As the off-season is starting to get underway and rumors are swirling that Ike Davis or Lucas Duda could be traded by the Mets, one guy who played first base last year, Josh Satin seems to flying under the radar.
In a post to Mets.com, Chris Iseman talks to Josh Satin about how is getting ready for the 2014 season after finally cracking the major league roster last year for an extended look.
Josh Satin had always gone into the offseason with a familiar plan. He’d return to his native California and take a week off before starting to work on conditioning his body through a rigorous routine. It included lifting weights, running or even yoga, but Satin wouldn’t begin baseball activities until January.
For the first time, Satin figured he’d amend those plans this winter.
“I like where I’m at right now, and I don’t want to lose it, and I want to build off it,” Satin said during the final weekend of the season. “That’s the biggest key. The only way to build off it is if you don’t have to start from scratch, you start where you are.”
The 28-year-old was finishing up his first extended stretch in the Major Leagues after he was promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas on June 11. In 75 games, Satin hit .279 with three home runs, 17 RBIs and a .376 on-base percentage. He proved to the Mets and to himself that he gives the team a reliable bat off the bench, in the process working his way into the fold for 2014.
Now if I was a betting man, not only would I do my MLB Baseball betting on William Hill, but I would not have guessed that Satin would make a big enough impact in 2013 to be on the team in 2014.
Known to almost everyone that roots for the Mets as the guy with the amazingly pronounced eye-brows, Satin actually showed that he can be a very solid spot starter/bench guy going forward.
Of course the one thing that sticks out for Satin, was his on-base percentage which was at a very solid .376 over the 75 games that he played in last year. For a team that for the most part had trouble getting guys on base consistently, he was a nice surprise.
I don’t think that he can be an everyday starting first baseman for this team going forward, which of course is something they need. But, as a guy who hits lefties extremely well and is an adequate defender and gets on base, he definitely has a role on this team in the future.
The bench is such an important part of any National League team and I think with Satin on the bench for the Mets, theirs has the potential to be a good one next season.
