The Most With The Least: Hisanori Takahashi (2010)

Ever since Hideo Nomo burst onto the major league scene with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995, creating a craze at Chavez Ravine not seen since the days of Fernando-mania, the pipeline for Japanese players has remained quite active in the United States, particularly for the Mets.  Two years after Nomo became the first player from Japan to win the Rookie of the Year award - edging out future Mets killer Chipper Jones for the honor - the Mets signed their first Japanese player in reliever Takashi Kashiwada.

Kashiwada became the first of 15 players born in Japan to play for the Mets from 1997 to 2010, making Flushing the top destination in the major leagues for Japanese players.  However, none of the 15 athletes achieved the success and adulation that Nomo (who was one of the 15, becoming a Met in 1998) earned in Los Angeles.

Masato Yoshii won 12 games for the Mets in 1999 - albeit with a high ERA (4.40) and WHIP (1.30) - then fizzled in the postseason, pitching just 13 innings in three starts.  Tsuyoshi Shinjo became the first position player from Japan to don a Mets uniform in 2001.  But after a decade of being a rock star in Japan, he became soft rock in New York and was gone after just one somewhat productive season (returning for a shorter, less productive stint with the Mets in 2003).  And who could forget Kaz Matsui?  If the Mets signed him specifically to hit home runs in his first at-bat each season, then they were wildly successful, as Matsui did just that in each of this three years in New York.  But high expectations, in addition to temporarily displacing the more popular Jose Reyes to second base in 2004, caused the Matsui era in Flushing to be mostly forgettable.

It wasn't until 2010, when a lesser-known veteran pitcher joined the Mets, that the team found a Japanese player who actually exceeded expectations in New York.  He also developed an unexpected following and redefined himself during his one season with the Mets to became a lights-out reliever, helping the team improve by nine wins after a disappointing season the year before.

Hisanori Takahashi found success in New York in multiple roles.  (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Hisanori Takahashi played ten years in his native Japan from 2000 to 2009.  Unlike some of his more celebrated peers, Takahashi didn't begin his Japan Central League career until he was 25 years old.  And although he was a popular player in his home country, his career as a starting pitcher and sometimes reliever had its share of ups and downs.  He was an All-Star who helped the Yomiuri Giants win three championships, but he also had a number of poor seasons, which made several major league teams hesitant to sign him when he declared his interest to pitch in the United States as a 35-year-old in 2010.  But the Mets were a team in disarray and needed all the help they could get, especially in the pitching department.

After winning the N.L. East division crown in 2006 and falling one game short of the playoffs in 2007 and 2008, the Mets crumbled completely in 2009, finishing the year with a 70-92 record as several key players spent a significant amount of time on the disabled list.  One of the glaring weaknesses on the 2009 team was its pitching, as the staff finished the year with a 4.45 ERA - the third-worst mark in franchise history, surpassed by only the 2003 club (4.48 ERA) and the inaugural 1962 squad (5.04 ERA).

John Maine and Oliver Perez combined to make just 29 starts in 2009 and Johan Santana also had his season cut short due to injuries.  The only pitcher who remained healthy in 2009 and was guaranteed a spot in the starting rotation in 2010 was Mike Pelfrey, who became the first and only pitcher in team history to make 30 or more starts and finish the year with an ERA above 5.00, as he posted a 5.03 ERA in 31 starts during the nightmarish 2009 campaign.  Needless to say, the Mets went into the 2009-2010 off-season needing to bolster its pitching in the worst way.

A week before the start of spring training, the Mets signed Takahashi to a one-year, $1 million deal, with the potential to earn $2 million more in performance bonuses.  At the time, Anthony Nakanishi - who worked for Takahashi's team of agents - was quite optimistic for his agency's client.

"This could work out very well for the Mets," said Nakanishi.  "Hisanori is a bit of a late bloomer and like some other left-handed pitchers from Japan, like Hideki Okajima, his pitching style may translate even better in major league baseball.  Who knows, he could win 15 games.  It's a possibility."

Of course, Nakanishi had to say positive things about Takahashi to give Mets fans a reason to be optimistic and not boo his client from day one.  Those same fans had seen several Japanese players try to succeed in New York, with most of them failing miserably.  But predicting 15 wins for a pitcher competing for the role of fifth starter on a 70-win team?  That seemed like quite a stretch.  But before long, Nakanishi's words almost seemed prophetic, even after his client failed to earn a spot in the starting rotation coming out of spring training.

"What has my agent gotten me into?  15 wins?  Really?"  (Kyodo News, via AP)

Takahashi pitched very well for the Mets in his first spring training outside of Japan, holding opposing hitters to a .170 batting average and collecting 14 strikeouts in 13 innings of work.  But even with Jonathon Niese struggling in his Grapefruit League appearances, opening the potential for Takahashi to sneak into the rotation, manager Jerry Manuel preferred to see Takahashi in the bullpen.  When Opening Day arrived, the Mets' rotation consisted of Santana, Maine, Perez, Pelfrey and Niese, with Takahashi joining Pedro Feliciano as the team's second lefty option in the bullpen.

Takahashi's major league debut did not go well.  On April 7, 2010, the Mets erased a five-run, seventh-inning deficit against the Florida Marlins, scoring two runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to tie the game, 6-6.  Closer Francisco Rodriguez had been used to preserve the tie in the top of the ninth inning, but was due to lead off in the bottom of the frame, causing Manuel to insert Ruben Tejada (who was also making his debut in the big leagues) into the game as a pinch hitter.  When Tejada and the rest of the team failed to push across a run, Manuel gave the ball to Takahashi to start the tenth, who allowed the Marlins to score the go-ahead run on two singles and a walk.  Takahashi was saddled with the loss in the debut, as the Mets fell to Florida, 7-6.

Although Takahashi did not have the debut he wanted, he quickly learned from his mistakes.  Manuel started to use Takahashi as a long man in the bullpen and was rewarded instantly.  From April 13 to May 16, Takahashi made 12 relief appearances, pitching three innings or more in four of those outings and striking out 32 batters in 23⅔ innings.  His best performance during the five-week stretch came on April 23, when he struck out seven Atlanta Braves hitters in three innings, earning his first big league victory in the process.

As the calendar flipped from April to May, the Mets found themselves in a surprising position - first place in the N.L. East.  But the seeds planted in April did not lead to a full bloom in May, as the Mets lost 13 of their first 18 games in the season's second month.  Games weren't the only things being dropped by the Mets, as three-fifths of the starting rotation went down, either to injury (Jonathon Niese strained his right hamstring) or ineffectiveness (Oliver Perez allowed too many long balls and John Maine allowed too many balls).  With all the tumult going on with the starting rotation, manager Jerry Manuel needed to make some decisions.  One of them was made when R.A. Dickey was inserted into the rotation, launching what became a magical three-year tenure in New York for the rejuvenated knuckleball pitcher.  Manuel's next decision involved Takahashi's move from the bullpen to make a start against the New York Yankees on May 21.  It was then that Takahashi's season really took off.

Takahashi pitched six scoreless innings against the Yankees in his first big league start, scattering five hits and striking out five batters.  But one year after Mets second baseman Luis Castillo made a costly error to give the Yankees a come-from-behind victory, it was another second sacker - Alex Cora - who tossed the game away.  Cora's throwing error on a potential double play ball was followed by a two-run double by seldom-used outfielder Kevin Russo.  (Russo had just four RBI in his entire major league career, with half of them coming in that one game-changing swing.)  Those were the only tallies needed by the Yankees in their 2-1 victory over the Mets.

