Cade Lalim

Image courtesy of © Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images After the Mets lost closer Edwin Diaz to the Los Angeles Dodgers over the offseason, they made a splash and signed Devin Williams to take his place. He’s under contract for three seasons, but hasn’t gotten off to a great start. Williams earned the honors of National League Rookie of the Year back in 2020 and was made two All-Star rosters while with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are heavily driven by analytics and are considered to be one of the best teams year in and out with roster construction, especially when it comes to pitching. Ever since getting shipped out of Milwaukee, Williams hasn't been the same. Part of this could be as a result of him dealing with a back stress fracture during the 2024 season that limited him to just 22 games. In December that year, the Brewers sent him to the New York Yankees in a deal that would bring back Caleb Durbin and Nestor Cortes. The profile on Williams is simple: He doesn't have elite velocity, but will miss bats with his stuff and limit hard contact. His nasty changeup allowed him to fetch excellent ground ball rates during his best years. While he has maintained his ability to strike out a surplus of batters, his ability to get batters to hit the ball on the ground has seen a decline with the Mets this year. Why Is Devin Williams Generating Fewer Groundballs with the Mets? Williams’ changeup constantly has graded out to be well above average according to Stuff+. From 2020-2025, his changeup has graded as high as 140 and as low as 114 according to FanGraphs Stuff+. This year, it’s taken a significant and concerning dive down to 82. Diving into the traits of his changeup, it lost a noticeable amount of vertical drop this year. That offering had an incredible 44.3 inches of vertical drop last year which is his career best, but has sat between 40 and 42 inches throughout his career. So far in 2026 with the Mets, his changeup is only averaging 38.9 inches of vertical drop. That has led to Williams having the lowest groundball percentage of his career; his groundball rate has averaged 46.9%, but he's down to 37.9% in 2026. This is reflected very clearly if you look at Williams’ run value on off-speed pitches, which only accounts for his changeup. It currently has a run value of -2 (8th percentile), but it’s been as high as 15 during the 2023 season. Batters are whiffing less against it and it has not been as effective at putting opponents away. Williams’ changeup has drawn a 40.4 swing-and-miss rate which is down from where it’s sat between 43% and 48% in the past. That figure is still pretty elite, but margins like these are the difference between an All-Star closer and a middling reliever. Will Devin Williams Return to Elite Form? For a guy who’s relied heavily on his changeup for success, it’s definitely concerning to see decline in the effectiveness of his best pitch. During his best years, he went to his changeup between 57-63% of offerings. This year is the first time in Williams’ career that he’s used his four-seamer more than his changeup. Williams hasn’t seen great results when batters put his changeup in play. Opponents are hitting .357 against the pitch with a .424 xSLG and .410 xOBA. While the expected batting average against his changeup is lower at .257, batters are still crushing the pitch with a .500 slugging percentage. He’s been a tad unlucky thus far through 11 innings of work. While his 6.55 ERA doesn’t look good, Williams has a 3.49 xERA and a 2.69 FIP. Seeing his FIP under three is what’s encouraging with Williams. He owns a career 2.46 mark in that category because of his high strikeout rate while not allowing many home runs. It might be the Mets wanting him to use his fastball more, or maybe he’s just not confident with his changeup right now. There is still plenty of time left in the year for Williams to figure things out, but it’ll be important to monitor how effective his "airbender" will be going forward. View full article

Image courtesy of © Brad Penner-Imagn Images Even though it’s very early in the year and Clay Holmes has only made five starts, if you leave out the one game he pitched in 2020, he’s currently sporting his lowest ERA of his career. You’d think that a guy with a 2.10 ERA and 1.03 WHIP would be dominant, but has Holmes really been as good as his surface numbers suggest? Holmes’ underlying data suggests that he’s been outperforming his expected stats, hence his 4.28 FIP and 4.35 SIERA. Even his expected earned run average is double his ERA, sitting at 4.20. There are a couple of different factors that are playing into Holmes’ situation. So far through 30 innings of work, Holmes has only struck out 19 batters, which is a 15.8% clip. It’s a below-average mark putting him in the 18th percentile. He hasn’t allowed an unhealthy amount of walks, but he is currently giving out free passes at a near-league-average 