J.D. Davis' spot in the Mets starting lineup has already been called into question with just 14 games gone by in New York's season.
After being given a vote of confidence by manager Luis Rojas on Wednesday, a day after committing two errors, Davis was starting at third base and made another error in a blowout loss to the Cubs. Davis' defense has been a question mark for most of his big-league career, and now, those questions are only growing louder.
Still, former Mets infielder Todd Zeile thinks Rojas should continue to pencil Davis' name in the lineup, especially while the team continues to struggle offensively.
"I would play him," Zeile told Moose & Maggie on Friday. "I think what people are reacting to right now is the fact that [Luis] Guillorme has always been great with the glove and J.D., there's skeptics that think he's not going to be effective defensively, and that he can be even more of a liability…having said that, I don't think the Mets are living and dying on the effectiveness of their defense. They've gotta get some offense going."
Guillorme, a superior defender, has made the most of his playing time by batting .353 in 17 at-bats, good for an .853 OPS. Jonathan Villar, another utility infielder, has also capitalized when his number has been called, coming up with multiple clutch hits already this season and batting .259 over 29 plate appearances.
But Davis has been prolific with the bat like he was in 2019. So far this season, he's collected eight hits in 18 at-bats, including three extra-base hits and an OPS of 1.246. On Thursday, when he wasn't in the starting lineup, Davis pinch hit and promptly ripped an RBI double to tie the game in the seventh. With the Mets just 18th in the league in OPS, that offense is needed, making it difficult to leave Davis' bat out of the lineup.
"They're not scoring runs," Zeile said. "They're last in the league in runs scored, they're terrible with runners in scoring position right now. That's what J.D. Davis can do. You saw him come up with one pitch, lines a bullet off the wall and gets things going. I'll take his bat in the lineup."
While Davis has clearly been a liability, Zeile is confident that he will improve with more reps, and Rojas might have no choice but to keep Zeile in the fire until he can improve enough to where his offensive output far outweighs his limitations in the infield.
"I think he's going to settle down defensively," Zeile said. "I think you saw a lot of progress defensively last season. I think he just made those two errors from being too careful that first day and worried about the conditions, and was afraid to make a mistake the second day. You've gotta get through that. I've been there…I know what that feels like.
"At the end of the day, they need his bat in the lineup more than they're going to care about the problems that he can have defensively."
Listen to Zeile's full interview with Moose & Maggie below!
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