Inside The Mets

Projecting the New York Mets' bench on Opening Day

What will the New York Mets bench look like on Opening Day? Mets On SI provides a prediction with nine days until the regular season begins.

Logan VanDine

Mar 13, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets second baseman Brett Baty (7) comes into the bench during the middle of the fifth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images
Mar 13, 2025; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; New York Mets second baseman Brett Baty (7) comes into the bench during the middle of the fifth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images / Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images
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As Opening Day draws closer for the New York Mets and the rest of the league, spring training has not gone so smoothly in Port St. Lucie.

New York has dealt with numerous injuries such as first-year Met Frankie Montas suffering a high-grade lat strain early on in camp while lefty Sean Manaea will also begin the season on the injured list with a strained right oblique. The Mets will be without two key hitters in their lineup as Francisco Alvarez underwent surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone in his hand and infielder Jeff McNeil is nursing a strained oblique.

With Alvarez and McNeil set to miss a substantial amount of time to begin the 2025 season, that will result in players who may have not expected to see a lot of playing time early on in the season receiving just that. As the Mets continue to prepare for their Opening Day matchup against the Houston Astros on March 27, here's what their bench may look like now that Alvarez and McNeil won't be playing for the foreseeable future.

Infielder Brett Baty

Entering spring training, it looked like Brett Baty would be battling for the team's final roster spot with Luisangel Acuña. After Baty had another disappointing season in the major leagues last season and Acuña thrived both offensively and defensively during the last few weeks of the 2024 campaign, Baty's path to the major leagues entering the spring looked challenging. But with McNeil now beginning the season on the injured list, Baty now seems a lock to make the Opening Day Roster as a bench piece.

Baty spent most of the spring so far further learning to play second base after starting at that position in 27 games in the minor leagues last season. While Baty has more power than Acuña as he has slashed .308/.372/.538 with two home runs and five RBI in 15 games this spring, Baty has shown in a few instances during spring training that he still has a lot of adjustments to make at second. Acuña, however, has proven to have a much better glove than Baty and is a more versatile player on defense for the Mets with him being able to play both second, third, shortstop and center field if needed.

Baty may be a lock at this point in spring training to be on the Opening Day roster for the Mets, but Acuña's versatility and defensive skills make it a likelihood that he'll start at second base for the Amazins' in their first game of 2025 against the Astros.

Read More: New York Mets make more roster cuts as Opening Day approaches

Catcher Jakson Reetz

The Mets' catcher position will definitely be put to the test early on in the season with Alvarez perhaps missing most of April post-hand surgery. Luis Torrens will now be the Mets' starting catcher who did serve nicely as Alvarez's backup last season when New York acquired him in May from the New York Yankees.

The two catchers who are now competing for that backup catcher role are Hayden Senger and Jakson Reetz who combined have six major league games between the two of them with Reetz having all six.

Although Reetz has yet to establish himself as an everyday major league player [Mets are now his fifth major league organization], having that experience in the majors may be an advantage for the 29-year-old. Even though he's only batted just .188/.235/.500 with just one home run and five RBI throughout his career, Reetz did smash a grand slam this spring against the Washington Nationals on March 9 which came on the day the Mets got the brutal injury news on Alvarez.

His offensive numbers won't blow you away but it seems like Reetz may be the right man to serve behind Torrens while Alvarez is on the shelf. With Senger needing more time to develop and Reetz having that important major league experience, him having that bench spot seems like the right decision for the Mets to make. Chris Williams has also been competing for the spot as well.

Outfielder Tyrone Taylor

Tyrone Taylor proved to be an important piece for the Mets last season after coming over from the Milwaukee Brewers last winter via trade. The 31-year-old saw more playing time than many expected as he appeared in a career-high 130 games for the ball club and soon became the starting center fielder for the Mets throughout the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs.

Even after acquiring fellow center fielder Jose Siri from the Tampa Bay Rays this offseason, Taylor will without question be on the roster this season as a bench player as well as possbily serving in a platoon in center field with Siri.

With the acquisition of Siri from the Rays, Taylor may not see as much playing time as he did last year for the Mets due to Siri having a better bat on offense. He will, however, be an important bench piece for New York and will certainly play an important role for the team all season long. During the 2024 season, Taylor slashed .248/.299/.401 with seven home runs and 35 RBI and also made numerous impressive plays in the outfield.

Outfielder Starling Marte

It's no secret that the Mets tried to trade veteran outfielder Starling Marte during the offseason. But with the team not being able to move Marte, the 36-year-old is expected to remain with the club when the season begins. While he may see his playing time be very limited, especially after the blockbuster signing of right fielder Juan Soto, keeping Marte could be the right call to start the 2025 campaign.

After Marte signed a four-year, $78 million deal with the Mets in November 2021, he was selected to the All-Star Game during the 2022 season. But after suffering a groin strain during the 2023 season which limited him to just 86 games and a knee injury last season that resulted in him playing in just 94 games, it made sense that the Mets wanted to move his $20.75 million salary.

Despite his troubling injury history, Marte, when healthy, proved to be a reliable player on offense. The expectation is that he will be platooning at designated hitter with lefty hitting Jesse Winker which could pan out well. With the veteran not expected to see much playing time in the outfield this season, Marte serving as a bench player and righty hitting DH may end up keeping him healthy.

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Logan VanDine
LOGAN VANDINE

Logan VanDine is a contributing writer for On SI's Mets. Logan is a graduate of Rider University where he majored in Sports Media and minored in Sports Studies. During his time at Rider, Logan worked for Rider's radio station, 107.7 The Bronc as a sports host, producer and broadcaster, and for the school's paper: The Rider News. He began his time with The Rider News as a section writer for sports and was a copy editor for two years followed by being one of the sports editors during his senior year. Logan also placed third in the New Jersey Press Foundation Awards for sports feature writing. Aside from his work at On SI, he is also a writer for FanSided covering the New York Giants and Mets and also covers the Giants for Total Apex Sports. Give him a follow on X: @VandineLogan

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