8.3% rate, good for the 59th percentile among all qualified pitchers. He’s done a respectable job of keeping balls in the yard, only giving up three home runs thus far. That equals a 0.9 HR/9 IP ratio, which is more than workable; him allowing home runs at a league-average clip isn’t what’s really blowing up his FIP and SIERA. Clay Holmes' Change of Role and Results Since Joining Mets Since Holmes joined the Mets last season, his FIP sits at 4.17, whereas it had previously been in the threes and twos dating back to the 2021 season with the Yankees. This is as a result of him striking out less batters causing his FIP to rise, while maintaining around the same walk rate. Since his early campaigns in Pittsburgh, each year since 2021 he’s been walking around 8% of batters. Holmes has never lacked the ability to compensate for that with strikeouts. He averaged around a 26% strikeout rate between 2021 and 2024, while with the Pirates and Yankees. During this stretch of four seasons, his FIP sat between 2.65 (his best) and 3.28 (his worst). Remember that Holmes was primarily a reliever his whole career until joining the Mets. When he worked out of the bullpen, he worked with three pitches; a sinker, slider, and sweeper. Since converting to a starter, he’s worked with at least five different pitches each of the last two seasons, including a cutter that's getting bashed to the tune of a .500 slugging percentage. This is the difficult of converting relievers. They often don't have deep-enough arsenals to power past lineups multiple times through. Better command will go a long way, but Holmes' underlying numbers will remain terrifying until and unless he can find a mix of more than two or three pitches that works. View full article

Image courtesy of © Brad Penner-Imagn Images Despite the New York Mets’ early struggles that required them to snap a 12-game losing streak dating back to April 8, Huascar Brazoban has been a rare bright spot on the roster. The righty is in his fifth major-league season and has appeared in 10 games thus far. Over 10.2 innings, Brazobán has yet to allow a run and has only issued two walks; resulting in an excellent 0.94 WHIP. He’s also done a good job forcing soft contact and has yet to give up a barrel so far. Likewise, batters have an average exit velocity of 86.7 mph off him, ranking in the 80th percentile. Combine that with the fact that the 36-year-old has been good at limiting walks, and you get a pitcher with a 1.83 FIP. If there's a hole to poke, it's in his middling strikeout numbers, but that's not abnormal, with his career strikeout rate sitting at 24.3%, just a tad better than league average. Brazobán's signature pitch is his sinker, which has a Stuff+ grade of 101, per FanGraphs, leading to an excellent 53.3% groundball rate. He works mainly with only two offerings -- his sinker and a changeup -- but does occasionally mix in a four-seam, cutter, and slider that have only accounted for 14% of his pitches this year. Interestingly, his pitch usage has evolved over time; during his first three seasons, he featured all four pitches and used them all at around the same rate. Last year, he leaned more into favoring his changeup and sinker to the point that they combined for a 75% usage rate. The same trend has carried into 2026, but he’s used his sinker more this year, whereas he favored his changeup more last season. His cutter was his main pitch with the Marlins, but the Mets smartly weened him off the pitch, which flashed subpar ride up in the zone. Of everything we've discussed so far, what's most worth revisiting is his newfound command of the strike zone. Brazobán has had a reputation in the past for issuing walks at a pretty high rate. He’s seemed to have fixed this problem in his 10 games so far, hence his 4.8% walk rate. For his career, Brazobán has walked batters 11.5% of the time. which is worse than the league average mark of 8.4% during that stretch. Notably, his career Location+ according is 96, signaling that he is below average when it comes to locating and commanding his pitches. This year, it’s up to 108, which is a career best. Naturally, he's been throwing more strikes this year than previous seasons, with roughly two-thirds of his offerings going for strikes, a career high. That's the sign of a confident reliever who knows he can challenge batters and win while living in the zone. The Mets' bullpens has had its ups and downs this season, especially when it comes to the late innings, but through most of April, Brazobán has been unshakeable on the mound. Bright spots are few and far between on this roster right now, but the 36-year-old set-up man has certainly been one of them. View full article

