The online version of Tuesday’s NYTimes article
By Scott Barancik, editor
Josh Satin, called up from Triple-A last month to sub for struggling first baseman (and fellow Jew) Ike Davis, has 7 doubles, a .390 batting average, and an eye-popping .510 on-base percentage in 41 at-bats since then. He’s reached base in 13 straight games, including three in which he had just one plate appearance, and is hitting .400 with runners in scoring position.
But today the 28-year-old rookie has something even newer to write home about: his first New York Times profile (click here to see it).
Zach Schonbrun’s article portrays Satin‘s recent rise to prominence as unlikely. One minor-league team after another had tried to correct the 6-foot-2-inch Californian’s “unorthodox batting mechanics” and the “cartoonish way he timed every pitch, as if he were hitting in a slow-pitch softball home run derby.” Many “failed to envision Satin as anything but too old, too slow, too unconventional to be part of the Mets’ future.”
So far, Satin seems to be proving his doubters wrong, although he says they were right about one thing: the need to speed his timing. The UC-Berkeley alum made the adjustment after a “cameo” appearance with the Mets in September 2011.
Although he has played first base exclusively in this stint with the Mets, Satin has substantial minor-league experience at second base and shortstop. That may give New York further reason to keep him around when Ike Davis returns.
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