Generally people have always told me that ideally your #3 hitter should be your most well-rounded batter, with 4 being your powerful cleanup hitter and #5 the next best guy in terms of power & average. The question I am starting to raise is whether or not David Wright belongs in the #3 spot. 

Clearly everyone believes David is our best, overall player and the leader in this lineup. Yet, when I look back on the Mets when they were actually good (2006, 2007) I recall the 3-4-5 being: Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, David Wright. I also recall that being around the time where David Wright received high praise for his ability to pick up a base hit on an 0-2 count. Now it seems like David is fishing in the dirt whenever he gets an 0-2 count, and I truly wonder if his spot in the lineup has anything to do with it. 

I ran through some numbers at FranGraph's and compared some basic numbers from 2006 & 2007 to recent years. 

2006 – .311, 26 HRs, 116 RBIs – K% = 19.4% – NLCS 3-4-5 was Beltran, Delgado, Wright. 

2007 – . 325, 30 HRs, 107 RBIs – K% = 19.0%

2008 – .302, 33 HRs, 124 RBIs – K% = 18.8%

2009 –  .307, 10 HRs, 72 RBIs – K% = 26.2%

2010 –  .283, 29 HRs, 103 RBIs – K% = 27.4%

2011 –  .229, 2 HRs, 8 RBIs – K% = 31.4%

FanGraphs

Maybe the numbers could be a result of a gradual change in batting stance, or possibly it could be from his spot in the lineup weighing him down. He's feeling the pressure. All I will say is, Beltran is hitting the ball very well, Bay is a power hitter back in the lineup, and Wright strikes out way too much in 3 spot. Maybe it's time to move him back to No. 5 in the lineup and perhaps the David Wright of 2008 will return. 

Voting ends on Thursday for the All-Star game and David Wright is still trailing Philadelphia Phillies' third baseman Placido Polanco for the honor to start at third base.

It's almost comical how much better David than Polanco… the only reason people are voting for Polanco is because he is on the Phillies and they have won the National League two years in a row. No one out there can seriously think Polanco is a better player than David.

Wright has picked up some ground on Polanco, who was behind by 130,000 a week ago and is now only 22,000 votes behind. Polanco has 1,418,096 votes and Wright has 1,395,461.

The All-Star voting is a popularity contest for the most part. Which is confusing to me because David is a more popular players than Polanco.

The numbers aren't even close. David is hitting .303/.388/.542 with 14 HR, 61 RBI, and 13 stolen bases. Polanco is hitting .313/.349/.433 with 5 HR, 27 RBI, and three stolen bases.

David is obviously going to make the All-Star team, but he should be starting because he is the best third baseman in the NL. If Polanco isn't voted in he shouldn't even make the team. Ryan Zimmerman, Scott Rolen, and Casey McGehee are having far better year.

To vote for Wright to do the All-Star game some justice, vote here.

In game one against the Detroit Tigers I noticed something interesting. On an outside curveball from Jeremy Bonderman, David Wright flinched away from the pitch, and took it for a strike.

Now, if it was an inside curveball I could see moving back a bit, especially a curveball from Bonderman. However, a curveball on the outside corner you don't see many batters flinch.

Seeing this I have to believe that Wright is still unsure of high pitches around his head. The 94 MPH fastball from Matt Cain still sits fresh in the back of Wright's mind. When he sees a pitch up and in he has been pulling back.

It seems almost every time Wright sees a breaking ball, he hesitates or flinches back. This is the most likely reason that he so vulnerable to the breaking ball down and away. He sees it and might have a split second of hesitation, then feel he needs to rush back and make a defensive swing.

I feel like his strike out rates have increased because of this. He just doesn't have the confidence to stride towards the plate and crush the ball. He flinches and by the time he swing his stance has collapsed and his rhythm is completely thrown off. Wright most be looking fastball and if he gets it he'll crush it. If it's an off-speed pitch he is caught off guard, and can't make the adjustment.

His two-strike hitting may also be suffering because of this. Wright use to be a phenomenal two-strike hitter, maybe the best in the game. Now it seems things have changed since that concussion.

That being said, Wright is still having a great year. I'd just love to see him not flinch every time a breaking ball is thrown his way. I don't know if Wright can ever recover from that hit ball pitch. Only time will tell.

With his two runs batted in last night David Wright became the National League leader in RBI. Wright has driven in 12 runs during the past five games on this road trip, to quickly become the leader in that category.

Wright is currently second in the All-Star voting, behind Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco. Wright's numbers are few superior to Polanco's, but fans have yet to acknowledge this. 

Wright is now batting .291 with 12 home runs and has stolen 11 bases. Certainly the best numbers from a third baseman in the NL. There is still time to vote in the All-Star game. To vote for Wright and other players you feel deserving to start in the All-Star game, click here.

It's no secret that David Wright has been striking out a lot this season. In his 205 at-bats this year Wright has struck out 69 times. Which makes his .283 batting average and his .382 on-base percentage even more impressive.

When Wright puts the ball in play and doesn't strike out his numbers are incredible. Take away all the at-bats that he's struck out and he's hitting .427. Now obviously you can't do that at the end of the year, but it just shows when Wright makes contact with the ball he does really well.

So how about you just strike out less David? Easier said than done, but Wright is trying very hard to do so.

Jerry Manuel said that Wright has made some adjustments at the plate and he now feel he can get to the ball quicker and is more relaxed.

Watching Wright this year it seems that he hasn't been as quick to the ball and he is taking longer swings. This might be because of the concussion he suffered last year. It might still be in the back of his mind and on a breaking ball or an inside fastball there might be a split-second hesitation in his swing. That split second could be the difference between belting a 400 foot home run, or fouling a pitch off. I've seen Wright do this numerous times when he gets a meatball right down the pipe and he's just a little late on it and fouls the pitch back.

Any sign of improvement is great news at this point and there have been signs. On June 2nd, the last game of the series against the San Diego Padres, Wright went 1-5 with three strike outs. Since then until now, Wright has not struck out in a game and is batting .500 with a home run.

Brace yourself for this stat: it's the first time all season Wright has gone more than two games in a row without striking out.

Lets hope he keeps it up, as him and Jeff Francoeur are currently in hot streaks. This is good because Jose Reyes and Jason Bay are currently slumping at the plate. With good teams players pick each other up. When some players are slumping, other players get hot and they try to keep the offense going. That's just what the Mets have been doing. So hopefully by the time Wright's and Francoeur's hot streaks are over, Reyes' and Bay's will just begin.