Image courtesy of © Jim Rassol-Imagn Images The New York Mets' farm system remains loaded with notable prospects, and now that Grand Central Mets' Top 20 rankings have reached the top ten, we can really hone in on those with huge upside and long-term star potential. If you missed any of the prospects ranked 11-20, you can find them here (11-15) and here (16-20). No. 10 Nick Morabito (Syracuse Mets) Morabito is an outfielder who the Mets drafted in the second round of the 2022 draft out of Gonzaga College High School. He’s definitely a speed and defense first outfielder with little power, but has shown to be a solid contact hitter in the minors. In seasons where he has logged at-least 475 at-bats, his isolated power has not exceeded .112 and has been as low as .086. His 70-grade speed is by far his best tool and it’s shown so far. He totalled 59 stolen bags in 2024, and stole 49 last year. His smaller frame of 5’10”, 185 pounds fits his style of play well. He’s shown defensive versatility and has played all three outfield spots in the minors. Since making his affiliated debut in 2022 with the FCL Mets, he has steadily climbed through the system logging time at every affiliate in the Mets system. So far across five minor league seasons, he’s got a slash line of .293/.383/.391 with 56 doubles and only 12 home runs. In 2024 at High-A, he posted a .294 batting average with a 18.7% strikeout rate. Last year in Double-A, his batting average dropped to .273, while his strikeout rate climbed to 23.4%. Morabito was assigned to the Triple-A Syracuse Mets this season, where he’s looked good so far. Entering his age-23 season and showing that he can play at all levels, he is projected to debut in the majors sometime this season after being added to the 40-man over the winter. No. 9 Mitch Voit (Brooklyn Cyclones) Voit was the Mets' first-round draft pick last summer, selected 38th overall out of the University of Michigan. He spent three seasons with Michigan, two of them as a two-way player. He decided not to pitch anymore during his junior year, after undergoing internal brace surgery on his throwing arm in 2024. After being drafted last summer, he later made his affiliated debut with the Single-A St. Lucie Mets, where he appeared in 22 games, proving below-average offensive results. He only collected three extra-base hits including a home run, while hitting for a .235 average with a 89 wRC+. His poor .059 isolated power tells us that he didn’t hit for much power at all. He did show solid plate discipline walking 13.1% of the time, but he did strike out at a 24.2% clip as well. By stealing 20 bags, he also provided some nice value on the basepaths. He’s a very versatile defender, and appeared at every position except catcher while in college. So far while in the Mets system, he’s only logged innings at second, third, and short. His arm strength is considered a plus tool. Even though he showed minimal power in his first minor-league season, it is something that will come with time and development. He’s got 50-grade power and hit 35 home runs while in college. This year, entering his age-21 season, he was promoted to the Brooklyn Cyclones, the High-A Mets affiliate. He is projected to make his major league debut around 2028. His defensive versatility could help him climb faster through the minors, opening more opportunities at various levels. No. 8 Elian Pena (St. Lucie Mets) Pena was the No. 3 ranked international prospect in the class of 2025 per MLB Pipeline, behind only Roki Sasaki and Josuar Gonzalez. He was signed by the Mets as a 17-year old and to a deal worth $5 million. Pena was given an overall grade of 60 and has five average-to-above average tools, his best being his hit tool, but he’s also really talented defensively. Pena is a lefty batter who throws right, and still has some growing to do. He stands 5’10” weighing 180 pounds, signaling he still has room to add muscle to his frame. Last year, Pena was assigned to the Dominican Summer League to play for the DSL Mets Orange during his age-17 season. He showed signs of being an all-around offensive player as he hit for average and power, hence his .236 ISO, while being a threat on the basepaths and drawing walks. Across 55 games, Pena posted a slash line of .292/.421/.528 while hitting nine home runs and thirteen doubles. His plate discipline is what really elevates his game, though; he walked and struck out 36 times each, giving him an elite 16.1 strikeout percentage and walk percentage. Pena also swiped 21 bags, only being caught four times. This year, Pena was assigned to the St. Lucie Mets, which is the Single-A affiliate of the organization. Still only 18 years old, he is just about three years younger than the average player in Single-A this season, making him far ahead of schedule in his development. Francisco Lindor is a free agent after the 2031 season, which is a little after Pena is projected to debut in the majors. If he keeps developing and producing, he’s on track to be the Mets' shortstop of the future. No. 7 Jack Wenninger (Syracuse Mets) Wenninger has spent four seasons in the Mets' minor-league system since being drafted in the sixth round of the 2023 MLB draft out of the University of