Scouts Believe Mets' Bo Bichette is Not Fully Healthy

Bo Bichette's bat is heating up for the New York Mets.

But scouts who have watched Bichette don't think he looks fully healthy when running the bases and believe he's still nursing the PCL sprain in his left knee from late last season.

"He didn't go first-to-third the other day," one NL scout said. "Couldn't beat out a ball that got away from (Jeff) McNeil either."

According to Baseball Savant, Bichette's sprint speed is down to 25.4 ft/sec this season, which is quite slow. Bichette's sprint speed was 26.1 ft/sec last year in the regular season before he injured his knee in September. Upon returning for the World Series in October, Bichette's sprint speed was 24.0 ft/sec and he averaged 23.2 ft/sec on base-to-base sprints. For context, Giancarlo Stanton's sprint speed is 23.8 ft/sec this season, one of the slowest marks in the league.

Even still, Bichette has shown the natural ability to hit the baseball. After spraining his PCL in September, the 28-year-old came back to record eight hits and batted .348 with one home run and six RBI in seven games in the Fall Classic last year. And despite a slow start to his Mets tenure, Bichette is slashing .304/.360/.413 with a .773 OPS, one homer and six RBI in 11 games in April. Overall, Bichette is hitting .235/.284/.309 with a .593 OPS in 16 games this season.

The Mets signed Bichette to a three-year, $126 million deal (opt outs after 2026 and 2027) in January after missing out on outfielder Kyle Tucker in free agency, They're counting on Bichette to be their everyday third baseman, one of the best hitters in their lineup and to protect Juan Soto (right calf strain, out 2-3 weeks) when he returns from the IL.

New York doesn't need Bichette to be a speed demon on the bases. However, they do need him to stay on the field throughout the course of a full 162-game season and rake at the plate.

Bichette has dealt with a slew of lower body injuries dating back to 2023. This has caused him to miss a total of 131 games during this span.

The good news is that Bichette's bat is starting to come around. But scouts that have watched him play can see that he's not fully healthy when running.

Why The Mets DFA'd Luis Garcia

When speaking with reporters before Sunday's 1-0 series finale loss to the Athletics, manager Carlos Mendoza explained why the Mets ultimately decided to designate reliever Luis Garcia so early in the season.

"Needed an arm...not an easy one"

Carlos Mendoza on the Mets designating Luis Garcia for assignment: pic.twitter.com/chBcmKW9aB
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 12, 2026

"Needed an arm," Mendoza said. "Especially with the way we used the bullpen the last couple of nights. Feel like we needed some protection there in case something happens there."

"Not an easy one," he added.

Garcia had a 7.11 ERA in 6.1 innings this season. He is owed $1.75 million guaranteed. The Mets called up righty reliever Joey Gerber to take his place in the bullpen.

The Mets replaced lefty Richard Lovelady with future Hall of Fame reliever Craig Kimbrel on Saturday.

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