The Mets made a quality outfield depth signing this week
Plus, the Mets have several players on a slow progression towards Grapefruit League action with games beginning this weekend
What’s Up with the Mets? 🌴
Carlos Mendoza announced that Luis Robert Jr., Francisco Álvarez, Jorge Polanco, and Brett Baty will all initially be held out of spring training games to focus on strengthening and steadier ramp-up routines (Watch)
LHP Brandon Waddell will start Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener
Devin Williams is working on adding both a cutter and a slider to his repertoire, and Clay Holmes is turning heads early at camp (Mets YouTube)
Injury Updates 🏥
Brett Baty ‘felt something’ in his hamstring while running a few weeks ago, so they’ll be slowing his program down ahead of him taking consistent outfield reps
Meet the press, Luis Robert Jr. 🎙️
Luis Robert Jr. addressed the media for the first time as a Met on Tuesday — here are some highlights from his presser:
He believed a trade was possible early in the offseason, but wasn’t expecting it to happen as close to spring training as it did
On the Mets’ plan to ease him into game action, Robert said he trusts the coaches and knows the team wants the best for him. He said his focus since the offseason began has been strengthening those oft-injured areas, and that remains the priority
On the importance of staying healthy, Robert said, “the more games I play, the more opportunities I have to have success…once I’m able to stay out on the field, things are going to turn out the way I want.” He attributes most of his recent lack of performance to the recurrent health issues
Robert said he was looking forward to joining a roster with so much star power, but reiterated that he always needs to do his part no matter the circumstances. He also expressed excitement about playing alongside a player of Juan Soto’s caliber
On leaving Chicago, Robert acknowledged that the expectations are different in New York, and that it was hard to put his exact feelings on leaving the White Sox into words
Watch the whole media session here.
What I’m Reading 🗞️
Carson Benge is ‘a natural’ hitter (SNY)
A surgeon forecasts Francisco Lindor’s surgery recovery (SNY)
Jonah Tong hosted a memorable Reddit AMA (Mets YouTube)
A key player for each WBC team (MLB.com)
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
ICYMI: Rich hosted a solo podcast episode to A all of your burning Q’s on Spring Training 🔥
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Why yes, I’d love to talk about Mike Tauchman ✍️
On this week’s episode of ‘Drew Finds Outsized Value in a Minor League Deal,’ we’re talkin’ Mike Tauchman.
Much like the recent signing of MJ Melendez, Monday’s announcement of a minor-league deal with journeyman outfielder Tauchman may not have stirred enormous excitement within the Mets fandom — but believe me, there are definitely reasons to believe in the depth and the veteran wisdom he provides.
To put it bluntly, Tauchman is a guy the stat nerds love. One of my favorite baseball content creators ‘Foolish Bailey’ recently made a video about the Mets’ new Triple-A outfielder. You can watch the video on your own time, but I’m going to summarize it here, because it paints a comprehensive and compelling picture of the all-around impact Tauchman has had on his teams and teammates throughout his time in pro ball.
In his video essay, Bailey identifies three key areas of value that Tauchman provides:
Plate discipline
Mentorship
Mentality
I’m going to touch on all three briefly:
Plate Discipline
Tauchman’s offensive profile is based almost entirely on good decision making. Over the past few seasons, he’s consistently posted walk rates in the 10–12% range while keeping his strikeout rate in check, which has naturally led to OBPs in the mid-.300s whenever he’s gotten regular run. Baseball Savant metrics back that up—his chase rate sits well below league average, and his zone contact is comfortably above it.
Simply, Tauchman excels at making good swing-and-take decisions, with a 77% swing rate on pitches in the heart of the zone and a 15% chase rate over the last three seasons. As Bailey points out, the hitter with the most comparable swing-decision profile over that span is Aaron Judge — that says quite a lot about how good Tauchman’s eyes are.
Additionally, Tauchman excelled in the leadoff spot upon his return from the KBO. From 2023-2025, he ranks in the top-10 in OBP for leadoff hitters (.361). Imagine that production at the bottom of the lineup, doing some early setup work for the Lindor-Soto-Bichette trio? I know, I know, greed is ugly.