Illinois. He was part of a Mets draft class including notable arms Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat. He stands 6’4” with a high arm angle, making him an intimidating presence on the mound. He’s moved through the minors as a starting pitcher with 47 of his 54 outings coming as a starter. Wenninger features a four-pitch mix headlined by his nasty splitter, as well with a four-seamer, curveball, and slider. His fastball has sat around 95 mph, but has touched 98. His deadly splitter is part of what has fueled his 10.3 SO/9 ratio in the minors. After being drafted in 2023, he made his affiliated debut later in the year but only pitched 2.1 innings across two games coming at rookie ball and Single-A. Wenninger split the 2024 season between Single-A and High-A. His ERA was high at Single-A at 5.90, but improved to 4.57 with the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones. Between both levels, he struck out an impressive 11 batters per nine. He also did a great job of not allowing home runs, only allowing 11 across 150 innings. Last year, we saw him spend the whole season with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Mets' Double-A affiliate. He had a really good year spanning 26 starts, pitching to an impressive 2.92 ERA with a 1.15 WHIP. His theme of tons of strikeouts and limiting long balls continued, which was really good to see at a higher level of play. In 2024, Wenninger’s FIP outpaced his ERA, but last year in Double-A, his 3.36 FIP was the higher of the two. Now 24 years old and starting this season in Triple-A, he is on track to debut at some point this year or next year in the majors. He is projected to be a middle-to-back end starter at the big-league level. Even though he’ll likely be major-league ready at some point this year, it might be hard for him to find his way on the roster considering that Jonah Tong and Christian Scott are also sitting in Triple-A. Wenninger will also be Rule 5 eligible this winter, making him a near-lock to be added to the 40-man in the offseason if he has to wait until 2027 for his debut. No. 6 Jacob Reimer (Binghamton Rumble Ponies) Reimer is a first and third baseman whom the Mets selected in the fourth round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Yucaipa High School in California. Reimer was committed to the University of Washington, but instead got drafted and signed for $775,000. Since then, he’s seen time at all minor league levels except for Triple-A. He is a 22-year-old standing six feet and weighing 205 pounds. He hits for power with an average hit tool, but has below average speed and defense. Reimer saw brief minor-league action in 2022 appearing in seven games for the FCL Mets, posting an .892 OPS while walking more than he struck out. He’s since bounced around spending time at multiple levels each season. He spent the 2023 season across three levels from rookie ball to High-A while hitting for a .265 average and a .774 OPS. That year, he drew a good amount of walks while maintaining an average strikeout rate. His 2024 campaign was delayed due to a hamstring injury he suffered during spring, training limiting him to only 25 games. His batting average fell to .218 , and didn’t hit for much power. His wRC+ sat at a league-average 100. He had a great bounce-back season last year, bringing his prospect stock back up. He split the season between High-A and Double-A playing in 61 games at each level. He mashed in High-A posting a 163 wRC+ with eight homers; he saw a slight dip at Double-A with a 150 wRC+, but did hit nine home runs. His power returned with an impressive .209 ISO mark, coming from 32 doubles, five triples, and 17 homers. Overall last season, he had a solid 11.1 walk percentage and a 21.5 strikeout rate, with an above-average .338 BABIP. If Reimer builds on his success from last year, a call-up to Syracuse should be in his near future. Like Wenninger, he will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter and will have to be added to the 40-man roster by then if the Mets don't want to potentially lose him to another club. View full article

Image courtesy of © Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images An offseason trade that came out of nowhere this winter has not looked good on the New York Mets' behalf thus far. Back in November, the Mets and Rangers came together on a swap that sent Marcus Semien to New York while sending Brandon Nimmo and cash considerations back to Texas. Nimmo has been off to a great start with the Rangers, but Semien hasn’t really gotten things going yet offensively. Through 17 games this season, Semien is only batting .188/.243/.266 with .508 OPS and a 47 wRC+. In a one-week stretch from April 7-14, went 3-for-29. The only positive is that he only struck out three times in that stretch, but he didn't draw a single walk. We’ve seen Semien start to decline in production dating back to the 2024 season. He’s a career .253 hitter and usually