Last December, we took a look back at Jared Young’s 2025. It was an uneven affair, particularly at the major league level, but much of what made him an exciting minor league signing remained true. His Triple-A damage numbers were excellent, his approach solid, and his contact metrics viable enough to make him look like a useful depth piece. What was most exciting (to me, at least) at the time was that Young seemingly had a path to more playing time in 2026 where he’d hopefully get a chance to actualize
those skills at the major league level.
Needless to say, a lot has happened in the intervening months. Jorge Polanco was brought in to play first base. Bo Bichette signed to play third base in January, and then Luis Robert was acquired to play center. With Carson Benge in line to get the first shot at the left field job and neither Mark Vientos nor Ronny Mauricio traded at this point in the offseason, there’s now no clear pathway for Young to get major league playing time. Per Roster Resource, he’s slated to start the year in Triple-A.
Objectively, this is all a very good thing of course. The Mets brought in several good players—ones clearly better than Young—and now have both a stronger major league roster and intriguing depth in the minors. You’d much rather be the Mets of 2026 than the Mets of the 2010s, who lacked the resources or savvy to make these sorts of additions and wound up relying on guys like Young with nothing even resembling a backup plan.
Still, I can’t help but miss those days just a little bit. There was something special, magical even, in the exercise of convincing ourselves that this washed up veteran or that former top prospect would work out, and that the Mets were geniuses were for scooping them up. Maybe it’s age, maybe it’s the state of the world around us, or perhaps it’s simply succumbing to nostalgia; whatever the root cause, I long on some level for that special blend of delusion and hope unique to going all in as a fan on this sort of player.
Overtly philosophical commentary aside, Young is set to play a similar role this season to last. He’ll likely have a narrow window of opportunity before the upper minors prospects—Ryan Clifford, Jacob Reimer, A.J. Ewing—push him even further down the depth chart. I for one will continue to delude myself into believing he’ll work out, and I hope he gets a chance to prove me right.
