Floyd and Diaz

I had meant to ask this question a few months back – I wonder if, as long as Mike Cameron is settled in right (at least once he’s healthy enough to go) the Mets might be wise to consider platooning Cliff Floyd and Victor Diaz in left field. I am, of course, on record as believing that platooning is a good way to deal with an aging player’s declining skills, stamina and durability (the latter being a perennial problem with Floyd since his youth, but hopefully regular rest could keep him healthier) while still taking advantage of the things he can do, plus it would give the Mets a look at Diaz before handing him an everyday job. And the numbers bear out the notion that Floyd would benefit from a platoon situation:

Floyd AB H 2B 3B HR BB K AVG SLG OBP OPS
2004 vs RHP 283 76 18 0 17 40 73 .269 .512 .373 886
2004 vs LHP 113 27 8 0 1 7 30 .239 .336 .296 632
3yrs vs RHP 892 262 70 2 46 143 177 .294 .531 .398 929
3yrs vs LHP 389 97 24 0 18 31 98 .249 .450 .313 763

(I don’t have useful splits for the right-handed hitting Diaz, since he’s only got 51 big league at bats)

3 thoughts on “Floyd and Diaz”

  1. Crank,
    have you seen the studies done that show that RH batters all have the same platoon splits, and that any discrepancies are just do to small sample sizes?

  3. I don’t think I have (although I vaguely recall some BP references to the notion), although I wouldn’t find that all that surprising.
    But for Floyd, at least, the point still holds.

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