The Mets first base problem might have an accidental solution
Plus - Brett Baty, Francisco Lindor, and Kodai Senga all had big nights in another huge offensive night for the Mets
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets beat the Braves 8-5 in the opener of their three-game series in Atlanta on Monday (box)
LF Brett Baty clobbered his first career grand slam in the first inning
SS Francisco Lindor had three hits including a home run
RHP Christian Scott started for the Mets and was so-so, going four innings and allowing four earned runs on seven hits, a walk, and a hit batsman, while striking out six
RHP Daniel Duarte was splendid again in a setup role, going two scoreless innings
Every Met in the starting lineup reached base at least once
RHP Kodai Senga recorded his first Major League save when he retired the Braves in order in the 9th, headlined by punchouts of Matt Olson and Michael Harris II
Roster Moves 📰
RHP Devin Williams placed on 15-day IL (right shoulder strain)
RHP Jonathan Pintaro recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
Play of the Game ⭐️
The keynote in this one came exceptionally early.
The Mets had Bryce Elder laboring through the top of the first inning, but when Brett Baty stepped to the plate, they had still only scratched a single run across. Baty settled in the box with the bases loaded and two outs, and had Elder been able to get through him, holding the Mets to one in the first would have represented a huge win. Instead, Baty pounced on an early fastball to demolish his first career grand slam, and the Mets were off and running.
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
On the latest edition of the Just Mets Podcast, Rich and Andrew recap the club’s 5-1 week and dream about the Mets having a chance at a late-season run at a Wild Card.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
All Mets minor league affiliates were off on Monday
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (53-67) @ Braves (71-48)
Where: Truist Park - Atlanta, GA
Starters: RHP Nolan McLean (8-7, 3.51 ERA) vs. LHP Martin Perez (7-6, 3.14 ERA)
When: 7:15 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Jared Young has been a solution at first in this year - should they move forward with him? ✍️
First base in Queens has been under a massive microscope all season long, like we all knew it would be when the club chose not to retain franchise stalwart Pete Alonso.
The front office’s plans A, B, and C—in Jorge Polanco, Mark Vientos, and Brett Baty— all failed to take the reins and run with them for a myriad of different reasons. You could even argue that an emergence of Triple-A first baseman Ryan Clifford would have been Plan D, but that hasn’t come to fruition either since he has struggled in the minors this season.
And after all of that, a true comedy of errors, the Mets may just have backed into a legitimate real option moving forward.
Left-handed swinging Jared Young played very sparingly for the Mets in 2025, and while he had significant minor league experience at first base, he’d played almost exclusively corner outfield in the Show.
Desperate for any sort of stability at position number three on your scorecard, the Mets began deploying Young there more and more often, and the 31-year-old has played himself into an everyday role this season.
After a somewhat mediocre start to his season, and a short-term IL stint thanks to a meniscus tear, Young has quietly been on fire for the better part of a month and a half.
In 59 at-bats in July, he slashed .288/.373/.407. Ten days into August, and it’s been more of the same. In 28 at-bats, he’s slashed .286/.375/.500 with a pair of doubles, a pair of triples, and six RBI. In the last two days alone, he’s contributed five hits and driven in three runs.
It certainly was not the way the organization drew it up, but Young’s emergence has been hard to ignore.
This team is headed for an offseason filled with question marks, and first base is again going to be a heavy topic of conversation. But if the last six weeks in particular told us anything about, it’s that Young has placed himself front and center in those discussions, and it will be interesting to see if he can keep hitting at this clip for the remainder of the regular season.
For more reasons than one, the Mets need him to.
When drawing up your 2027 Mets blueprint, if it’s not Young, first base looks incredibly murky.
Clifford is hitting .183 in Triple-A, and has likely been passed on the organizational depth chart by Billy Amick—the primary piece the Mets acquired from Minnesota in the A.J. Minter trade.
The free-agent class is headlined by names like Rhys Hoskins, Ryan Mountcastle, and Paul Goldschmidt, none of whom is intensely appealing.
The club could conceivably dip their toes in the trade market, but to get something legitimate back, you’re going to have to part with pieces they may not want to with so many other needs, a weak free agent market, and a need to use their bigger trade chips for other needs.
The easiest solution here, at least until a better option emerges either internally or externally, is continued development by Young. That doesn’t mean the Mets shouldn’t explore an alternative, but Young has at least taken some pressure off their problem at first base.
Who would have thought we’d be saying that four months ago?
Around the League 🚩
The Blue Jays edged the Red Sox 2-1 behind a strong piggyback pitching performance from Jameson Taillon and Simeon Woods Richardson
Austin Martin had four hits including a home run and a double in the Twins 9-5 home win over the O’s
Kyle Schwarber, Edmundo Sosa, and Bryson Stott all had two hit nights in the Phillies 6-5 win over the Cardinals
Jared Young should definitely be on the team next year and I don’t see why he shouldn’t be our 1st baseman. I’d rather him than some underperforming overpaid veteran. The bigger issues for the offseason is what do you do with Semien and Polanco and we need a top of the rotation starter.