Jeff McNeil Talks Mets Teardown, the A's Young Core, and One Interesting Stat

The former New York Mets second baseman also discussed his former team's teardown this offseason

Aug 12, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil (1) at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

There were times throughout the 2025 regular season that former New York Mets right-hander Luis Severino would be in the A's clubhouse in Sacramento, watching, and cheering on his former teammates in Queens. Turns out his newest teammate, Jeff McNeil was spending some of his own time watching the A's, and admiring them from afar himself.

"It's a super fun team to watch. Actually, I watched quite a few of their games, being in New York and [the A's] games starting at 10 p.m. out there. Just a super fun, young team. Super excited to be a part of it. The A's have a great young core, and I just want to do my part to try and help them out. I think we're gonna have a good squad."

At his introductory press conference on Tuesday, McNeil didn't want to discuss some of the drama that had followed him around during his time with the Mets, instead choosing to look towards the future with his new team.

McNeil on the Mets core no more

That said, he did have a couple of comments on the Mets core being broken up this offseason following the departures of Pete Alonso and Edwin Díaz, plus the trades of himself and Brandon Nimmo.

"I think the most surprising one was Brandon Nimmo. I know he signed that long-term deal there, and I think he had plans to be there for a long time. When I saw he got traded, I knew the Mets were open to anything. Speaking to Pete Alonso a little bit this off season, I knew there was a chance he wasn't going to come back.

"I knew it was definitely a possibility that they were going to go in a different direction. And that's, that's what they did. I just wish them all the best."

When asked if the breaking up of the Mets core is a direct reflection of the season that the team had in 2025, and McNeil said, "I think that's hard to decide. We missed the playoffs by one game. If we make the playoffs, are we blowing up the team? Who knows? It is business though. The Mets decided to go this route, and they're thinking it's best for them in the long run."

McNeil's connections to the A's roster

When asked which players he's familiar with on the A's roster, he mentioned former teammate. Luis Severino, and Tyler Soderstrom, who is nearly a decade younger than McNeil. We asked the A's new second baseman where they'd crossed paths.

"We have the same agency, and we actually played in a golf tournament together up at Pebble Beach. I think we spent three days together up there, hanging out. I got to know him pretty well. But actually, I think I met him when he was a draft prospect. I think he was going to senior year, and our agency brought him down to the Central Coast, and we played some golf at one of my home courses down here."

McNeil by the numbers

This past season McNeil finished up with a .243 batting average, a .335 OBP and a .746 OPS, but he was extremely happy with the season he had for about five months. It was that final four weeks that got away from him.

"I felt like this last year, I had a really good year. I was above an .800 OPS I felt like most of the year. Down the stretch my shoulder was bugging me a little bit, and I wasn't swinging the bat too well. It was just a grind for me. I didn't finish the year how I wanted to, but I felt like I made some great strides last year.

"I do like to look at the numbers, the analytics, and it was pretty comparable to when I won the batting title. I think I had an extremely low batting average on balls in play (BABIP) this year. I feel like I ran into a lot of bad luck, but hit the ball really hard, and I felt like my swing was exactly where I wanted it. Just got a little unlucky, but that's baseball.

"I think when I won the batting title, my BABIP was like .350, which was somewhat lucky. So this year [2026] I want to build on what I did last year."

The BABIP that he was talking about for this season was .253, while the league average was .291. He was in fact a little unlucky in that regard. That said, it was also just .256 in 2024, so this could be more or a recent trend than a bout with bad luck. That will be something to keep an eye on in 2026.