It’s that time of year, folks. The flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, baseball is back, and so are our meters, which provide the community with a nice little snapshot of how each player is performing. To be transparent right from the jump, this year I am doing something new with the meters: instead of weekly, they will be posted biweekly (as in, every other week, not twice a week). This cadence is much more manageable with my schedule and I also think a two-week sample size is more meaningful
to look at than a one-week sample. In the case of this first set of meters, because the first week of the season was not a complete one, these numbers cover the first ten games of the season. Hereafter, meters will appear on the site every other week on Mondays—maybe occasionally on Tuesday if your imperfect Mets Meter Maid (that’s me) is having a bad week.
As is tradition, we will start with the position player group first and the pitchers will go up later. On Opening Day, the Mets erupted for 11 runs right out of the gate en route to their usual Opening Day victory. But the bats went silent for a little while after that, prompting some agita about the offense. However, the Mets have bounced back to win their last three straight and the offense was looking pretty potent again, particularly on Friday and Saturday. This weekend’s games saved a couple of players from the dreaded “poop emoji in your very first meter” fate; Bo Bichette, Tyrone Taylor, and Marcus Semien in particular have turned things around of late. The first ten games have proven a bit of a renaissance for Mark Vientos, who has been the Mets’ hottest hitter in 2026 despite a dismal 2025 season. Juan Soto has been Juan Soto, but he has just hit the injured list and the lineup will definitely lack a certain je ne sais quoi without him in it.
| Player | This week |
|---|---|
| Francisco Alvarez, C |  |
| Brett Baty, UTIL |  |
| Carson Benge, OF | |
| Bo Bichette, 3B | |
| Francisco Lindor, SS |  |
| Jorge Polanco, 1B/DH | |
| Luis Robert Jr., OF |  |
| Marcus Semien, 2B | |
| Juan Soto, OF |  |
| Tyrone Taylor, OF | |
| Luis Torrens, C | |
| Mark Vientos, 1B/3B | |
| Jared Young, 1B/OF | |
We’ll start with Mark Vientos since he has been the Mets’ best hitter so far this season. Over the first ten games of the season, Vientos has put up a blistering 254 wRC+ in 23 plate appearances, which leads the team. He didn’t see a lot of playing time in the early going, but has gotten more starts lately—and why not? He has earned them. Vientos’ ten hits are tied for the second-most on the team thus far. “I feel like myself,” Vientos said after Saturday’s game. Something closer to the 2024 version of Mark Vientos over the course of a full season would be massive for the 2026 Mets.
The team leader in hits over the first ten games is Juan Soto, whose emoji I had to change to a red cross in the middle of writing this, as he was just officially placed on the IL with a mild calf strain. It is a huge bummer to lose the lineup’s most potent threat so early in the season, especially when Soto has been so durable over the course of his career, but hopefully this will be a relatively brief absence. Over 34 plate appearances before the injury, Soto scored three runs, drove in five runs, went deep once, and walked three times, posting a 164 wRC+.
Somehow, even with the new ABS challenge system, Soto does not lead the team in walks. That would be Francisco Lindor batting in front of him with ten walks, which is a good recipe for success to do in front of Soto. However, the walk is just about the only way Lindor is getting on base right now. Lindor had a couple of triples early in the season, which is already more than he had all of last year and an encouraging sign for those concerned that his hamate surgery may have zapped his power, but he has just five hits overall in 48 plate appearances, which is not good. However, he has seven runs scored to lead the team, so he is often being driven in when he does get on base. His 86 wRC+ over these first ten games should improve with time.
Speaking of improvement, one of the most prominent new faces on the position player side Bo Bichette was barreling toward poop emoji territory before he saved himself at the 11th hour with a strong performance over the weekend. He had a multi-hit game on both Friday and Saturday, raising his hit total to nine—a much more respectable number—with six RBIs, which is tied for the team lead. Still, Bichette holds an ugly 38 wRC+ over his first 48 plate appearances with a team-leading 12 strikeouts.
