the game winning RBI and a stolen base.
A nice offensive performance from a shortstop who is more regarded for his tough attitude and slick defensive play than his abilities behind the plate. On top that, the fact that Tovar managed to accomplish this off of a four time all-star Cliff Lee only adds to the feat.
Tovar is often discussed as having a tough, get-it-done attitude that left a good impression on many onlookers, and is usually praised for his defensive skill, reaction abilities and sure hands. However, his bat has often struggled, with his smaller stature (5′ 10″ 160 pounds) and lack of raw strength constituting the majority of his woes. He has been knocked for potentially being unable to keep up with big-league pitchers, and yet he still managed to come out and put together two hits against the very definition of a big-league pitcher.
He is 22 years old and admittedly was not expecting a call to the majors, he was facing an all star, Cy Young winning pitcher and when the team needed it, Wilfredo Tovar came through and showed what he’s capable of.
I am by no means saying that Tovar has suddenly found his bat and will start plowing deep gappers and home runs like it’s his specialty. It was just one game. We can never forget that. I do, however, think that this was a great showing of toughness and grit. Tovar showed that he is unshakable – something he’s going to need to be playing in this town- and willing to work. He has great defense, and still plenty of time to improve. I liked what I saw out of Wilfredo Tovar last night. He got the call, stepped up and did what he needed to do. Let’s hope he keeps working on his offensive stuff and continues improving in the future.
Who cares about power from a great fielding shortstop. Is he physically strong enough to hold up for the whole year? Is he smart enough to know he needs to swing level and not for the fences?
He focuses on small ball with the bat – bunting, more walks, level swing, etc., and can stand up for 145+ games, then he’s going to be an above average replacement player, at worst, in the bigs.