The Mets lost the game, but found a new starting pitcher in Takahashi.  The southpaw continued his scoreless streak by putting six more zeroes on the scoreboard in his next start - a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.  Although he had some hiccups along the way, Takahashi allowed one run or fewer in five of his 12 starts, which included a second brilliant performance against the Yankees on June 18, a game in which he threw another six scoreless innings.  This time, the bullpen and the defense came through for the Mets, as four relievers combined with Takahashi on the shutout.  Most importantly, the victory was the Mets' eighth straight and improved the team's record to 39-28.

Unfortunately, the Mets regressed from late June to early August, dropping 23 of 34 games to fall below .500 for the first time since late May.  The wheels came completely off the Mets' bus on August 11 when K-Rod attempted to KO his children's grandfather in the Citi Field family lounge after the team's 6-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies.  Rodriguez was arrested and missed the rest of the season with torn ligaments in his right thumb, which he suffered during the altercation.

A portrait of Citi Field's Least Wanted.  (Debbie Egan-Chin/NY Daily News)

Although the Mets were under .500 and their playoff hopes were all but gone, the team still needed to play the games on its schedule.  They also needed a closer for the rest of the season, with Rodriguez out for the year.  Once again, Manuel turned to Takahashi to fill a specific role and the 35-year-old responded with aplomb.

Takahashi got his first save opportunity on August 16, retiring the Houston Astros in order in the ninth inning of a 3-1 Mets victory.  From that point to the end of the season, Takahashi was brilliant in his new role, earning three wins and going 8-for-8 in save opportunities.  In 19 appearances, Takahashi had a 0.84 ERA and 0.94 WHIP, holding opposing hitters to a .197/.247/.289 slash line, which was slightly better than the .213/.289/.308 slash line allowed by Rodriguez prior to his season-ending scuffle.

The Mets ended the 2010 season with a 79-83 record, which represented a nine-game improvement over their 2009 performance.  Takahashi's first season in the majors was an unexpected success.  Although he didn't quite reach the 15 wins predicted by his agent at the beginning of the year, he did notch ten wins and eight saves, becoming the fifth Met - and the first since 1986 - to reach double digits in wins while saving eight or more games, joining Tug McGraw (11 wins, 8 saves in 1971), Skip Lockwood (10 wins, 19 saves in 1976), Jesse Orosco (13 wins, 17 saves in 1983; 10 wins, 31 saves in 1984) and Roger McDowell (14 wins, 22 saves in 1986) in this exclusive club.  But those four pitchers combined to make one start in their spectacular seasons (McGraw got a no-decision in that start), meaning they earned all their wins in relief.  Takahashi was the only true starter/reliever hybrid of the group, earning four of his wins as a starting pitcher.  Takahashi was also the Mets' first "rookie" pitcher to earn 10 or more wins in his inaugural major league season since 1985, when Rick Aguilera posted a 10-7 record as a first-year player for the team.

Unfortunately, once the 2010 season ended, the Mets cleaned house, ridding themselves of manager Jerry Manuel and general manager Omar Minaya.  The new regime (featuring Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson) did not see the soon-to-be 36-year-old Takahashi as part of the team's future and allowed him to become a free agent, ending the respected pitcher's one-year stay in New York.  Takahashi spent the next three seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs, before returning to Japan to pitch for the Yokohama Bay Stars in 2014.

There have been many pitchers in team history who were never expected to amount to much when they joined the big league roster.  Except for his agent, no one expected Hisanori Takahashi to contribute much to the team.  But the left-hander silenced all his critics, and in doing so, became one of the most appreciated Japanese players to ever play for the Mets.

Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

"Eight months here in the United States, I'll spend most of the time in New York.  I kind of like New York."

--Hisanori Takahashi (September 2010)

 


And New York kind of liked Takahashi back.  After years of high expectations for Japanese players such as Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Kaz Matsui, it was a player originally brought in to compete for the fifth starter job that finally succeeded in every role he was called upon to fill.

Hisanori Takahashi had a short career in New York, but accomplished things that very few pitchers in team history had been able to do.  In a year that provided very few highlights for the Mets, Takahashi was a bright spot, making the most of his varied opportunities and giving Mets fans a reason to cheer whenever he set foot on the mound.



Note:  The Most With The Least is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who performed at a high level without receiving the accolades or playing time their more established teammates got, due to injuries, executive decisions or other factors.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 4, 2016: Benny Agbayani
January 11, 2016: Donn Clendenon
January 18, 2016: Tim Teufel

Joey's Small Bites: Cespedes and His Fellow Outfielders Could Make Mets Homer History

Hello, all you snowbound Mets fans.  I'm Joey Beartran and despite all the white stuff piling up outside my window, I'm thinking Mets baseball.  And why am I thinking Mets baseball?  Because of the news that the Mets did what no one thought they would do.  No, the Wilpons didn't sell the team.  But they did max out their credit cards.

Just as the first flakes flew last night, the news came out that the Mets had signed Yoenis Cespedes to a three-year, $75 million contract with an opt-out after the first year.  The stunning news that Washington couldn't buy Cespedes for five years and give him a front row seat for Daniel Murphy's next costly error shocked Mets Twitter - myself included.

Joey's reaction upon hearing the news of the Mets signing Cespedes. pic.twitter.com/7ycgsu7bPj

— Ed Leyro (@Studi_Metsimus) January 23, 2016

It became very difficult for me to hibernate for the evening upon hearing that bit of information.  After all, throughout the off-season, Mets fans had been clamoring for the return of Cespedes, but they fully expected him to be out of the Wilpons' price range.  Then the news became official and the numbers starting running through my head.

With Michael Conforto and Curtis Granderson manning the corner outfield positions and Cespedes taking over as the team's center fielder, it occurred to me that the Mets outfield will produce a lot of home runs.  After all, Cespedes hit 35 homers last year between the Tigers and Mets, while Granderson rocketed 26 blasts.  Conforto is still developing his power, but still managed to hit 12 home runs in 91 games in the minors, nine more in 56 games after his promotion to the Mets and added another three in 12 postseason games.  (For all you kids out there, that's 24 HR in 159 games for the 22-year-old Conforto.)

So of course, being the inquisitive bear that I am, I looked back through my archives (you might call it baseball-reference.com) to see how often the Mets have had three power-hitting outfielders at the same time.  My research surprised me almost as much as the Cespedes re-signing did.

The Mets have been in business for 54 seasons.  In that time, only 17 outfielders have ever produced a 20-HR campaign.  (To qualify as a Mets outfielder, the player had to have played at least half of his games in any of the three outfield positions.)  Having a pair of Mets outfielders produce 20 or more homers is even rarer in club annals, especially a pair that didn't have Darryl Strawberry as one of its members.

Prior to 1983, the Mets had never had two outfielders with 20+ homers in the same season.  But from 1983 to 1985, Strawberry and George Foster each reached the 20-homer mark.  Then, from 1987 to 1990, Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds produced 20 or more home runs in each of the four campaigns.  The only time in Mets history that two outfielders not named Darryl Strawberry joined forces to hit 20-plus homers in the same season was in 2004, when center fielder Mike Cameron (30 HR) and right fielder Richard Hidalgo (21 HR) turned the trick.  In fact, that 2004 campaign was the closest the Mets have ever come to having all three outfielders reach the 20-homer mark, as left fielder Cliff Floyd added 18 homers of his own.