is capable of hitting at least 20 home runs per season or more; he hit a career high 45 back in 2021 with the Toronto Blue Jays. Including this year, though, his OPS hasn’t surpassed .700 in three consecutive campaigns. What's Plaguing Marcus Semien At the Plate? Batted-Ball and Contact Quality Semien has been hitting a lot more balls in the air compared to previous years. He's only hitting 23.5% of his balls in play on the ground, a huge improvement over his career 36.8% rate. This is as result of him topping a lot less balls; on average, Semien tops 26.2% of his contact, but that number has fallen to 11.8% early in 2026. It's also interesting to note that when Semien's topped% was higher, it resulted in less weak contact, averaging 3.4% for his career. This year, when he’s cut his topped% by more than half, it’s led to him making weak contact at a 9.8% rate. That's by far his highest in the majors, and more than double than the MLB average mark of 4%. There is an advantage to this situation. Even though Semien is making way more weak contact, with him reducing his topped rate, it’s causing a rise in solid contact. He’s sitting at a 12.2% mark where he’s sat at 6.9% for his career. That may sound oxymoronic, but let's dig a bit deeper to understand. Since squared-up rate was introduced to Statcast back in 2023, Semien’s 35.0% squared-up rate is the highest it’s been since being introduced. This comes from him just making a lot of solid contact; not getting on top, but also not barreling the baseball as much. This also explains why his average exit velocity is down nearly two mph from last year. In essence, he's traded some of his hard contact for a much wider dispersion of weak and solid contact. That may not be the best path to head down, but it does give us a basis to understand what's causing the downturn in his numbers. Plate Discipline Semien has always been known to take a "professional" at-bat. He’ll take his walks at an average rate and keeps his strikeout percentage better than average. For his career, Semien has swung at pitches in the zone 49.6% of the time, just a tad over the league average 48.8%. This year it’s been the highest since his debut season in 2014 at 51.6%. Nothing really has dramatically changed in this sector of his play other than his chase rate. It’s is up to 28.4% this year, whereas it sat at 23.4% last year; this is a huge contributing factor to his 20.0 strikeout percentage which is the highest it’s been since 2021 when it was 20.2%. We know that as players age, their bat speed tends to slow down, leading to more whiffs and strikeouts. That decline in swing speed is likely our missing link. There’s two more key metrics that have seen a dip in recent seasons, not just this year. While his chase rate has been climbing, the contact he’s been making when he chases out of the zone has seen a steady decline. It’s been up to 62.5% in his career, but currently sits at 50%, the same mark as last season. Can the Mets Unlock A New Version of Marcus Semien? It’s still very early in the year, but maybe Semien will have a different type of offensive season this year. He’s always had pretty good power considering his bat speed has always been pretty minimal, which should hopefully mitigate some of the earlier issues we discussed with whiffing and chasing. With Semien in the back half of his career (he's 35), he could lean into his newfound contact trends and try to turn into Luis Arraez-type hitter who just slaps singles around. They have very similar tendencies at the plate being contact hitters with minimal bat speed, while also showing good plate discipline. That's probably an unfair comparison for someone with 254 career home runs under their belt, but what Semien is doing right now isn't working. A late-career renaissance is on the table, but only if he leans into the above-average skills he still possesses. View full article

Image courtesy of © Kyle Ross-Imagn Images Jared Young has been given a clear role for the first time in his major-league career after breaking camp with the New York Mets this spring. It’s the first Opening Day roster that Young has been a part of and he’s been taking advantage of the opportunity. Young, a former 15th-round pick by the Chicago Cubs, has never played more than 23 MLB games in a season so far in his career. He’s a 30-year-old utility player who is a career .220 hitter with 14 extra-base hits and a 102 wRC+. He spent his first two major league seasons with the Chicago Cubs after debuting in September of 2022. He took his career overseas in 2024 to play with the Doosan Bears of the KBO. He had a solid season posting a slash line of .326/.420/.660 spanning 38 games, which was good enough to earn him a major-league contract with the Mets in December of 2024, where he’s been ever since. Jared Young's Contact-Fueled Emergence Aiding Mets' Ailing Lineup This year across 23 plate appearances, Young has hit for a .350 average with a 139 wRC+. He