The Mets announced they have signed first baseman Matt Clark to a minor league contract and have invited him to big league camp.
A career minor leaguer, Clark played for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan last season and batted .238 with 25 home runs, 70 RBI, and a .785 OPS.
Clark, 27, was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 12th round of the 2008 draft. He last played for them in 2012 when he batted .290/.367/.506 for the Triple-A Tucson Padres in the Pacific Coast League. The lefthanded slugger belted 22 home runs and drove in 77 runs that season.
Clark has hit for power at every level of his six year pro career, averaging 24 homeruns and 90 RBI over his four full seasons in the Padres system. But with Ike Davis and Lucas Duda already on the roster, he will certainly be assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas when camp breaks.
Thoughts from David C.
I guess the Mets are just stacking up on insurance first basemen just in case Davis and Duda do not pan out. There isn’t anything wrong with having a backup plan, but how many can you actually have. There will be a fierce battle for the corner infield position this spring and it will be very interesting to see who actually comes out on top.
(Photo Credit: Shawn E. Davis/MiLB.com)
Allen Dykstra…why is he rarely mentioned as a substantial possibility?…no prospect lists even mention him…he’s invisible huh!
Meticated – Thanks for the comment and the follow. I think that with 2013’s big season he will start to build on that and people will start to take notice. I really like Dykstra and feel that with his power he can become and impact first basemen. He was even on fire in the Venezuelan winter league before he fractured his fibula which required surgery. The hope is that he is ready for spring training, but I feel he is on the right track and that this can be a huge year for him. After pretty much dominating AA last season, would be interesting to see how well he does in AAA in 2014.