Now let's just consider years in which the Mets had three outfielders hitting 15+ homers.  That total might not seem impressive, but it's a feat that's rarely been done by a trio of Mets outfielders.  Here's the tiny group of outfielders, listing the left fielder first, center fielder second and right fielder third.

• 1965: Ron Swoboda (19 HR), Jim Hickman (15 HR), Johnny Lewis (15 HR)
• 2000: Benny Agbayani (15 HR), Jay Payton (17 HR), Derek Bell (18 HR)
• 2004: Cliff Floyd (18 HR), Mike Cameron (30 HR), Richard Hidalgo (21 HR)

That's it.  Only three Mets teams have produced an outfield in which all three players reached the not-so-lofty 15-homer plateau.  Over the years, the Mets have relied more on infielders (Howard Johnson, Carlos Delgado, David Wright, Lucas Duda) and even catchers (Todd Hundley, Mike Piazza) to supply power than they have in their outfielders.

It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to see the Conforto-Cespedes-Granderson trio becoming the fourth outfield threesome to bang out 15 homers apiece.  It also wouldn't be a shocker to see them become the first outfield combo in Mets history to each have 20 or more homers.  Conforto, Cespedes and Granderson could also combine to hit the most homers in one season by the team's primary three outfielders.

In 1987, the outfield trio of Strawberry (39 HR), McReynolds (29 HR) and Lenny Dykstra (10 HR) combined to produce 78 home runs, which is a team record for outfielders.  (Dykstra started 24 more games than fellow outfielder Mookie Wilson did in '87.)  The team's three main outfielders have produced 70 or more homers in only two other seasons, with both years involving the Straw Man and Big Mac.

The 1988 squad featured Strawberry once again clubbing 39 homers, while McReynolds hit 27 bombs and Dykstra jacked eight balls out of the park for a combined total of 74 homers.  Two years later, the Strawbery-McReynolds combo was joined by newcomer Daryl Boston, as the 1990 outfield saw left fielder McReynolds (24 HR), center fielder Boston (12 HR) and right fielder Strawberry (37 HR) combine for 73 home runs.

Other than the 1987, 1988 and 1990 clubs, no other Mets team has had its three primary starting outfielders surpass the 70-homer mark between them.  That could change in 2016 now that Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto will each be playing their first full years in New York.

Cespedes hit 35 homers during the entire 2015 regular season.  Conforto combined to hit 21 regular season homers between the minors and majors.  Granderson - the only one of the three outfielders to play the entire season in New York - had 26 homers of his own.

In 2016, the Mets could have a power-hitting outfield that has never been seen before in club annals.  Combine that with the best starting rotation in baseball and a much-improved bullpen and the outfield's home run total might not be the only thing making history for the Mets this upcoming season.

It's enough to make man or beast look forward to warm nights at Citi Field on the snowiest of winter days.

Who wouldn't wake to make snow angels the morning after Cespedes re-signs with the Mets?

The Most With The Least: Tim Teufel (1987)

Sometimes a baseball player gets benched because he's not performing well.  This occasionally leads to the benched player asking how he's supposed to prove himself on the field if he's not allowed to take the field.  However, for some players, spending time on the bench helps them become more productive when they are given the opportunity to start.  Take, for example, the case of a former Mets player and current Mets coach who was an everyday player before coming to New York and then found himself as part of a platoon just as he was entering the prime years of his playing career.

For two seasons in Minnesota, he was the team's starting second baseman.  In his first full season with the Twins, he showed uncharacteristic power potential for a middle infielder, smacking 30 doubles and 14 homers in 652 plate appearances.  His efforts did not go unnoticed, as he placed fourth in that year's American League Rookie of the Year vote.

The following season saw a slight dropoff in his extra-base hit numbers (24 doubles, 10 homers), but nothing too serious to suggest that he was expendable.  However, the Twins struggled tremendously with their pitchers, finishing near the bottom of the American League in that department.  They needed to upgrade the team's pitching if they wanted to compete in their division and so they traded their young second baseman to the New York Mets for two minor league pitching prospects and a former first round draft pick.  The Mets now had a right-handed hitting platoon partner for Wally Backman at second base to take the place of Kelvin Chapman, who batted .174 in the role the year before.  Before long, it was clear that this former Twin wasn't going to be Chapman's twin in the hitting department.

Tim Teufel had many opposing pitchers on their knees in 1987.  (Barry Colla Photography)

Timothy Shawn Teufel had over 1,000 at-bats as the Twins starting second baseman in 1984 and 1985.  But as a second baseman for the Mets playing mostly against left-handed pitchers, he amassed just 279 at-bats in 1986, starting in 70 of the team's 162 games.  Despite the decreased workload, Teufel still managed 24 extra-base hits and 31 RBI for the Mets in 1986, which represented a tremendous upgrade from Kelvin Chapman's 1985 numbers against southpaws (.172 batting average, two extra-base hits, seven RBI in 128 at-bats).

In 1984 and 1985, Wally Backman was forced to hit against left-handed pitching more often than manager Davey Johnson would have liked because of Chapman's inability to produce much of anything against them.  Backman ended up averaging close to 500 at-bats in each season and batted .280 and .273 in the two years before Teufel's acquisition.  However, the switch-hitting Backman was even more futile than Chapman was against left-handed pitching, batting an anemic .122 (16-for-131) versus southpaws in 1985.  The trade for Teufel immediately allowed Backman to play exclusively against right-handed pitching and resulted in Backman's most productive season at the plate in 1986 - a year in which he batted .320 and struck out just 32 times in 440 plate appearances, an average of one strikeout every 13.8 plate appearances.  (Batting more often against left-handed pitchers in 1984 and 1985, Backman fanned 135 times in 1,073 plate appearances, averaging one whiff every 7.9 plate appearances in those seasons.)

While the two pitching prospects (Bill Latham, Joe Klink) and former first round draft pick (future Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane) struggled in Minnesota, Teufel found a home in New York.  The Connecticut native thrived in his new role as the team's part-time second baseman, and his arrival also brought out the best in his platoon partner.  Teufel's first season in New York ended with a World Series victory, one in which he was a healthy contributor at the plate, posting an impressive .444/.500/.889 slash line in the three games he started against Boston lefty Bruce Hurst.  Hurst allowed just two extra-base hits in the series, with both of them (a double and a homer) coming off the bat of Tim Teufel.

Teufel's fielding wasn't always the best, as evidenced by his costly error in Game One of the Fall Classic, but his hitting usually overshadowed his shortcomings on defense and allowed the Mets to be deeper on the bench, as seen in a game during the Mets' dominant summer run in 1986, when Teufel's pinch-hit grand slam off Philadelphia's Tom Hume gave the Mets a thrilling extra-inning victory.

The Mets followed up their historic 1986 campaign with a disappointing 1987 season.  In 1986, the quartet of Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez and Bob Ojeda combined to start 128 games, with each starter making at least 30 starts.  A year later, the post-championship hangover affected the entire staff, with the four hurlers making just 91 starts between them and only Darling taking the ball more than 27 times.  Injuries and substance abuse curtailed the seasons of the once-dominant starting rotation, with each starter, including Darling, spending time on the disabled list in 1987.