However, I doubt we’ll see much on-field influence from Tauchman’s on-base prowess, at least not right away. Instead, I think that preternatural zone-reading ability will make him more effective as a teacher than a player in his Mets tenure.
Mentorship
This signing sure feels a bit Barnes-ian, doesn’t it?
If you’ll recall, the Mets recently signed Dodgers castoff catcher Austin Barnes to a minor league deal, a deal that I championed as a very smart play from a development standpoint. I hold those exact same beliefs here.
Regarding his transition from on-the-field contributor to off-the-field leader, Bailey cites an article from the Chicago Sun-Times in which White Sox youngster Colson Montgomery mentions Tauchman specifically:
“Being able to pick a guy’s brain like that is good…He’s played with a lot of really good players, and he’s really good at talking through approaches and simplifying things.”
Sure sounds valuable to me!
As I’ve emphasized before, when so much of your team’s immediate future hinges on the success of its highly-touted farm system, the presence of veteran leadership is an absolute necessity. By all accounts, Tauchman is the perfect person to add to this environment.
However…I’m not sure Tauchman’s being brought in to help the kids with their plate approach, as all of the Mets’ young bats posted an OBP between .350-.400 in MiLB last season. The Major League Mets, meanwhile, were sixth in MLB with a .326 team OBP — and while Soto and Lindor don’t need much help in this department, I’d imagine the likes of Baty, Mark Vientos, Luis Torrens, and Tyrone Taylor (average .291 OBP in 2025) would benefit from some of Tauchman’s sage batter’s box wisdom.
Mentality
Tauchman is the definition of a grinder. As Bailey points out in his video, this is a guy who’s had to build his way to MLB twice: first as a 10th-round draft pick in 2013 who didn’t debut until age 26, and then again after a year in the KBO, where he played well enough to secure a deal with the Chicago Cubs and eventually hit leadoff for them.
This is certainly the most intangible part of his profile that I’ve rambled about yet, but it’s absolutely worth mentioning. Tauchman’s career path is about as non-linear as it gets. Drafted late out of a smaller program, he started his career with the Rockies, with little hype and middling results to match when he finally made his debut. Despite a rough start to his MLB career, the Yankees traded for him in 2019, moving him to an outfield where he’d be playing alongside Aaron Judge with eyes on October.
Tauchman was briefly exceptional for the Bombers, but injuries reared their ever-ugly head, sending him tumbling down the depth chart and eventually forcing him to commit to a reset season overseas in 2022. Undeterred, Tauchman played well, posting a .795 OPS and serving as the Hanwha Eagles’ only All-Star that season. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs that winter, and was selected to the active roster in May. Tauchman would end up slashing .252/.363/.377 with eight home runs, 48 RBI, and seven stolen bases in 108 games for the big league club.
That level of consistency and commitment to the game of baseball is rare, and it’s clearly paid dividends for both Tauchman and his teammates at nearly every stop of his career.
So, will Tauchman prove to be the difference maker I’ve just built him up to be? Time will tell. But all the ingredients are there, and he checks literally every single box I’d want from a veteran bench addition, especially with so many exciting bats working their way through the system.
Even if he never logs a single big-league plate appearance this season, if he does anything to help further refine the already-excellent plate approaches of Benge and Clifford, or even helps Luis Robert build upon his career-best 9.3% walk rate from last year (that .297 OBP is begging for help), I’ll be thrilled.
Around the League 🚩
Tony Clark resigned as head of the MLBPA amid a litany of recent scandalous headlines. The union needs to determine Clark’s replacement, with a decision arriving perhaps as soon as today (The Athletic)
Twins starter Pablo López has a ‘significant’ UCL tear in his elbow and will likely require Tommy John surgery (ESPN)
Junior Caminero is interested in a possible contract extension with the Rays (TB Times)
Mike Tauchman will be to Carson Benge what JD Martinez was to Vientos. Tauchman will be holding tutoring groups every Mondays and Thursdays, lol. If it helps Benge, Vientos and whoever else, great.