Mets post-Pete Alonso first base plan keeps…
Once the Mets offseason plan turned clear and through spring training, a key query they confronted was how to deal with first base.
The early returns have been maybe worse than anybody might have imagined.
Jorge Polanco, signed to a two-year, $40 million contract with the hopes that he might transition from the center of the infield to first base, has been harm most of the season and performed poorly when on the sphere.
Brett Baty, launched to the place during spring training, has been inconsistent in the sphere and at the plate. He’s shown flashes of his lefty energy, but also entered Wednesday in an 0-for-10 skid.
And then there’s Mark Vientos, who has struggled badly on both sides of the ball, trying to recapture at least the facility he displayed two years in the past, which appears to be more and more of a distant reminiscence.
Mets third baseman Mark Vientos (27) falls off the bag, permitting a batter on during the ninth inning when the New York Mets performed the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post
Altogether, they’ve the fourth-worst OPS at the place this season (.581), a 12 months after Pete Alonso helped them to the second-best OPS in the majors (.861).
Neither has stood out defensively, either.
And according to FanGraphs, the group has the second-lowest WAR (-0.5).
Asked about the spot before Wednesday’s sport against Washington at Citi Field, Carlos Mendoza said the duo of Baty and Vientos has “handled the position fine,” including Vientos has been OK defensively.
But the supervisor acknowledged: “Offensively, we expect more.”
In equity, the dearth of manufacturing has been a failure of nearly the complete lineup and not just at first base.
But it’s felt there particularly, given the significance in the lineup, and because that they had such a constant risk at first as long as Alonso was around.
Jorge Polanco (11) throws out Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Ryan O’Hearn at first base during the seventh inning of a baseball sport. AP
“They took a strength and made it a weakness,’’ one National League scout said. “I think Baty can hit, but he shouldn’t be at first base. If they had just kept him at third, where he looked comfortable last year, I think he would have come on at the plate. But they’re making it harder on him, all to get another guy who’s out of position [former shortstop Bo Bichette] into the lineup.”
With Polanco nursing both a proper wrist contusion and Achilles discomfort — and thought-about week to week by David Stearns — the Mets determine to go with Baty and Vientos.
“We signed Polanco to play there and he’s had health points,’’ Mendoza said.
Pete Alonso of the Baltimore Orioles blows on his finger gun as he rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run. Getty Images
Asked who else might play first base, Mendoza said MJ Melendez was succesful of seeing time there, as properly as Luis Torrens in an emergency.
Ryan Clifford, ranked the group’s fourth-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline, is splitting time between first base and the nook outfield spots at Triple-A Syracuse and has 5 homers in his earlier 9 video games.
The 22-year-old doesn’t determine to be the reply, at least in the short time period.
And with Francisco Lindor’s absence — out indefinitely with a strained left calf — decimating the offense, the opening at first base appears even worse.
Mets third baseman Brett Baty (7) fields a throw during the first inning when the New York Mets performed the Pittsburgh Pirates. Robert Sabo for NY Post
The only vibrant spot for the Mets, if you need to call it that, is that Alonso still hasn’t begun to hit constantly in Baltimore after he left Queens for a five-year, $155 million contract.
That received’t help the Mets get out of their current predicament, and they’ve little selection but to keep rolling with Baty and Vientos.
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