With pitchers such as John Mitchell, Terry Leach, Don Schulze, John Candelaria and Tom Edens making unexpected starts for the Mets, it behooved the offense to carry the team even more in 1987.  Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson contributed greatly, becoming the first pair of teammates to produce a season with 30+ homers and 30+ stolen bases.  The newly acquired Kevin McReynolds also had a fine season, missing a 30 HR, 100 RBI campaign by just one blast and five ribbies.  But an unheralded hitting star of the 1987 season was not one of the big boppers, as Tim Teufel had one of the most productive campaigns ever produced by a part-time player in team history, shuffling his way into the hearts of Mets fans with his phenomenal performance.

YouTube video courtesy of CourtsideTweets

Once again, Teufel started in less than half of the team's games, as his name was in Davey Johnson's starting lineup just 71 times in 1987, but despite not reaching 300 at-bats for the second straight year (he had 299), Teufel managed to have the type of season he produced when he was an everyday player for the Twins.

Nine players had more at-bats than Teufel did for the Mets in 1987, including fellow second baseman Wally Backman, but Teufel still managed to finish fourth on the team in doubles (29), sixth in homers (14), sixth in RBI (61) and fifth in WAR (3.5).  He also led the team in batting average (.308), on-base percentage (.398 - tied for the team lead with Strawberry) and was runner-up to Strawberry in slugging percentage (.545), OPS (.943) and OPS+ (153).  In doing so, Teufel made team history by becoming just the third player with at least 350 plate appearances (he had 351) to produce an OPS+ higher than 150, joining Cleon Jones - who produced a 151 OPS+ in 1969 - and Strawberry.  Teufel also became the third Mets player with that many plate appearances to produce an OPS higher than .900, also joining Jones and Strawberry.

At no point of the season was Teufel hotter than he was during a two-month stretch from June to August, when the Mets went from being a fourth-place team with a .500 record to a second-place team, knocking on the door of the first-place Cardinals.  From June 9 to August 6, Teufel played in 25 games (22 starts), missing two weeks in late June with a strained right hamstring.  Teufel helped the Mets win 16 of those 25 games, reaching base 43 times and batting .348 with a lofty 1.118 OPS.  More than half of Teufel's 31 hits during his hot streak went for extra bases (10 doubles, 7 HR) and he drove in 22 runs in 89 at-bats, averaging nearly one RBI every four at-bats.

Perhaps the most incredible stat about Teufel's 1987 campaign is the following.  A total of 20 players with at least 350 plate appearances in a single season have batted higher than .308 for the Mets.  Likewise, ten Mets players have produced an OBP higher than .398 and ten players have surpassed a .545 slugging percentage.  But prior to 1987, no Mets player had ever produced a .308/.398/.545 slash line and only John Olerud (1998), Mike Piazza (1998, 2000) and David Wright (2007) have been able to match or surpass Teufel in all three categories since his spectacular 1987 campaign.

Betcha never thought you'd see Tim Teufel's name mentioned in the same sentence as these three Mets all-time greats.

Tim Teufel had 29 doubles and 61 RBI in a limited number of plate appearances in 1987.  Out of all the Mets players with fewer than 400 plate appearances in a single season through the 2015 campaign, no one has produced as many doubles as Teufel did in '87.  (Desi Relaford had 27 doubles in 340 plate appearances in 2001.)  And the only player in the franchise's first 50-plus years to surpass the 61 RBI produced by Teufel in under 400 plate appearances was Steve Henderson, who had 65 RBI in 398 plate appearances in 1977.  (Teufel still had a higher RBI/PA ratio, driving in a run every 5.75 plate appearances while Henderson had an RBI every 6.12 PA.)

Unfortunately, Teufel's amazing 1987 campaign has been mostly overlooked because that season is mostly remembered for the plethora of unexpected visits to the disabled list by the team's pitchers.  Teufel's campaign also occurred in a non-playoff year, as it took place in between the team's 1986 championship season and their 1988 division title.

Although Teufel remained on the team until 1991, his plate appearances dwindled following his breakout 1987 season.  He came up to the plate 309 times in 1988, had 254 plate appearances in 1989 and came up to bat just 192 times in 1990.  His 1990 campaign was reminiscent of his spectacular 1987 season as Teufel had 21 extra-base hits (11 doubles, 10 homers) despite not reaching 200 plate appearances.  But Teufel had just four hits in 34 at-bats through late May in 1991, and as a result, he was traded to the San Diego Padres for shortstop Garry Templeton, playing the final three seasons of his career as a part-time player with the Padres.

Teufel returned to the Mets after a few years away from the game and has served as an instructor, coach and minor league manager within the organization.  Since 2012, he has worked at the major league level, serving as the Mets' third base coach.  Just as his former manager, Buddy Harrelson, was the only man to be in uniform for the 1969 and 1986 World Series championship teams (Harrelson was the team's third base coach in 1986), Teufel is the only person to be in uniform for the 1986 and 2015 Mets teams that reached the Fall Classic.

(Getty Images)

"I'm so happy for these guys to get this feeling as a player.  Not everybody gets this chance.  I had it as a player, but as a coach I'm happy for these guys and I'm happy for the coaching staff."
 
--Tim Teufel, on reaching the 2015 World Series.




Tim Teufel's six-year tenure as a part-time second baseman with the Mets was solid, but unspectacular.  He never played 100 games in any of his half-dozen seasons in New York and only managed 35 homers and 164 RBI in nearly 1,500 plate appearances with the team.  But his acquisition solidified the second base position, providing the team with a high-average, base-stealing threat against right-handed pitchers in Wally Backman and a power-hitting presence versus left-handers in Teufel.  Whereas southpaws relished facing the Mets' second basemen whenever Backman or Kelvin Chapman came up to the plate in 1984 and 1985, they had to pitch more carefully against Teufel, who collected 83 extra-base hits in 810 at-bats against left-handers as a Met from 1986 to 1991.

Teufel reached the postseason twice in 1986 and 1988, but what he did in the year between his playoff appearances was the highlight of his career.  He turned a part-time job into a full-time nightmare for opposing pitchers.  And in doing so, he was responsible for one of the quietest career years by a Mets player and one of the most impressive full-season performances by a platoon player in franchise history.  Teufel made his way to the majors as an everyday player with the Minnesota Twins.  He stayed in the majors by accepting a role as a part-time player for the New York Mets who made the most of his sporadic playing opportunities.

And more than three decades after the trade for Teufel was consummated, he remains a part of the Mets on-field family.  Not bad for a player who spent a good chunk of his playing career on the bench.


Note:  The Most With The Least is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who performed at a high level without receiving the accolades or playing time their more established teammates got, due to injuries, executive decisions or other factors.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 4, 2016: Benny Agbayani
January 11, 2016: Donn Clendenon

The Most With The Least: Donn Clendenon (1969-70)

Every player goes through a slump at some point in his career.  But some slumps last longer than others and can alter the course of a player's career.  Take, for example, the case of Dick Stuart - a promising young first baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Stuart was a great power hitter who averaged 37 HR and 119 RBI per 162 games played during his first four seasons in the majors.  His middle-of-the-order presence helped the Pirates win the World Series in 1960 - just his third year in the big leagues.  His best season came in 1961, when he made the National League All-Star squad and batted .301 with 35 HR and 117 RBI.  But a year later, he slumped badly, batting a measly .228 and hitting just 16 homers.  His poor production coupled with his shoddy fielding - he wasn't nicknamed "Dr. Strangeglove" for nothing - led to a trade to the Boston Red Sox following the 1962 campaign.

