The Mets understand the low-risk, high-reward talent they acquired over the winter with veteran center-fielder Luis Robert Jr.
But in order to help the 28-year-old rediscover the level of play that made him an elite defender and an imposing bat to the tune of 38 home runs in 2023, they have to keep him healthy and play it slow.
“The tools are there,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Robert, who has missed 114 games over the last two seasons. “Elite power, the defense, the speed. When he’s healthy, we saw it in 2023, a lot of the things he can do. We gotta keep him healthy and we’re going to be proactive… He has a chance to do something special here.”
That means he will not be playing in any spring training games “out of the gate,” and instead is focusing on building up the strength of his lower half. He has been largely plagued by hamstring and groin injuries throughout his career, but is currently deemed “100%” healthy.
“This is something that when we traded for him, our trainers put their hands on it and identified some of the things, especially in the lower half, that need to be strengthened up,” Mendoza continued. “He’s going through full workouts, he’s going to get live at-bats, but as far as putting him in game settings when he has to be a full-go, like beat out a groundball, we don’t want to put him out of the gate. So he’s going to be on a progression.”
Mendoza and the Mets are taking slow spring progressions with a few others, including catcher Francisco Alvarez after an injury-riddled 2025 season, and the newly-acquired Jorge Polanco, who underwent knee surgery in October of 2024.
Both will likely be unavailable for the first week of spring games.
Utility man Brett Baty felt something in his right hamstring roughly two weeks ago, per Mendoza, meaning he will also be slowly ramped up during the exhibition slate.
“Going through his conditioning and training at home, while sprinting, he felt something and reported it right away,” Mendoza said. “He’s in a good spot now.”
Once perceived as the franchise third baseman, Baty is now expected to accrue his at-bats while backing up Bo Bichette at third base, Marcus Semien at second, Polanco at first, and — if things go to plan — Carson Benge in right field.
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