May The 4th Be With You: The Mets Who Powered Up In New York

Just because Bernard Gilkey witnessed different Star Wars in this photo, the force was still with him as a Met.

Today is May 4, otherwise known as Star Wars Day to those who believe in the force.  (May the 4th be with you - get it?)  In honor of the special day, I decided to do some research on the Mets players who hit with more power after they came to New York.

Shea Stadium and Citi Field have never been confused with smaller, bandbox parks.  As a result, home run hitters have never been plentiful in Flushing.  But some have come to New York and thrived as home run hitters in parks that were never conducive to such displays of power.

Let's look at the ten players who unexpectedly gave the home run apple a workout after they came to New York, comparing their home run output before they called Flushing home to what they produced after they became Mets.

 

Player	AB pre-NY	HR pre-NY	AB in NY	HR in NY	AB/HR pre-NY	AB/HR in NY	Diff.
B. Gilkey	2133	52	1353	52	41.0	26.0	15.0
D. Clendenon	3651	110	861	45	33.2	19.1	14.1
K. Hernandez	4076	81	3164	80	50.3	39.6	10.7
B. Bonilla	3294	116	1779	95	28.4	18.7	9.7
H. Johnson	576	19	3968	192	30.3	20.7	9.6
M. Cameron	3528	131	801	42	26.9	19.1	7.8
R. Ventura	4542	171	1513	77	26.6	19.6	7.0
T. Agee	1230	37	2416	82	33.2	29.4	3.8
C. Floyd	3132	132	1643	81	23.7	20.3	3.4
C. Beltran	3467	146	3133	149	23.7	21.0	2.7

As you can see, only three players had a difference of 10.0 of better.  What does that mean in regular English for those of you who don't speak stats?  It means that Bernard Gilkey, Donn Clendenon and Keith Hernandez needed 10 fewer at-bats to homer as Mets as they did when they were with their old teams.

Gilkey homered every 26 at-bats as a Met, while it took him 41 at-bats on average to homer as a Cardinal.  Clendenon collected over 30 at-bats for every homer he hit before calling Shea home, but once he came to New York, he circled the bases every 19.1 at-bats.  Even Keith Hernandez, who never had a 20-homer season in the majors, found New York to his liking when it came to hitting home runs.  Hernandez homered once every 50 at-bats in St. Louis, but it took him fewer than 40 at-bats on average to jack one out in New York.

Much has been made of the power outage suffered by Jason Bay after coming to New York.  Bay averaged 30 homers per season during his first six full seasons in the majors, but managed a total of 26 homers in his three years as a Met.  But not much has been said about the players who displayed more power after reporting for duty in Flushing.

The force was with players like Bernard Gilkey, Donn Clendenon and Keith Hernandez after they were acquired by the Mets.  And once they arrived in New York, they hit the ball with more force then they ever had for their previous teams.