Backing up Stuart at first base in 1962 was a more well-rounded athlete who had already toiled in the minors for parts of six seasons.  Between 1961 and 1962, he played 89 games at the major league level before settling in as the Pirates' regular first baseman in 1963.  But the same slump that ended Stuart's tenure with the Pirates also affected his replacement, except that his slump lasted for two full seasons and threatened to end his career.  But a change of scenery, followed by a change of his role on the field caused a renaissance of this player's career, one that would take him down the road to a championship and to become an unlikely team record-holder.

The Mets needed Donn Clendenon in the worst way when they acquired him in 1969.  (AP Photo)

Donn Alvin Clendenon played nine games with the defending World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1961, followed by an 80-game stint in 1962.  During his 89-game role as Dick Stuart's backup, he made solid contact (.304 batting average), was patient at the plate (.379 on-base percentage), showed power potential (22 extra-base hits) and even had a little speed (16 stolen bases).  Most importantly, he wasn't an embarrassment on the field when he traded in his bat for a glove, unlike Stuart, who probably wished the designated hitter had already entered the baseball lexicon.

Although Clendenon didn't possess the brute strength Stuart had, he still put up solid numbers from 1963 to 1965, averaging 28 doubles, 10 triples, 14 homers, 72 RBI and 14 stolen bases per season.  He then had a breakout year in 1966, batting .299 with 28 home runs and 98 RBI.  He also boasted a .520 slugging percentage and .878 OPS, both of which placed him in the National League's top ten for the 1966 season.

But Clendenon's production at the plate dropped off dramatically in 1967, as he produced a .249/.298/.370 slash line and saw his OPS drop by more than 200 points (.668).  The following season saw just a slight recovery in his numbers (.257/.309/.399) but also saw Clendenon strike out a whopping 163 times, which was the highest single-season total ever posted by a National League hitter up until that point.

Pittsburgh decided to part ways with the 33-year-old Clendenon at the conclusion of the 1968 campaign, exposing him to the expansion draft, where he was selected by the Montreal Expos with their sixth pick.  Three months after the draft, Clendenon was traded to the Houston Astros for Rusty Staub, but Clendenon refused to report to Houston.  The Astros had just hired Clendenon's former manager in Pittsburgh - Harry Walker - to be their new skipper and Clendenon did not have an amicable relationship with Walker, to say the least.  Clendenon also did not view Houston as a favorable city for him to play in, as many businesses were still using racist tactics against African-Americans.  With Clendenon refusing to leave the Expos to go to Houston, Montreal sent two other players (including future All-Star and World Series champion Jack Billingham) plus $100,000 to the Astros in lieu of Clendenon to complete the trade.

Clendenon's change of scenery from Pittsburgh to Montreal did not change his production at the plate.  His breakout 1966 campaign appeared to be his career year, as he batted just .240 with four homers and 14 RBI during his first two months with the Expos.  Clendenon appeared to be washed up just weeks before his 34th birthday.  That is, until Mets manager Gil Hodges came calling for his services.

"Are you there, Donn?  It's me, Gil."  (Herb Scharfman/Getty Images)

Back in 1964, Clendenon had sought out Hodges in an attempt to improve his fielding.  After watching Dick Stuart botch his way out of Pittsburgh with every bobble he made at first base, Clendenon knew he had to be a stalwart at the position, and so he contacted Hodges - the winner of the first three Gold Glove awards handed out to first basemen for defensive excellence - for advice on how not to fall into the same defensive traps Stuart got caught in.  Five years later, it was Hodges who wanted assistance from Clendenon.

By mid-June in 1969, the Mets had established themselves as a surprise contender in the National League East.  New York was coming off a franchise-record 11-game winning streak and was looking to upgrade an offense that had scored three runs or less in 35 of their first 57 games.  The team was also looking for a right-handed hitter who could complement the lefty-swinging Ed Kranepool at first base.  Kranepool had a torrid start in 1969, batting .324 with 16 RBI in his first 22 games, but he batted just .204 over his next 27 contests.  Kranepool's backup at the time was Cleon Jones, who started 12 games at the position over the season's first two months.  But Jones was a natural outfielder and had not played first base in his career prior to the 1969 campaign.  Hodges needed a natural first baseman to play against left-handed pitchers to allow Jones to play his preferred defensive position and give Kranepool more time to figure out how to regain his hitting stroke.  Hodges found his man on June 15, as the Mets sent four players and a player to be named later to the Expos for Donn Clendenon.

One of the problems Clendenon had during his final years in Pittsburgh and his short stay in Montreal was that he was being counted on to be an everyday player.  Clendenon was a month shy of his 34th birthday when he was traded to the Mets.  He was already past his prime when he slumped for two and a half seasons.  But he could still hit left-handed starters extremely well (.309/.364/.489 vs. LHP in 1967 and 1968).  Hodges realized that and rested him against most right-handed pitchers.  And the results were spectacular.

Clendenon played in 72 games for the Mets following the trade, making 46 starts.  His overall production as a Met was good (.252, 12 HR, 37 RBI), but he was absolutely spectacular against left-handed pitching, posting a .318/.384/.557 slash line against southpaws.  Clendenon's presence in the lineup was the boost the Mets desperately needed, as the team scored four or more runs in 26 of his 46 starts.  Most importantly, the team was 32-14 in Clendenon's starts, which helped them pass the Chicago Cubs to win their first division title.

With the Atlanta Braves using nothing but right-handed starting pitchers in the National League Championship Series, Clendenon did not see any action in the Mets' three-game sweep of the Braves.  But that changed in the World Series against the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, as the Mets were set to face left-handed starters Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally in four of the first five games.  Clendenon took advantage of his playing time in the Fall Classic, going 2-for-4 with a double in the Mets' Game One loss.  He then homered off McNally in the Mets' 2-1 victory in Game Two and continued his long ball assault on the Orioles' lefty starters in Games Four and Five.

Clendenon's second-inning homer off Cuellar was the only run the Mets scored in the first nine innings of Game Four - a game the Mets won in the tenth.  Then, with the Mets down 3-0 to the Orioles in the sixth inning of Game Five, Clendenon hit a two-run blast against McNally immediately after Cleon Jones - the man he essentially replaced as the team's right-handed hitting first baseman - was famously hit by a pitch on his shoe.  New York scored three more runs to win the game and the series, with Clendenon (.357/.438/1.071) winning the World Series Most Valuable Player award, an honor he felt was more about his teammates than any one individual.

"There is no most valuable player on this team --- we've got lots of them."

--Donn Clendenon, following the 1969 World Series




Clendenon made the most of his playing time for the Mets in 1969, and that continued into the 1970 campaign, when he had one of the most productive seasons in franchise history for an everyday player who didn't quite play every day.

Continuing to use his successful platoon system, Gil Hodges started Clendenon in just 96 of the team's 162 games in 1970.  As a result, Clendenon produced only 396 official at-bats in his first full season as a Met, which probably cost him a chance to be an All-Star for the first time.  Through games of July 9, Clendenon started just 37 games, but batted .331 with 10 HR and 37 RBI in 163 at-bats.

Clendenon entered the month of August still wielding a hot bat, as evidenced by his .316 batting average, .561 slugging percentage and his club-record seven-RBI game on July 28 against the San Francisco Giants.  As a result, Hodges felt the need to give Clendenon more opportunities to start, even against right-handed pitching, especially with the Mets in contention for a second straight division title.