has not hit a ball out of the yard yet, but has logged two doubles. His surface stats are backed up by his .268 xBA and .362 xwOBA which are both well above league average. There have been some intriguing improvements to his process that are keying those results. In his small sample size so far in 2026, Young has been swinging a lot more pitches in the zone; he’s up to a 77.1% rate. His overall contact percentages have also seen a healthy jump. Young’s zone-contact percentage has jumped from 81.8% last year to 88.9% this year. Looking at his overall contact numbers, he’s posted a 82.5% contact rate, compared to 69.9% last year. Of course, with more contact often comes worse contact quality. It's a trade-off nearly every hitter faces, and Young is no exception. So far, his average exit velocity has only been 87.6 mph. That's likely due to his drop in bat speed (sitting around 73.3 mph this season, a small drop but is still a good place to be); less swing speed leads to better bat control, hence his improved contact numbers. And while he’s only managed two extra-base hits so far, he does have an excellent 18.8 barrel% to go along with a 50% hard-hit rate. The power is definitely in his bat, but has yet to be seen so far in the majors. His hardest-hit ball this year had a recorded exit velocity of 113.5 mph, a career high from his previous best of 109.4 in 2023. He hit 10 home runs in a very small sample size in the KBO, and it would be nice if he could tap into that with the Mets. To do so, he may need to sacrifice a little bit of the gains he's made in the contact game (and he definitely needs to stop hitting so many ground balls), but the overall process he's undertaken has clearly led to better results. From the fringes of the roster to a lineup staple, Young is making a name for himself in 2026. View full article

Image courtesy of © D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images After a rough start at the plate to start the season, Bo Bichette is starting to turn the corner and put his struggles behind him. The $126 million man was part of a big offseason for the New York Mets, with the stakes high as they look to return to the postseason after a disaster of a second-half last year. Bichette has started all ten games so far, batting third and manning the hot corner. He started his first six games only recording three hits across 27 at-bats against the Pirates and Cardinals, good for a .111 batting average. That stretch came with eight strikeouts and only one walk. In the Mets last series in San Francisco, Bichette’s bat finally came to life. He collected six hits, two being doubles, while driving in three runs. He almost took Robbie Ray deep Thursday night, but Harrison Bader robbed him of a 104 mph home run. The hits aren’t always showing up in the scorebook, but he’s still making pretty good contact and has been unlucky. He’s been squaring up the baseball and hitting a lot of line drives, portending a much brighter future after a slow start to his tenure in the Big Apple. Slow Starts Aren’t Unusual for Bo Bichette Bichette has made a habit off getting off to slow offensive starts. His career batting average and OPS are the lowest between March and April. During these two months, Bichette has posted a career slash line of .257/.297/.390 across 607 plate appearances. This performance doesn't last long for him; his offensive numbers tend to jump in production once the calendar flips to May, as he owns a career .291/.338/.488 slash line in that month. He has a reputation of starting slow, but has shown to finish seasons strongly. Looking at his career trends, in the second half of the season from July to the end of the year is when Bichette’s bat comes to life. His monthly OPS is above .800 only in May in the first four months of the season, but has sat above .800 his whole career between July and October. The same trend continues for his batting average. It sits below .300 from March through June, but sits above .300 the whole second half. It's not unusual for star players to heat up as the weather warms, but it is rare that the splits are so drastic. The Mets would surely like him to get going a little quicker in 2026, but some players need (lots of) time to get back their timing. The only difference now is that he's a $42 million star on a new team, rather than a young player making pre-arb or arbitration money. Are Other Factors Contributing to Bichette's Start? When you sign a big contract with a new team, there is some stress and pressure that forces you to press and try to play hero ball. Also keep in mind that Bichette had to change positions, shifting from shortstop to third base due to Francisco Lindor having shortstop locked-up. For someone who has historically been chastised for his poor glove-work, it's not shocking to see that his bat is lagging. That being said, if you want reason to be concerned, Bichette's bat control offers an area to highlight. He's always been