Key Storylines to Watch During Mets Spring Camp

The Super Bowl has ended which means it’s baseball season. Teams across Major League Baseball have officially reported and game action from the Cactus and Grapefruit Leagues is underway. One of the most intriguing teams to watch this spring will be the New York Mets.

The Mets enter Port St. Lucie, Fla. on the heels of an exciting offseason, which saw them build on a roster that won 89 games and took the eventual World Champion Dodgers to the sixth game of the National League Championship Series.

Owner Steve Cohen and President of Baseball Operations David Stearns had a busy winter, dishing out over a billion dollars in guaranteed money. With so many new faces comes great stories to keep an eye on, from Juan Soto’s first introduction to Queens, Clay Holmes’ new role and a rebuilt starting rotation.

Here are the top items to keep an eye on as we inch closer to New York’s opener on March 27 in Houston.

Juan Soto has a new home

The story of the offseason came on Dec. 8, 2024, when it was announced that the Mets had inked Soto to the most lucrative contract in the history of professional sports. Now, we finally get to see him in action.

Soto is coming off a career-year, which saw him slug over 40 home runs with an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) nearing 1.000. Presumably hitting behind Francisco Lindor, Soto gives the Mets a top-five offensive player in the sport hitting behind a guy that finished second in NL MVP voting in 2024.

In the Mets inaugural game of the spring, Soto clubbed a 426-foot home run in his first at bat with his new club. The magnitude of Soto’s presence alone will make the Mets a must-watch Grapefruit League club.

Clay Holmes’ transition to the rotation

New York signed Holmes back in early December to a three-year, $38 million contract. The deal seemed expensive for Holmes, who had been a reliever for essentially his entire MLB career. It was then revealed that the right-hander would be experimented with as a starter.

Holmes came up as a starter in the Pirates system, but was quickly moved to the bullpen in 2018. Aside from never throwing more than 70 innings in a major-league season, Holmes’ limited repertoire was cited as a concern in his transition.

In response, Holmes added a new weapon with what he calls a “kick-change.” He had previously tinkered with a changeup in 2019, but it did not see much volume as he only threw the pitch 10 times all season. Now, Holmes expects the new pitch to be part of five-pitch sequence with includes a devastating sinker-sweeper combo.

As a starter, Holmes will have to be able to face a lineup 2-3 times a night which is where the changeup comes into play. His sinker was hit at a .351 clip by left-handed batters in 2024, which is a lane that he can now deploy the kick-change in.

Holmes is off to a good start as a starter as tossed three perfect innings in his spring debut on Saturday, Feb. 22, albeit against an Astros lineup comprised of mainly minor leaguers.

He then faced an Astros lineup that included Jeremy Pena, Christian Walker and Yordan Alvarez and went three scoreless again yesterday.

With two Mets starters already on the injured list, the spotlight will keep following Holmes throughout the spring as he continues to stretch his innings.

What does the back-end of the rotation look like?

Spring Camp has only been in session for a few weeks and the Mets are already down a pair of starters with Frankie Montas suffering a lat strain and Sean Manaea is sidelined with an oblique strain.

Stearns emphasized adding depth to the back of the rotation, hoping to not have to use it. Unfortunately, he is already needing to pull from the next line of pitchers. Behind Kodai Senga, David Peterson and Holmes, New York will now be looking at guys like Tylor Megill, Griffin Canning and Paul Blackburn to fill the vacant spots.

Megill has been the shoe-in depth starter for the Mets for the last few years, putting together his best season in 2024. He threw 78 innings, to a career-low 4.04 ERA. Barring a catastrophic end to the spring, he will likely fill one of the two or three open positions (depending on if New York truthfully plan to use a six-man rotation).

Another option to win a job once the Mets break camp is Max Kranick, who threw two shutout innings in his spring debut, and followed it up with another scoreless two-inning performance yesterday.