The Mets were in first place by half a game over the Pirates and held a two-game lead over the third-place Cubs as the calendar turned from July to August.  Clendenon started 51 of the team's final 60 games and carried the team on his back.  His 29 RBI in August set a club record for the month which was not surpassed until 1998, when Mike Piazza drove in 30 runs in the month of August.  (Through 2015, only seven Mets players have driven in more than 29 runs in any calendar month.  Besides Piazza, the list includes Tommie Agee, Dave Kingman, Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, Howard Johnson and Carlos Beltran.)

Clendenon followed up his hot August with a solid September, driving in another 21 runs in the season's final month.  In doing so, he became the first Met to have back-to-back months with 20+ RBI and the first to drive in 50 or more runs over a two-month period.  (Through the 2015 campaign, only Gary Carter, Mike Piazza and Carlos Beltran have joined Clendenon as players who drove in 50+ runs over two consecutive calendar months.)

Although the Mets fell short in their quest to return to the postseason, finishing six games behind the eventual N.L. East champion Pirates, Clendenon finally had a return to his prior glory.  Despite having fewer than 400 at-bats, Clendenon produced 22 homers and 97 RBI, breaking Frank Thomas's team record for RBI in a single season.  Clendenon also batted .288 and had a .515 slugging percentage - only the second time in his career he had surpassed the .500 mark in slugging percentage - becoming the first Met to play at least 100 games and slug over .500 in the same season.

AP Photo

One of the most overlooked numbers in Clendenon's 1970 campaign was the Mets' record in his starts.  When Clendenon was in the starting lineup, the team went 52-44.  When he wasn't, the team was 31-35.  A few more starts earlier in the season could have given Clendenon his first 100-RBI campaign.  More importantly, it could have given the Mets the few extra wins they needed to repeat as division champions.  Voters for the National League MVP award certainly noticed how valuable Clendenon was to the Mets when he was in the starting lineup, as he finished 13th in the MVP vote, ahead of teammates Tommie Agee, Buddy Harrelson and Tom Seaver and just seven votes behind his former Pirate teammate, Roberto Clemente.  It was the only time in Clendenon's 12-year career that he received consideration as the league's most valuable player.

Clendenon played one more season with the Mets in 1971, but by then, the 36-year-old's skills had begun to fade.  Clendenon batted .247 with 11 homers and 37 RBI in 88 games and was subsequently released by the Mets at the conclusion of the season.  He played his final year in the big leagues as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1972, batting .191 with just nine RBI in 61 games for the Redbirds.

After playing parts of two seasons in Pittsburgh in 1961 and 1962, Donn Clendenon became an everyday player for the Pirates in 1963, turning in four solid seasons as a member of the Bucs.  However, two poor campaigns led to Pittsburgh cutting ties with the once-promising slugger after the 1968 season, just as they had done with his predecessor at first base once his skills eroded.  Their inability to notice that Clendenon was better served as a part-time player who could mash left-handed pitching led directly to his acquisition by the Mets to do just that.

Gil Hodges used Clendenon just enough to help the team win the World Series in 1969 and then used him as much as he could in a failed attempt to get them back to the promised land.  Hodges, who once helped Clendenon become a better fielder in 1964, helped him become a better hitter five years later, and lengthened the career of a player who was thought to be washed up following the 1968 campaign.

In parts of three seasons with the Mets, Donn Clendenon came up to the plate less than 1,000 times.  But he made the most of those scattered trips, winning a World Series most valuable player award and setting the franchise record for RBI in a single season.  When the Mets acquired Clendenon, it was the first baseman who won a chance to revive his career.  But when the Mets played Clendenon, it was the team who had the best chance of winning.

Donn Clendenon may not have gotten the most playing time during his short tenure with the Mets, but he certainly gave the most of his ability, allowing the team to remain contenders for the postseason after several years of just being playoff pretenders prior to his arrival in New York.


Note:  The Most With The Least is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who performed at a high level without receiving the accolades or playing time their more established teammates got, due to injuries, executive decisions or other factors.  For previous installments, please click on the players' names below:

January 4, 2016: Benny Agbayani

The Most With The Least: Benny Agbayani (1999-2000)

There are some players who become folk heroes without ever being expected to produce 500 at-bats or 30 starts in a season.  Players like Johnny Podres of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, Bucky Dent of the 1978 New York Yankees and Francisco Cabrera of the 1992 Atlanta Braves come to mind.  The memorable moments they produced in those seasons have lived on long after their playing careers were over.  In some cases - Buddy Biancalana's postseason for the 1985 Kansas City Royals comes to mind - their moments in the sun completely overshadowed the fact that save for the magical game or stretch of games, they did not have particularly good careers in the major leagues (Biancalana batted .205 and had a -1.5 WAR in parts of six seasons with the Royals and Houston Astros).

Some folk heroes who don't play every day actually do have good careers.  However, their careers are sometimes overlooked because they were never among the league leaders in any categories due to the lack of steady playing time.

Several Mets players have achieved folk hero status and a lifetime of adulation and respect even without the gaudy numbers put up by some of the hitters and pitchers currently in the team's Hall of Fame.  One such player became beloved for what he did during a two-year stretch, despite not being an everyday player.  His numbers were not All-Star worthy, nor will he ever be enshrined in the Mets Hall of Fame.  But his clutch performances in his limited appearances were crucial to the team's success during those two seasons and he will forever be remembered for his efforts.

Mahalo, Benny Agbayani!  You gave Mets fans plenty to cheer about.  (AP photo by Ron Frehm)

Benny Peter Agbayani was one of five Hawaiian-born players who suited up for the Mets over the years (the others were Carlos Diaz, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez and Tyler Yates).  However, he was the only one of the five who wasn't a pitcher and the only native Hawaiian originally drafted by the Mets who played for the team.  Like many roads on the island state, Agabyani's path to the majors was long and winding.  He was drafted in the 30th round of the 1993 June amateur draft and toiled in the minor leagues for nearly six full seasons (which included a regrettable turn as a replacement player in spring training due to the 1994-95 players' strike) before being called up by the Mets for the first time in June 1998.  Agbayani had three separate stints with the Mets in 1998, but only got into 11 games.  His infrequent appearances at the plate led to an underwhelming debut, as he batted .133 with no RBI during his time at the big league level.

After his brief stays with the Mets, the team placed Agbayani on waivers, but no other club was interested in his services.  The following offseason, the Mets once again dangled Agbayani for other teams to claim in the Rule V draft.  No one took the bait.  Despite the team's best efforts to end their relationship with Agbayani, the outfielder remained property of the Mets heading into the 1999 campaign.

Agbayani began his seventh professional season in 1999 at AAA-Norfolk and before too long, he made it impossible for the Mets not to notice him.  In 28 games with the Tides, Agabyani batted .356 and posted a whopping 1.139 OPS.  He averaged an extra-base hit every six at-bats, including eight home runs in the first month of the season.  A year after Agbayani couldn't crack an outfield that included the declining Bernard Gilkey and Butch Huskey at his worst, Agabyani got a second chance at the big league level in 1999.  Both Gilkey and Huskey were no longer on the team, with Gilkey having been dealt to Arizona at the trade deadline in 1998 and Huskey being shipped off to Seattle five months later.

Manager Bobby Valentine, who was Agbayani's skipper at Norfolk in 1996, had always praised the stocky slugger in the minors, and continued to believe in him once he made it to the majors.  Injuries to Bobby Bonilla and Rickey Henderson opened up a roster spot for Agabyani in mid-May and the six-year minor leaguer took full advantage of the opportunity, homering in his first game after the call-up.  Agabyani continued to hit with power and by June 13, he had already amassed ten home runs in his first 73 at-bats of the season - a feat no Met had ever accomplished.

