Mets option Collin Cowgill to Las Vegas, recall Andrew Brown

The Mets' outfield—which was the butt of many jokes over the winter—hasn't been the worst outfield in the history of baseball, but it hasn't been very good. As James Kannengieser pointed out in his post about the team's position players in April, center field and right field have both been abysmal for the Mets.

Seeking to at least partially remedy that, the Mets announced this afternoon that they have called up Andrew Brown from Triple-A Las Vegas. The 28-year-old was mashing down there, hitting .367/.440/.622 in 116 plate appearances. Brown spent last season in the Colorado Rockies organization, and while he did have a .732 OPS for the Rockies in 126 plate appearances, that was only good for an 83 wRC+.

It's unclear how the Mets intend to use Brown, but he figures to take playing time from Marlon Byrd in right field and could also be used to spell Lucas Duda in left field occasionally. Brown did play above average defense in both left and right last season, albeit in a short sample size.

To make room for Brown, the Mets also announced that they have optioned Collin Cowgill to Triple-A Las Vegas. Cowgill got off to a fast start, hitting a grand slam in his first game as a Met. Things haven't gone well for him since then, as he hit just .157/.173/.294 in 51 at-bats, having recorded just three extra-base hits and only one walk. Cowgill had also played pedestrian defense in center field and he had been essentially benched against lefties in favor of Juan Lagares.