Kranick has been slated to pitch in bulk relief, but there’s a world where Mets use the bullpen to cover start days with a six-man rotation, stacking bulk relievers like Kranick, Jose Butto, or even Jose Ureña, who was just brought to camp on a minor league deal.

If the Mets choose to fill these voids externally, old friend Jose Quintana is still a free agent that could help. They could also opt for a younger piece as top-pitching prospect Brandon Sproat is likely to be called up this season, although he’s very unlikely to break camp.

With at least two openings in the rotation, this will be a key battle to watch as we enter March.

The battle for starting center fielder

An underrated move that came at the beginning of the offseason, was Stearns’ trade for center fielder Jose Siri.

Despite an impressively low .210 career batting average — a number that dipped to .187 in 2024 — Siri brings tremendous value defensively and in the power department. Siri hit 25 and 18 home runs in the past two seasons, respectively, and has also swiped over 10 bags in both years.

Defensively, Siri is as good as it gets. Baseball Savant places the 29-year old Dominican-import in the 99th percentile in Outs Above Average (OAA), 97th percentile in arm strength and the 99th percentile in spring speed. Stearns was able to get Siri from Tampa Bay in exchange for reliever Eric Orze, a move which essentially forced Harrison Bader out of town.

Bader was the Mets defensive-minded center fielder last year, but lacked Siri’s power. Complementing him will by Tyrone Taylor, who quietly had a solid season in 2024. Taylor only hit .248, but hit seven home runs and stole 11 bases in a part-time role. Similar to Siri, Taylor is in the 90th percentile in sprint speed and 86th in OAA.

It is clear that neither player will hold a true starter position, as their respective natures profile as more of a split role. However, it will be interesting to watch how manager Carlos Mendoza splits playing time between the two and who will be the one trotting out to center when the season opens in Houston.

Who will start at second base

Another position that the Mets have a plethora of options at is second base.

Among the players that Mendoza can pick from are Jeff McNeil and Luisangel Acuña. McNeil — a former batting champion — is likely the favorite to land the starting gig.

Mendoza told reporters that McNeil is likely to retain his job as the everyday second baseman, but he will have a relatively short leash. After leading baseball in batting in 2022, McNeil has dealt with injuries and underperformance, hitting .270 and .238 in the two years since.

If McNeil struggles, Acuña would seemingly be the next man in line, as he excelled in limited opportunities last year. Filling in for an injured Lindor, Acuña hit .308 while slugging three home runs in 14 games. He. did struggle in the minors, hitting .258 in Triple-A but stole 40 bases.

Mendoza is at no shortage of options up the middle, as former-top prospect Ronny Mauricio is another second base option. Mauricio may not be available for opening day as he rehabs a knee injury, but once he is game-ready, his power-speed combo will be an intriguing card in Mendoza’s deck.

Beyond that, the Mets have experimented with Brett Baty at multiple infield spots, including second base. If Baty’s bat lives up to the hype that got him selected in the first round back in 2019, he will surely find playing time somewhere on the diamond.

Any of these four could see significant playing time at the keystone base, and with a good spring any of McNeil, Acuña or Baty could get the opening day nod as Mauricio recovers.

Will Francisco Alvarez become the star we’ve been waiting for?

Alvarez is entering his third season as the starting catcher for the Mets. As a rookie, he slugged 25 home runs, but hit just .209 in 2023.

Last year, his averaged jumped to .237 but he was sapped of any power he had while dealing with a thumb injury in the early part of the year. As a 22-year-old in 2024, Alvarez hit just 11 home runs and posted an OPS of .710.

Through his first two years, Alvarez has shown spurts of the promise that made him among the best prospects in baseball just a few years ago, but has never put it together over a full season. Alvarez’s ability to steal strikes has kept him as a valuable piece for the Mets, even with the disappointing offense, as his framing sits in the 88th percentile.

He has been given the starting catcher position, a spot that is his to lose for years to come. The only question now is how high will the ceiling be for Alvarez, and when will he start to reach it?

This spring could be indicative of the season that Alvarez has in store as he enters his age-23 season.