Fans at Shea Stadium immediately gravitated to the hard-working Agabayani, and remained supportive even after Agbayani went through the inevitable home run drought that followed his month-long power surge.  Although Agbayani started just 70 games for the Mets in 1999, the team's record was 46-24 in those starts, making Agbayani a key cog in the Mets' machine that went on to make its first trip to the postseason since 1988.

Agbayani finished his first major league season with a .286/.363/.525 slash line, contributing 18 doubles, three triples, 14 homers and 42 RBI in just 276 at-bats, earning him a spot on the Mets' playoff roster.  Although he started just four of the Mets' ten postseason games against the Diamondbacks and Braves, he still reached base eight times in 21 plate appearances for a .381 on-base percentage.  Agbayani's RBI double in the sixth inning of Game Four of the division series broke a 1-1 tie in a game the Mets eventually won in ten innings.  Facing the Braves in the sixth game of the NLCS, Agabyani reached base three times even though he didn't get into the game until the sixth inning.  In the eighth frame, Agbayani led off with a single and later scored the go-ahead run on a hit by Melvin Mora.  The Braves then rallied to tie the game and send it into extra innings.  Once again, Agbayani led off the tenth inning by reaching base, drawing a walk from John Rocker.  Three batters later, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Todd Pratt to give the Mets another one-run lead.  Unfortunately, the Braves tied it again in the bottom of the tenth and went on to win the game and the National League pennant an inning later.

Despite a fantastic rookie season that ended with valuable postseason experience, Agbayani was not guaranteed a spot on the roster as the 2000 regular season approached.  Rickey Henderson was still the team's left fielder, newcomer Derek Bell was brought in to play right field and top prospect Jay Payton was ready to play every day in the major leagues as the team's center fielder.  But Agbayani caught a break when the Mets broke camp to fly to Tokyo for their season-opening series against the Chicago Cubs.  The quirky schedule during the first week of the season meant the Mets would only need to carry ten pitchers on the roster instead of the usual eleven.  That opened up a spot for Agbayani to make the trip with the team to Japan.  And with one swing of the bat, he made sure he'd make the flight back to New York with his teammates instead of another trip back to Norfolk.

Agbayani did not play in the first game, nor did he play in the first ten innings of the second affair in the Tokyo Dome.  But with the game deadlocked in the 11th inning, the Mets loaded the bases against Cubs reliever Danny Young.  Young had retired the first two batters he faced, but then allowed a single to Todd Zeile and back-to-back walks to Rey Ordoñez and Melvin Mora.  With pitcher Dennis Cook slated to bat for the Mets, Valentine decided to use the right-handed hitting Agbayani against the southpaw Young, who was making his first appearance in the big leagues.  Young threw a first-pitch ball, then fired a low fastball to the plate that Agbayani golfed over the center field fence for a grand slam.  The blast led to a 5-1 victory and gave the Mets a split in their season-opening series.  And even though Agbayani was due to the be sent down to the minors once the team needed to use their fifth starter, he never played a single game below the major league level in 2000, due mostly to his game-winning grand slam in Japan.

Melvin Mora (left) and Todd Zeile (right) flank Benny Agbayani as he crosses the plate in Tokyo.  (MLB.com screen shot)

Although Agbayani remained with the team once they returned to the United States, he was relegated to a bench role over the first month of the season.  But Rickey Henderson, who drew the ire of the front office for playing cards with Bobby Bonilla during Game Six of the 1999 NLCS, was off to a horrendous start in 2000, struggling to stay above the Mendoza Line.  Through May 9, Henderson was batting .207 and had stolen just two bases.  It was a far cry from his fantastic 1999 campaign, when he batted .315 and had 37 steals.  The Mets were also just 13-13 in Henderson's 26 starts through early May.  Meanwhile, Agbayani was continuing to deliver for the Mets, albeit in limited action.  Agbayani started a mere five games in April and had batted just 32 times through month's end, but in that small sample size, he posted a .321/.387/.571 slash line, produced five extra-base hits and drove in nine runs.  More importantly, the Mets won all but one of the games Agbayani started in April.

When Agbayani started, he produced and the Mets won.  When Henderson started, he did not produce and the Mets were mediocre.  Henderson also whined and was generally a malcontent, while Agbayani had a positive outlook and a winning demeanor.  The writing was on the wall for Henderson, and by mid-May, he had been released by the Mets and Agbayani was given a shot to start more games.

Three days after Henderson was released, the Mets found themselves in fourth place in the N.L. East with a 20-20 record.  But with Henderson gone and Agbayani finally getting a chance to prove himself, the Mets responded by winning eight of their next ten games.  Agbayani started seven of those contests, batting .348 and reaching base at a .423 clip.  The Mets went on another hot streak from mid-June through early July, winning 12 out of 16 affairs.  Among the key contributors in that sizzling skein was Agbayani, who torched opposing pitchers with a .357/.429/.833 slash line during the two-and-a-half week period.  The left fielder started a dozen times during the 16-game stretch, reaching base on 21 occasions, smacking six home runs and racking up 14 RBI.

As the calendar flipped from July to August, the Mets were on a roll and Agbayani was putting up gaudy numbers.  By August 11, the day the Mets got to 20 games over .500 for the first time in 2000, Agbayani was the owner of a robust .315/.404/.502 slash line.  Only Mike Piazza (.349/.416/.676) and Edgardo Alfonzo (.328/.427/.519) had better slash lines on the team than Agbayani.  Agbayani remained above the .300/.400/.500 mark until mid-September, when a late slump and the loss of playing time to September call-up Timo Perez brought him under those figures.  But by then, it had become a foregone conclusion that the 2000 squad was going to crash the playoff party, unlike the 1999 campaign, when the Mets needed to play a 163rd game to qualify for the postseason.  And a big reason why they were returning to the playoffs was the decision to start Benny Agbayani with more regularity, as the Mets went 57-37 when the outfielder was in the starting lineup in 2000.

Agbayani was going to the playoffs for the second time in his two full seasons in the big leagues.  However, unlike the Mets' 1999 postseason run, when he started just four games, Agbayani was expected to be a key contributor if the Mets were going to have a deeper playoff run, especially after having just completed a season in which he finished fourth on the team in batting average (.289), third in on-base percentage (.391), third in slugging percentage (.477) and third in oWAR (2.1).  He also added 19 doubles, 15 home runs and 60 RBI in just 350 at-bats.

The Mets' division series opponent was the San Francisco Giants, who produced the best record in baseball during the 2000 campaign with a 97-65 mark.  The Mets split the first two games at Pac Bell Park, with Agbayani reaching base five times in eight plate appearances.  In Game Three, Agbayani was kept off the bases in each of his first five plate appearances.  He had been removed for a defensive replacement in each of the first two games, a practice that Agbayani was quite familiar with, as manager Bobby Valentine had removed Agbayani in 51 of the 94 games he started during the 2000 regular season.  But as the game progressed into extra innings, Valentine did not take Agbayani out of the game, allowing him to bat for a sixth time in the bottom of the 13th, even after he had failed to get a sacrifice bunt down in his previous at-bat when the Mets had two runners on and nobody out.

Valentine noticed Agabyani was disgusted with himself after his failure to move the runners over cost the Mets a chance to win the game in the 11th, saying, "He really felt like he let the team down.  He was kind of pacing in the dugout, just hoping to get another chance."

