The Mets are making significant changes to their coaching staff heading into next season, according to several reports. That includes parting ways with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and hitting coaches
Jeremy Barnes and Eric Chavez.
Earlier this week, David Stearns addressed the media following the conclusion of a disappointing season for the Mets. During that session, he revealed that manager Carlos Mendoza would return, but the organization would evaluate the rest of their staff before sharing any news. The team took the week, but it seems they have made their calls, parting ways with their pitching coach and hitting coaches, as well as bench coach John Gibbons and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh.
Hefner is perhaps the most surprising, or at least the most seismic, of those changes. The former Mets’ hurler, who served as assistant pitching coach for the Twins in 2019, was hired in December 2019 and has been the pitching coach across two ownership regimes and three managers—Luis Rojas, Buck Showalter, and Mendoza. However, he was unable to escape the association with the team’s pitching decline, as the rotation’s struggles ultimately led to the team’s demise this season. Hefner confirmed the news that he would not be returning in 2026.
Less surprising is the club parting ways with their hitting coaches. Beyond the ‘Fab Four’, as Steve Cohen coined them, most of the hitters on this team actively struggled or regressed. The most notable cases are Mark Vientos, who slid backwards after a breakthrough 2024 campaign—it’s worth noting that JD Martinez was identified as a key reason for the third baseman’s surge—and Francisco Alvarez, who struggled but immediately regained his form after spending some time with the Triple-A hitting coaches. Chavez has been on the coaching staff since 2022, serving as hitting coach in 2022, bench coach in 2023, and then back to coaching the hitting. Barnes joined the club in 2023.
Following the news, Gibbons told the Post, “It’s time for a new adventure, see where baseball takes me. Time for a fresh face in that job. Mendy and Stearns are the real deal and the team’s in great hands.” Gibbons has been in the role since the start of the 2024 season. The organization will now look for someone to sit at Mendoza’s right hands and, ideally, provide some guidance and support to the third-year skipper, who struggled at time and made some head-scratching decisions in his sophomore campaign.
While Sarbaugh, who has been the third base coach since the 2024 season, has also been let go, there is no news yet on first base coach Antoan Richardson. Given the success the team experienced in stealing bases in 2025, he could survive the axe for another year. Like Sarbaugh, Richardson has been on the coaching staff since 2024. Catching instructor Glenn Sherlock recently announced his retirement. There is no word yet on bullpen coach José Rosado and strategy coach Danny Barnes, either.
