The slugger spent some time atop the Mets' lineup last year.
Terry Collins has a large hole at the top of his lineup card, and on Saturday he told the media that Curtis Granderson's name has been tossed around as a possibility to bat leadoff this year.
One thing that the Mets have lacked ever since the departure of Jose Reyes is a traditional leadoff hitter. Last year, Collins and the Mets trotted out 11 different players to the top spot in the lineup, including Granderson, but they were never able to find a permanent solution at the position.
When Granderson got his shot last year in the beginning of June he caught fire, and was looking like he would be there for good. However, his production quickly dropped and forced Collins to end the experiment of the Grandy Man in the leadoff hole. Granderson's undoing was due largely in part to his atrocious on-base percentage, putting out only a .283 OBP in his 53 games as the leadoff man.
What Collins loved about having Granderson there last year was that he provided a big bat at the top of the lineup. If Granderson can pair that together with a more productive output getting on base, then the Mets might actually have something with the Grandy man in 2015.
Granderson, if you may remember, was the leadoff hitter for the Detroit Tigers for 5 years from 2005-2009 before being traded to the Yankees. While he struggled against lefties and had a high strikeout rate in Detroit, much like last season with the Mets, he was still one of the elite leadoff men in baseball. He twice scored over 100 runs in a season and in 2007 had 20 steals, 20 doubles, 20 triples and 20 Home Runs in the leadoff spot.
While it is unfair and unrealistic to expect those type of numbers at this point in Granderson's career, it is an interesting development in the Mets search for a leadoff hitter.