And with one mighty swing of the bat, Valentine was rewarded for his decision to stick with him.

Video courtesy of MLB.com YouTube channel

On a 1-0 pitch from Giants reliever Aaron Fultz, Agabyani ended the taut affair with a long home run into the Shea Stadium left field bleachers.  The blast gave the Mets a 3-2 victory and a 2-1 series lead.  The following night, the Mets took the series from the Giants on a one-hit shutout by Bobby Jones.  Agabyani had more hits in Game Four than the entire Giants lineup, as he went 2-for-4 in the Mets' division series-clinching victory.

Unlike the 1999 National League Championship Series, when every game was decided by one or two runs, the 2000 NLCS wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking, as the Mets defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in five games, with three of their four wins in the series coming by four or more runs.  Agbayani had a stellar series, reaching base ten times in the five games, including two doubles, four walks and three RBI, but once again he was overshadowed by the great performances of Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Piazza (both hit over .400 in the series and combined to produce seven extra-base hits), as well as Timo Perez, who set a club record with eight runs scored in the series, and Mike Hampton, whose two wins earned him the NLCS Most Valuable Player award.

It was on to the Fall Classic for Benny and the Mets, where they would square off against their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees, in the first Subway World Series since 1956.  Agbayani and the Mets would drop the first two games to the Bronx Bombers, with Agbayani collecting hits in each of those games.  The Mets absolutely had to win Game Three, and when the eighth inning rolled around with the score tied at 2, it was up to Agbayani to deliver.  And that's exactly what he did.

With one out and Todd Zeile at first, Agbayani stepped up to the plate to face Yankees starter Orlando Hernandez, who had struck out 12 Mets batters in seven and a third innings.  Agbayani refused to give El Duque a baker's dozen, lining a double into the left-center field gap.  Zeile motored all the way around from first base to score to go-ahead run.  The Mets added another run in the inning and held on to win the game, 4-2.

The game-winning double gave Agbayani hits in all 12 games the Mets had played up to that point in the 2000 postseason, setting a franchise record for longest hitting streak in a single postseason.  It also gave Agbayani a 13-game postseason hitting streak, dating back to the final game of the 1999 NLCS.  That tied Edgardo Alfonzo's club record and was only four short of the major league record of 17 straight games, which was set by Hank Bauer from 1956 to 1958 and matched by Derek Jeter from 1998 to 1999.

Agbayani's hitting streak came to an end in Game Four, although he did reach base on a walk.  He was back to his clutch hitting ways in Game Five, giving the Mets a temporary 2-1 lead with an RBI single off Andy Pettitte.  (Agabyani made a career out of hitting Pettitte, going 8-for-18 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI off the lefty.)  However, the Mets failed to score another run after Agbayani's hit, dropping the game and the series to the Yankees.

Benny Agbayani receives a hand (or two) from his teammates in the 2000 World Series.  (Don Emmert/Getty Images)

The following season, the Mets failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1998.  A year after he maintained a .300/.400/.500 slash line well into September, Agbayani regressed, especially in the power department.  Although his .277 batting average and .364 on-base percentage were still among the highest on the team, he produced just 22 extra-base hits in 339 plate appearances for a .399 slugging percentage.  As a result, he lost playing time in left field to rookie Tsuyoshi Shinjo (24 games), Darryl Hamilton (20 games) and Joe McEwing (18 games).  He lost his job for good during the off-season, when he was part of a three-team trade that netted the Mets outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, starting pitcher Jeff D'Amico and four other players.

Just as the Mets crumbled in 2002, so did Agbayani's career in the majors.  He split the season between the Colorado Rockies and the Boston Red Sox in 2002, then played in the Kansas City Royals organization in 2003 after being acquired from the Cincinnati Reds.  He then moved on to the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan's Pacific League for six seasons.  The time away from the United States led to Agbayani's renaissance in baseball, as he had a career year in 2004 (.315, 35 HR, 100 RBI) and was part of Chiba Lotte's first championship in 31 years during the 2005 campaign.  Agbayani achieved both personal and team success under the tutelage of his favorite skipper, Bobby Valentine, who took the job overseas two years after being relieved of his managerial duties in New York.  When Valentine was fired by the Marines in 2010, Agbayani walked away from the game, pledging his loyalty to his former manager and his disdain for the way he was unceremoniously let go.

Agbayani never had more than 350 at-bats in any of his four seasons with the Mets.  Nor was he ever expected to play every day for the team.  But he was a key player in two postseason runs by the Mets, producing timely hit after timely hit, making him a fan favorite during his short time in New York.  Fans loved and respected Agbayani so much, they were quick to forgive him when he suffered a defensive lapse in 2000, giving a ball that was still in play to a young fan in the stands - a gaffe that allowed two runs to score.  But it was easy to overlook the occasional lapse in judgment once his entire body of work was considered.

Benny Agbayani had 1,084 plate appearances for the Mets.  On a team that has had great hitters and power threats like Rusty Staub, Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza and David Wright, many people would be surprised to discover that of all players to surpass 1,000 plate appearances in franchise history, Agbayani ranks sixth in lifetime OBP (.372), tenth in career slugging percentage (.461) and eighth in OPS (.833).  He reached base more often than Edgardo Alfonzo (.367 OBP as a Met), had a higher slugging percentage than Howard Johnson and Dave Kingman (.459 and .453, respectively) and produced a higher OPS than Keith Hernandez (.816).

The Hawaiian also provided punch in the playoffs, producing seven extra-base hits in 67 postseason at-bats.  Agbayani is one of six Mets to amass 20 or more lifetime postseason hits, joining Edgardo Alfonzo (26 hits), Cleon Jones (23), Mike Piazza (22), Lenny Dykstra (21) and Keith Hernandez (20) as the only Mets to do so.  With 14 career walks in the playoffs, Agbayani reached base via hit or walk 34 times in 22 games.  Only Alfonzo (26 hits, 10 walks) reached base more often in the postseason than Agbayani.

Getty Images

"I hope Met fans always remember me as a great ballplayer, someone who gave his all, was always there in the clutch."

--Benny Agbayani, as told to Anthony McCarron/Daily News

No one will ever say that Benny Agbayani was one of the best players to ever play for the Mets.  But he certainly gave his best with the little playing time he received.  And when he did play, the team won, as evidenced by their 103-61 record in Agabyani's 164 starts between the 1999 and 2000 campaigns.  (They were 88-73 when he didn't start.)  Furthermore, no one can argue against Agbayani being one of the franchise's most clutch hitters in high pressure situations, especially in the postseason.

Bobby Valentine always believed in Agbayani's ability on the baseball field.  He believed in it when both men were at AAA-Norfolk in 1996.  He believed in it again from 1998 to 2001, when Agbayani and Valentine were together on the Mets.  And he believed in it for a third time when they were reunited in Japan at the end of Agbayani's career.

Valentine knew what he was getting in Agbayani.  He was a fine hitter who exhibited patience at the plate and was aggressive when the situation called for it.  The numbers don't lie, even if the playing time wasn't there the way it was for more experienced hitters.  Agbayani made the most out of his brief opportunity with the Mets and it led to him becoming the beloved folk hero he is today among Mets fans, nearly a generation after he played his final game with the team.


Note:  The Most With The Least is a thirteen-part weekly series spotlighting those Mets players who performed at a high level without receiving the accolades or playing time their more established teammates got, due to injuries, executive decisions or other factors.  Please come back next week for the next installment.