The Baby Mets Era Should Be Coming to an End Soon

The collection of "Baby Mets" that debuted between 2022 and 2024 largely failed to live up to expectations. It wouldn't be surprising if most of them were gone within a year or two.

September may be Mark Vientos' last chance to stick with the New York Mets beyond this season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The 2026 New York Mets have turned to a youth movement as some of their young players have become featured attractions. Nolan McLean, Carson Benge, Christian Scott and A.J. Ewing have become mainstays this season, while Jonah Tong will use September to audition for a spot on the 2027 roster.

The excitement around the young players is definitely palpable, but it is important to remember that development in baseball isn't always linear. The Mets themselves are a proof of concept as the previous generation of young players, commonly called the "Baby Mets" by the fan base, is dangerously close to completely petering out of the organization's plans.

That baby Mets quintet is largely defined by the homegrown foursome of Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, and Ronny Mauricio alongside LuisAngel Acuna, one of their big adds at the 2023 trade deadline. Each demonstrated potential along the way, indicating a path towards being part of the Mets' future. But those flashes have not morphed into consistent roles.

Acuna, who was a spark plug at the end of 2024 and won the National League's Rookie of the Month honors in April of 2025, is already gone as he was sent to the Chicago White Sox in the Luis Robert trade. Mauricio hasn't looked the same since suffering a major knee injury in the 2023 offseason, while Vientos' monster second half of 2024 and Baty's solid 2025 look like outliers in disappointing careers.

The only one of the baby Mets who has established a foothold in a regular role is Alvarez, who has the benefit of being a 24-year-old catcher with pop. There are significant flaws in Alvarez's offensive game. However, his defensive regression has seen him cede significant reps to Luis Torrens down the stretch.

What the baby Mets' failures can teach the current Mets

To be fair to the baby Mets, a lot of the issues they experienced during their development were not their fault. The Mets' player development apparatus was a mess at the beginning of Steve Cohen's ownership tenure, which saw him cycle through multiple top baseball executives and managers with different visions on team building.

That kind of haphazard development can lead to gaps in a player's game that don't always get corrected in the minor leagues. Learning on the fly in the major leagues isn't easy, and the Mets burned a lot of the option years on players like Vientos and Mauricio by yo-yo-ing them around without giving them consistent playing time early in their careers.

The end result is that the Mets have several players with promising traits and noticeable flaws, and no room to improve them. The fact that Vientos and Mauricio will be out of options after this year makes it problematic to carry them, especially since each has defensive issues and certain hitting spots.

There is a real possibility that the Mets could non-tender both players, since having one-dimensional bench players is not a good way to build a flexible roster. Baty has a minor league option remaining and can play second and third, which could give him a runway to stick as a utility player, but the Mets are also not utilizing him properly by trying to shoehorn him into the outfield to find him at-bats.

New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez has been the lone success story in the baby Mets era, but he also has flaws in his game. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Alvarez is the most interesting case since the Mets could use him in tandem with Torrens to give them time to rebuild their defense to a passable level. The problem is that Alvarez tends to have a hole in his swing, particularly being prone to chasing high fastballs, which can be exploited by other teams.

The Mets did receive some interest in Alvarez at the trade deadline last month and could consider dealing him to address another area of the team if they are comfortable with Torrens as their main catcher. In that scenario, it is conceivable that Baty could be the only baby Met back in 2027.

The failures of the baby Mets can showcase how tough it is to develop big-league talent, especially without any organizational consistency. The current crop of rookies has had the same player development program in place for three years under David Stearns, who came from Milwaukee, which is known for its excellent ability to develop talent.

The Mets have also changed the type of players they draft and target under Stearns, chasing more athletic hitters and pitchers with plus stuff, giving them a chance to hit as big leaguers with proper development.

A smarter development plan, along with a mix of more diverse prospects, is evidence that the Mets have learned from what went wrong with the baby Mets to give this current generation of youngsters a better chance at sustained success.

Get Mets On SI straight to your inbox: sign up for our free newsletter here.