The story with fellow new Met Marcus Semien is quite similar. Outside of an RBI knock on Opening Day that was aided by the sun in Oneil Cruz’s eyes, Semien didn’t hit a lick in the early going until the past few games saw him raise his wRC+ from the doldrums all the way up to 117 in 41 plate appearances. Semien matches Bichette’s six RBIs for the season and has scored two runs—one of those coming on his first home run in a Mets uniform. Semien has also played strong defense at second base, as expected.
The new Met that has made the greatest impact so far has been Luis Robert Jr., who has been excellent with the bat to the tune of a 173 wRC+ in his first 38 Mets plate appearances. He matches Mark Vientos ten hits for the second-most on the team. One of those ten hits was a home run—his only extra-base hit so far. He is the third Met along with Bichette and Semien with a team-leading six RBIs. He has also scored six runs—second only to Lindor for the team lead. Perhaps the biggest pleasant surprise about Robert’s performance so far is that his eight walks are also second only to Lindor for the team lead. Robert is not particularly known for being patient at the plate, but he has exhibited uncharacteristic patience so far this season and it has paid off. Even when they were struggling to score runs, the Mets have demonstrated early on that they are capable of seeing a lot of pitches and and working deep counts as a collective.
Rounding out the new look Mets is Jorge Polanco, whose first couple of weeks as a Met have been okay-not-great. He’s struck the ball well on many occasions and not had much to show for it; the ball that was caught on the warning track that would have been the Mets’ second walk-off homer in as many days comes to mind. Polanco has amassed six hits—three singles and three doubles—and five walks in 37 plate appearances, good for a 76 wRC+. Polanco is still adjusting to first base and sharing time there with both Vientos and at times Brett Baty and Jared Young. Baty has been a jack of all trades, getting at-bats in both the infield and outfield. Baty posted a 71 wRC+ over his first 33 plate appearances, but his six runs scored match Robert for the second-most on the team. Baty has racked up eight hits, but unlike a lot of his teammates, he isn’t walking much. In fact, he hasn’t drawn a single walk this year and has struck out ten times—a troubling ratio to perhaps keep an eye on. Meanwhile, Young has made the most of his playing time, which will probably increase in Juan Soto’s absence. In addition to drawing two walks, Young has five hits in his first 15 plate appearances this season. He has scored two runs and driven in one run.
I didn’t have the heart to give Carson Benge a poop emoji in his very first meter in his rookie year, but his 27 wRC+ is the worst on the team in these first ten games, despite his thrilling Opening Day home run that represented his first hit in the big leagues. Overall, Benge has three hits and four walks in his first 34 major league plate appearances. He has also struck out eleven times, which is certainly a higher rate than you want. It is clear that Benge struggles against same-sided pitching—an expected growing pain for a young player. Carlos Mendoza has opted to keep him in there against lefties at times, while pinch hitting for him at other times, clearly wanting to strike the right balance between showing confidence in his young player and giving the team the best chance to win. Benge has scored three runs and driven in three runs so far in his rookie campaign.
Tyrone Taylor was another player in the “potential poop emoji” club who saved himself. His pinch hit three-run homer broke Saturday’s game open and represents one of only two hits from him in 15 plate appearances, three of his four RBIs for the season, and one of his two runs scored. Taylor is another player who will likely see more playing time during Soto’s IL stint with the Mets down an outfielder, especially with Mets brass wanting to give Robert regular rest to keep him healthy.
Francisco Alvarez was a big part of the weekend’s offensive breakout with a two home run game on Friday. Overall, he has three home runs and is the only player on the team with multiple long balls to his name. His 203 wRC+ is second only to Vientos for the team lead. Alvarez’s power surge in these first ten games earns him a fireball emoji to open 2026.
Luis Torrens provided the key hit in yesterday’s game—a go-ahead pinch hit RBI double in the eighth inning. It was Torrens’ fourth hit in 12 plate appearances and his first extra-base hit of the season. Torrens has scored two runs and driven in four runs in total.
