Where has THIS Lucas Duda Been Hiding from Us?

I have been an outspoken critic of Lucas Duda for some time now. But I’ve got to give credit where credit is due — the man is on fire!

Duda has hit four home runs over his past six games, giving him a career high of 18 homers on the season. He’s only had two hits other than the home runs, but who cares? Duda is on this team for his power, and he is finally showing it.

So what is different? Apparently he is being more aggressive early in the count.

“He’s been told and told and told (to be more aggressive),” Terry Collins said after Friday’s game, according to Mets Blog. “He knows he’s got to do it. He’s talked about it in the past. He knows it. He’s got the reputation for taking the first pitch. He got a ball and did what he’s supposed to.”

Of course, this flies in the face of the Mets supposed theory of working the count and “hunting for strikes.” But clearly that was not working for Lucas Duda, so maybe what he needed all along was a new approach.

But I am not jumping on the Lucas Duda bandwagon just yet. He needs to sustain this over the course of a full season, not just a few games. But hey, if Duda can keep this up then a huge hole in the Mets lineup has been filled.