Having an all-time great defensive first baseman in your broadcast booth might seem like an asset, but the New York Mets have no interest in picking Keith Hernandez’s brain.
Hernandez spent two hours co-hosting WFAN’s morning show alongside Richard Neer on Thanksgiving Day last week. Predictably, Hernandez bemoaned analytics several times during the show, claiming the trend in baseball is causing players to lose the ability to think for themselves. But that doesn’t mean Hernandez is interested in learning more about why the Mets and other Major League Baseball teams are so reliant on analytics.
“They won’t let me down there,” Hernandez said of the Mets’ analytics department. “It’s like the crown jewels down there. I’ve wanted to go down and sit in a session and see what they do in preparation. It’s never gonna happen.”
Hernandez was also asked about some of Pete Alonso’s defensive woes and whether the Mets or any players have ever asked him for tutelage, considering he was one of the best defensive players in MLB history. But Hernandez made it clear the Mets have shown no interest in asking him for any help on the field.
“The last person to ask me to come help was when Todd Zeile moved to first base,” Hernandez said. “It was Bobby Valentine.”
Hernandez worked with Zeile as he transitioned to first base for the Mets during Spring Training more than a quarter-century ago. And despite seemingly still having a good relationship with the organization as a beloved TV analyst and member of the Mets Hall of Fame, the team doesn’t seem interested in getting any additional help from Hernandez.
Hernandez clearly has a lot of knowledge as a hitter and especially as a defender. But it shouldn’t seem too surprising to learn the Mets won’t ask him to step out of the booth to assist in training or help a player, because doing so could be seen as undermining the coaches who are in place.
As for why the Mets might refuse Hernandez the opportunity to learn more about analytics, that’s a strange one. Are the Mets afraid Hernandez might bash analytics even more from the broadcast booth after sitting in on a meeting? Did Hernandez just knock on the door, ask to enter an analytics meeting, and get told, “Not now, Keith.”
But if his intentions are genuine and Hernandez has really seen requests to learn more about the Mets’ analytics department repeatedly ignored, that seems like a miss on their part. This isn’t a national announcer or first-year analyst trying to bust down the door of their analytics department; this is Keith Hernandez, who has been around the Mets for more than four decades.
It remains to be seen whether Hernandez will have anything to say about analytics next season, considering his contract with SNY recently expired. However, Ron Darling and Steve Gelbs both seem confident that a deal with SNY to keep him calling Mets games will get done.