Veteran Granderson searching for answer to woes at plate

ATLANTA — Curtis Granderson’s hitting statistics are acceptable, but only if he joins the Mets’ starting rotation and becomes a 20-game winner. The veteran outfielder can’t sink much lower than the .124/.177/.213 slash line with one homer and six RBIs he brought into Atlanta on Tuesday — a night he was relegated to pinch-hitting duties in the Mets’ 9-7 loss.

Among qualifiers, Granderson was a reverse Triple Crown winner of sorts, with the lowest batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage in the major leagues. He now is batting .122 and is in a 1for-30 (.033) skid that has left him searching for answers.

On Tuesday that meant a round of early batting practice with hitting coach Kevin Long. The 36-year-old Granderson, who flew out to left in his one at-bat, compared his situation to the basketball player who needs his “feel” to return.

“One day you can’t miss, and the next day you are taking the same shots from the same spot and you just can’t seem to find the range,” Granderson said, staying with the basketball analogy. “I don’t have to change anything mechanical, it could be just something different, and that is where I am trying to get to right now.

“There is nothing major going on wrong. I am not chasing pitches out of the zone, I am getting a decent amount of full

counts, I have swung at strikes, done a lot of things that can put me in position to be successful.”

Manager Terry Collins is trying to remain patient with Granderson, who has become an embodiment of streakiness during his Mets tenure. Collins said he plans to reinsert Granderson in the lineup Wednesday before reverting to Juan Lagares on Thursday against lefty Jaime Garcia.

“The first three years he’s been here, that’s all he’s done is had a little stagnant area and then all of a sudden took off,” Collins said. “We certainly think that’s going to happen again because that is kind of the track record, but we are entering May and we’ve got to get him started.”

And that will entail more swings in the batting cage in search of that groove.

“It’s not that your swing is long or you’re struggling on this pitch or that pitch, we have just got to hit,” Granderson said. “Maybe it could be how I am swinging or where I am making contact. There are no real drills you can do to get that.”