Who Is Lucas Duda?

With the rosters expanding on Wednesday, the Mets announced Tuesday night that they will call up RHP Jenrry Mejia and OF Lucas Duda. While we all know who Mejia is, most of us have may not even heard Duda's name before. So who exactly is Lucas Duda?

Lucas Duda was born on February 3, 1986 in Los Angeles California.  Duda went to Arlignton High in Riverside, California. At Arlington High,  Duda in his Junior season hit .493 with nine home runs, and 33 RBIs. Following High School, Duda went to USC for College, Duda in 143 games at USC, hit .274 with 11 HRs with 81 RBIs. Duda was drafted by the Mets in the seventh round of the 2007 draft. In the minors, Duda has gradually progressed. Duda started the 2010 season in AA Binghamton.  Duda was so successful in Binghamton that he was called up to Buffalo after only 45 games in Binghamton.  Duda this season combined throughout Buffalo and Binghamton in 145 games, h .304 batting average with 23 HRs and 87 RBIs. If those numbers don't impress you, Duda had a streak earlier this season where he hit a Home Run in five straight games. Okay, so those are his numbers, but what about the guy himself? Is he a future Mets outfielder?

Toby Hyde from Mets Minor League Blog had the following to say about Duda:

"As recently as Tuesday, I heard that Duda was not guaranteed to get a big league look in September.  At the time I thought that was silly, in large part because the 24-year old Duda has pounded out a .314/.389/.610 line in 70 games in AAA with 23 doubles and 17 homeruns.  The left-handed hitter has massacred righties at a .348/.421/.663 rate.  He’s a more natural first baseman, who’s played more leftfield than first in the last two years.  In 2008, he played 118 games at first for St. Lucie.  Last year in Binghamton, he played 49 games at first and 42 in the outfield, while this year, he’s up to 95 in the outfield and just 14 at first.  He’s always hit for average and controled the strike zone.  This year, he’s turned his big strong frame into usable game power."

 

Joe D of Mets Merized Online had his own personal take on Duda:  

"I took a look at Duda’s stats and I’ve come to the determination that he could be very similar to Adam Dunn. Why Dunn? Well for one, his defensive limitations are strikingly similar, but besides murdering baseballs, one other thing that Adam Dunn does very well is he draws a lot of walks. And you know what? So does Lucas Duda, and this season he has a higher walk rate than Dunn. (Duda (.575) also has a higher slugging percentage than Dunn (.537) as well.)….Since his promotion to Triple-A, he leads the league in extra-base hits, home runs, RBI, and slugging percentage. God knows the Mets can use all the offense we can get right now, but more than that, I want to see him get some regular at-bats as we complete the garbage time portion of another lost season. I want to see if he is really as bad as they say in leftfield and if his bat more than makes up for the lack of a glove"

From what I have read today, Duda is not the most talented defender, Duda is a natural first baseman, but could play a "decent" left field. So is he a future Mets outfielder? Well there is one thing we know for sure, he can hit.  

To see some clips of Duda's work, click on the links below.

Duda Diving Catch Duda 5th Straight Game