Juan Lagares made his major league debut with the Mets in 2013. Since then, he’s been a consistent staple on the roster, experiencing the ups and downs (more of the latter than the former, unfortunately) that this franchise has lived through in that time span. He’s never been the flashiest player with the bat, but he typically made up for it with his sparkling defense in center field (“Where extra-base hits go to die,” as Gary Cohen would so aptly describe him after making one of his highlight plays). And he has usually been a better hitter against left-handed pitchers, making him an ideal platoon player on a roster that has generally been overloaded with lefty-hitting outfielders.
Juan Lagares’s Mets tenure (likely) ended with a whimper
