Jared Young Is Making His Case for a Bigger Role in Mets' 2027 Lineup

The New York Mets are trying to play spoiler down the stretch and are using their remaining games to make decisions on key players for the 2027 roster. With a looming 40-man roster crunch, every answer they find between now and October will be a big help in that process.

One player who has helped his cause over the past few weeks is Jared Young, who has been the starter at first base for the vast majority of the Mets' games. Since the All Star Break, Young has been heating up, batting .296 with two home runs, 11 RBI and an .844 OPS entering Wednesday's game with the San Diego Padres.

The Mets have also seen Young play good defense at first base, which remains a problem area after Pete Alonso's departure this winter. It is fair to wonder if Young will hit lefties enough to be a full-time starter, but with Jorge Polanco out for the season with lingering ankle bursitis, Young will have plenty of runway to earn a job with the 2027 team.

How Jared Young could fit the 2027 Mets

SNY's Chelsea Janes recently made an intriguing comparison of Young to Ryan O'Hearn, a player who needed a move from Kansas City to Baltimore before breaking out into a regular when given the opportunity.

Although he isn't a pure slugger like Alonso, Young's combo of solid pop and good defense has helped him generate 1.6 Wins Above Replacement in just 78 games, a pace that would have him on pace to be a 3-win player if he played a full season.

The key to determining Young's 2027 role will be exposing him to left-handed pitching more often. The Mets were more judicious with Young against lefties when they were trying to contend, often shielding him from those at-bats due to poor past performance against them, but now is the perfect opportunity to see if Young can develop into a guy who can handle most average left-handed pitchers.

The idea here would be to see if the Mets can get by with either Young at first base or a platoon of Young and a righty who can mash left-handed pitching. Platooning would buy the Mets time to find a longer-term answer at first and allow Stearns to explore other ways to improve the team's lineup and pitching staff.

The answer to that lefty/righty first-base platoon could ironically be Polanco, who would have been at first base this season before his Achilles issues began to emerge. A scenario where Polanco plays first base against left-handed pitching and DHs against righties could mitigate his injury risk, but that shouldn't be the Mets' top plan given Polanco's injury struggles this year.

Giving Young as much playing time as possible down the stretch could help the Mets solve a very important roster-building question for 2027. While some view Young's best fit as a bench bat who gets occasional starts, his performance over the past month has opened the possibility that the Mets may have found something more valuable.

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