a free swinger with a bad habit of chasing outside the zone, but his timing is way off right now. His barrel rate is less than half of his career mark, and he's whiffing on nearly one-fourth of his swings (24.7%). As a result, all of his contact quality metrics have dropped off from last year; there's no reason to think a veteran player with a career .293 batting average can't right the ship, but there is a source of the misery beyond just cold weather. Even though Bichette isn’t off to a great start, this is not abnormal within the scope of his career (and he’s already starting to come out of his slump). He’s only ten games into the season and the whole league offensively is behind pitchers production wise. Around 75 qualified hitters currently have an OPS of .600 or lower. The Mets bet a lot (both literally and figuratively) on Bichette being a middle-of-the-order run producer this season. It might take longer for him to get there than fans want, but history suggests it's only a matter of time before he turns things around. View full article

Image courtesy of © Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images The New York Mets got minimal production from their center fielders in 2025: 30th in home runs and runs batted in, 29th in wRC+, batting average, and slugging percentage, and 27th in fWAR. Tyrone Taylor began the 2025 campaign as the primary center fielder, but his offensive results weren’t great. The Mets grabbed Cedric Mullins from the Orioles at the deadline, but he too didn’t provide much offensively. Both Taylor and Mullins were at least solid defenders, but neither moved the needle during a second-half collapse. Thus, the Mets went out and made a splash this offseason to address their dire need in center field. The long-awaited Luis Robert Jr. trade finally happened as the White Sox shipped him to New York in exchange for Luisangel Acuna, and minor-league pitcher Truman Pauley. Earlier in the winter, the White Sox had picked up Robert Jr.’s $20 million option for 2026. He has another $20 million club option for 2027 with a $2 million buyout. The Mets took over Robert's entire contract in the trade. The former All Star and Silver Slugger has a ton of potential, but has been inconsistent so far in his career. What are the Mets getting in Robert Jr., and will he be able to fulfill their center field needs? It was just three years ago that he finished 12th American League Most Valuable Player voting. Luis Robert Jr.'s Green & Red Flags Robert, 28, is already a veteran of seven major-league seasons. He’s hit for a career .260 batting average and a .769 OPS, while mashing 115 doubles and 103 home runs. During his 2023 All Star campaign, Robert did basically everything well, save for his poor plate discipline. That season, he played in 145 games, while totaling 595 plate appearances. He logged career highs in runs (90), hits (144), doubles (36), home runs (38), and runs batted in (80). The only problem is that he only did this in one of his six seasons with the Chicago White Sox. After unleashing a monster offensive season in 2023, he took a decline in production in the last two seasons since. He hit 14 home runs in both 2024 and 2025, but his batting average fell from .264 in 2023, to .224 and .223 in 2023 and 2024. This might not be all his fault since he landed on the injured list three times between 2023 and 2024 due to a right hip flexor strain and a left hamstring strain that accounted for two of those stints. Consistency has eluded him, though his plate discipline has never been a strong suit. He has a career 26.7% strikeout rate accompanied by a subpar 6.3% walk rate. Between the 2020 season and two games into the 2026 season, the MLB average chase% was 28.4%; Robert has a career mark of 38.5%, which ranks toward the bottom of the league in that time.. His problems with whiffing fall into the same bucket, as he has a career mark of 32.7%, while the league has been at 25%. The Mets have had good defensive center fielders in the last few years in Brandon Nimmo, Harrison Bader, Tyrone Taylor, and Cedric Mullins. Robert won a Gold Glove his rookie year in 2020 with the White Sox, and definitely has the ability to bring in more in the future. Even average offensive production from Robert would be a boost to the Mets center field position from last year. If he stays healthy, 20 home runs minimum should be the expectation, with the potential for a lot more. He’s already checked home run number one off the box, as he hit a walk-off home run against Pirates rookie pitcher Hunter Barco in the second game of the season. In fact, that whole opening series was a tantalizing appetizer, as Robert hit a robust .455/.571/.727 through his first three games with his new team. That kind of production is unsustainable, but it's a good reminder of the star talent Robert possesses. He may not be the heart and soul of this lineup, but when he's right, he can carry an offense. View full article