A Little Respect, Please?

Ruben Tejada led the Mets in hits in Spring Training last year, at the age of twenty. He's one off the pace so far in Spring Training this year, with his four hits (through eight at-bats for both) trailing only Fernando Martinez's five. Three of his four singles have driven in runs, so together with Russ Adams he leads the Mets in RBI at this stage. On his Minor League career, his basic hitting stats are .273/.343/.353, and the results in AA and AAA the last two years have been comparable to that pace at worst. (Note that another young, exciting Mets middle-infield prospect put up minor league numbers of .284/.337/.422, which are a total of .010 away from Jose Reyes' major-league .286/.335/.434 line.) Last September and October Tejada hit .284/.364/.433 in 79 PA, a very Reyes-like performance minus the blinding speed. So I ask you, whence the general sense that he is not someone who will be able to handle Major League pitching, now or ever?

I guess it must be from the fact that in his other 176 PA last year, which you'll note is not a much larger sample, Tejada hit just .181/.279/.215. But why would we believe that small sample, as opposed to the small samples that say he actually can handle himself decently and the slightly-bigger sample that suggests that he'll be able to handle himself decently once he matures? No, Ruben Tejada will never be Albert Pujols, but a brilliant defensive middle infielder who can put up decent 8-hitter-style numbers at the plate? Isn't that the kind of player who could be distinctly useful for a team? I hear he's even bulked up a little bit and is showing a bit more power right now. The Mets are what ought to be a fairly heavy-hitting team; the Reyes/Pagan/Wright/Beltran/Bay/Davis lineup is really quite intimidating if they're all there and playing remotely like themselves. If Tejada were our second baseman, we'd be one of the elite defensive teams in the league, I think. Are we really so sure that Daniel Murphy is a categorically better hitter, anyway? In his only full year of play, which was also his only year playing from CitiField, Murphy hit .266/.313/.427. I think it's obvious that Luis Castillo would be worse than Tejada both offensively and defensively. So if Tejada continues to play well this spring, I hope Terry Collins has the sense to realize that there's no reason to think he can't hold his own in the big leagues.