Mets’ Gregg Jefferies Hits on Hard Times

Gregg Jefferies has never failed for this long in his short baseball career, and it’s beginning to push the already-introverted New York Mets’ rookie further inward.

“He’s eating himself up a little bit every day,” batting coach Bill Robinson said. “Every time he makes an out, he acts like it’s the end of the world. He comes back to the dugout muttering to himself, then proceeds to step on his lower lip. He’s trying too hard and not having enough fun out there.”

If Jefferies caught the public’s attention at the end of 1988, he’s lost their imagination already at the start of 1989. No one dares utter the word “phenom” anymore. And no one seriously refers to him as a potential rookie of the year.

The 21-year-old Jefferies, hitting .198 with no homers in his first 29 games this season after hitting .321 in the same number of games last season, has slowly but inexorably faded into the growing group of impotent Met hitters these days.

He’s been benched, platooned, then put back in the lineup every day. He’s gone so far as to change his locker because “there weren’t any hits” in the previous one.

At the plate, though, really nothing has changed. He’s still lunging at bad pitches, still uppercutting, and still “pulling off” the ball--”the three worst mistakes a hitter can make,” Robinson said. He’s made an obscenity out of one of the most beautiful swings in the game, a stroke so level that even Don Mattingly admired it.

But even if his stroke isn’t level, Jefferies is trying to maintain a level head. “I won’t let the pressure of everybody else’s expectations beat me,” he said. “I know what I can do, and I know I can hit.” He says he’s simply been a victim of overaggressiveness and bad luck.

“I’m sick and tired of people telling me to hang in there,” he added. “Everybody keeps coming up to me and saying that I’m hitting the ball hard and that I’m eventually going to get my hits.” He ran his fingers through his hair, sighed, and laughed sarcastically. “I don’t need to hear that. I know that. I don’t need to hear a thing about hitting.”

Notwithstanding, the slump has transformed Jefferies into a solemn figure around the Mets’ clubhouse. Before games, he’s barely noticeable, keeping to himself rather than joining his teammates in a card game or some banter. He’d prefer to sit by his locker and clean his bat.

The cocky grin and swagger of the ’88 Jefferies are gone for now. And so is the respect from the opposing pitchers. After a game in late-April, Chicago Cubs’ relief ace Mitch Williams said snidely, “All I know about Jefferies is that he’s short and not swinging the bat too well right now.”

“Pitchers aren’t even working on me this season, and that really bugs me,” Jefferies said. “I’ve seen fastballs right down the middle, even with runners on base.”

Jefferies hit rock-bottom on April 15, when he went 0-for-5 against the St. Louis Cardinals and dipped into a 1-for-28. After lining out sharply to left field on his first at bat, the normally self-contained Jefferies walked into the runway and threw his first major league temper tantrum. He ended up kicking a door and a ladder. “I don’t know what the ladder was doing there,” he said. “But it really didn’t matter. I would’ve kicked anything.”

Thinking he lost his job and would soon be heading for triple-A, Jefferies met with Manager Davey Johnson the next day for a one-hour closed-door meeting. Johnson, allaying his player’s fears, told Jefferies he wasn’t going anywhere.

“He’s my future,” Johnson said later. “He’s got all the tools to be a big player in this game and help us win a lot of games. I can’t let him get so down that he gets away from himself.”

Promoted from triple-A Tidewater last Aug. 28, Jefferies made his adjustment to the majors seem like child’s play--the play, that is, of a 20-year-old child prodigy. For most of September, he dominated the back pages of the New York newspapers, and one paper even pumped him for National League Rookie of the Year. In his first full week in the major, he hit .440 with two doubles, a triple, and three homers. He finshed at .321 with eight doubles, two triples, and six homers. It was a hard act to follow.

“With all the buildup, if I hit .310 this season, it might still be a disappointment,” Jefferies acknowledged during the winter.

While his fielding was suspect during his minor league career, Jefferies could always hit. He hit .343 in rookie league, .354 in class-A, .367 in double-A, and .282 at triple-A.