PORT ST. LUCIE — The key to being a good pinch hitter, Matt Stairs said Wednesday, is to embrace the role.
"I did not want to play every day," Stairs, now a Phillies color commentator for Comcast SportsNet, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "I didn't get paid enough to play every day."
John Mayberry Jr., one of Stairs' many students scattered throughout the game, wouldn't mind playing every day. On his new team, the low-payroll Mets, his $1.45 million salary will place him above regulars Travis d'Arnaud, Wilmer Flores and Juan Lagares. Yet the Mets' second-most expensive acquisition of the offseason, after Michael Cuddyer, gets it (his status on this team) and will work hard at it (pinch hitting). The Mets are happy to have it (a late-inning offensive asset).
"I think the biggest key for any part-time player is to always be thinking ahead and thinking of different scenarios where you might enter a ballgame," Mayberry, 31, said Wednesday. "So I think over the past few years, I've gotten better at anticipating situations I might be put in. I think that gives you a better chance to be successful."
"Maybe one of our lefty-hitting outfielders, [Matt] den Dekker or [Kirk] Nieuwenhuis [is hitting]. They've got [Detroit lefty Tom] Gorzelanny or somebody coming out of that bullpen," manager Terry Collins said. "They know John Mayberry's sitting over there? They've got to decide, 'Who do I want to face? Because jeez, this guy kills lefties.' … So I think he brings that presence to the bench as that quality right-handed hitter."
Last year, splitting his time between Philadelphia and Toronto, Mayberry tallied a .400/.438/.933 slash line in 32 games as a pinch hitter, hitting four homers and driving in 12 runs. Against lefty pitchers, he posted a .243/.341/.571 with five homers and 15 RBIs in 82 plate appearances. The 2014 Mets went .230/.305/.328 with 22 homers and 118 RBIs in 1,452 plate appearances versus southpaws, so you can understand why they picked up a pair of righty bats in Cuddyer and Mayberry while they hope, too, that captain David Wright enjoys a bounce-back season.
The son of former Royals and Blue Jays slugger John Mayberry — he was born in 1983, the year after the elder Mayberry wrapped up his career with a lackluster Yankees experience — he played for Stanford then got selected by Texas in the first round (19th overall pick) of the 2005 amateur draft. So he arrived with hopes of a high ceiling. However, the more frequently Mayberry has played, the worse he has performed. In 2012 and 2013 with the Phillies, the seasons in which he received the most at-bats (479 and 384, respectively), he was a below-average National League hitter.
Mets' John Mayberry Jr. takes fielding practice Wednesday.Photo: Anthony J. Causi
Hence the logic in preserving him for the opportunities in which he is most likely to excel. When the Mets face lefty starters like Washington's Gio Gonzalez, Atlanta's Mike Minor and Mayberry's old Phillies friends Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee, assuming they don't get traded, Mayberry will be in the starting lineup. When a righty starts, Mayberry will sit on the bench and put into action the tips he learned from Stairs, his Philadelphia teammate in 2009, and Greg Dobbs, with whom he shared the Phillies' clubhouse in 2009 and 2010.
"The first few innings, I'm kind of just watching the game, getting in the flow of the game and seeing how things are going, obviously," Mayberry said. "[In the] fourth inning, I kind of start moving around and go to the cage. It obviously differs depending on the stadium you're in. If you're in Chicago or something (Wrigley Field has limited facilities), you don't have access.
"Each inning I progressively get warmer and warmer" — by swinging, throwing, running and stretching, he explained — "and by the sixth, seventh inning, I should be ready to go."
"I think when Junior came up, we talked quite a bit. I think the main thing was not to expect to get a hit every time up here," Stairs said. "You don't put too much pressure on yourself, and a lot of players do when they pinch hit."
The Mets believe they finally have reached a place where they will be playing high-pressure games, in high-pressure months. If that actually happens, watch the opposing manager contemplate whether to leave in a lefty reliever with Mayberry sitting in the Mets' dugout. You might even see Collins, proud to own this piece in the chess game, crack a small smile.
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