In a bit of surprising news, the Mets and first base coach Antoan Richardson were unable to come to an agreement on a new contract, and the coach is expected to depart the organization, according to Jeff
Passan.
The news comes a few weeks after Richardson survived the team’s coaching staff purge. That was hardly surprising, as he was largely credited with the team’s base running prowess this year. Most notably, Juan Soto stole a career high 38 bases—his previous high was 12—en route to a near 40/40 season. In all, the Mets were successful in 147 of 165 stolen base attempts (89% success rate), and most of their unsuccessful attempts were runners being picked off first base.
Richardson has been the club’s first base coach since 2024. He joined the club after spending five seasons as the first base coach for the Giants. With his departure, the club will be tasked with replacing another one of its coaches. The Mets kept skipper Carlos Mendoza, but they parted ways with their hitting coaches (Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes), their pitching coach (Jeremy Hefner), their third base coach (Mike Sarbaugh), while their bench coach John Gibbons resigned. All this came just days after the conclusion of their disappointing 2025 campaign. Troy Snitker was recently hired as the hitting coach.
