Brandon Drury was a solid bench piece for the Mets in 2021

Early in January, the Mets signed third baseman Brandon Drury to a minor league deal to give them some depth at the position. The 29-year-old showed some promise early in his career with Arizona, but with the Yankees, his play became affected by migraines that significantly impacted his vision. Now back in New York after a few seasons in Toronto, the Mets were hoping for major league quality depth with some pop in the bat.

As the season got underway, Drury bounced between Syracuse and the majors, but every time he rejoined the big league club he managed to be productive. He finished the year batting .274/.307/.476 with four home runs and fourteen RBIs in eighty-four at-bats. While those numbers look solid, they don’t tell the whole story. He did most of his damage as a pinch-hitter, where he hit .367 in thirty at-bats.

In July, Drury went on a ridiculous run after getting recalled from the minors. He went 8-for-8 after rejoining the team and put up some fun small sample size numbers.

During that run is when he delivered his most memorable moment as a Met. In Javier Báez’s first game in the orange and blue, the Mets were losing to the Reds for most of the game. Báez made his presence known right away when he hit a two-run home run to bring the Mets closer until they were able to tie it up in ninth on a single by Dominic Smith. While the excitement of the night was around Báez, it was Drury who played the hero and walked it off in the bottom of the tenth inning on a single that scored the phantom runner on second.

Defensively he was versatile and played innings at first, second, third, left, and right for the Mets. His primary position was third and logged 40 innings at the hot corner in 2021 but he spent more time in the outfield with his time both in left and right and was out there for a combined 56.2 innings. He was serviceable at both third and left with a 0.4 UZR at both positions. He made one memorable play while manning the hot corner that got Marcus Stroman out of a jam against the Padres that was worthy of all the highlight reels.

Unfortunately his pitching left something to be desired when he was pressed into service in a blowout against the Dodgers. He pitched two-thirds of an inning and gave up three hits, two runs, a home run, walked one, and hit a batter which was good for a 27.00 ERA. Not great.

After doing it all for the Mets, he was designated for assignment during the last weekend of the season to make room for Robert Gsellman who worked his way back to the team after battling injuries throughout the year.

With so many players underperforming throughout the year, Brandon Drury was a solid addition to the team and performed admirably in his role.