Mets Midseason Review: Shortstop

Following the departure of Jose Reyes after the 2011 season, there was seemingly quite a bit of pressure on Ruben Tejada, the 22-year-old who took over at shortstop for the Mets this year. Thus far, things have gone very well for the youngster, at least when he has been healthy.

Tejada has made 182 plate appearances over the course of 41 games. The rest of the time, the trio of Omar Quintanilla, Ronny Cedeno, and Justin Turner filled in at the position. Last week, Eric Simon compared Tejada's season to Jose Reyes' season with the Miami Marlins, and Tejada had a better batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage than the Mets' former shortstop.

At the break, Tejada has a very good .325/.381/.405 slash line, a .345 wOBA, and a 119 wRC+. Considering the position he plays, he has been excellent at the plate. The Mets' overall line at shortstop isn't quite as good, however, since his replacements are not nearly as good as he is with the bat. As a whole, Mets shortstops have hit .278/.351/.363.

So, as is the case at most positions for most teams, the Mets appear to be in good shape at short so long as their starter stays healthy. While the backups did a pretty good job filling in, the Mets are a much better team with Tejada in the lineup every day.