4 NY Mets players who could replace Starling Marte if he’s not ready for Opening Day

3) Jared Young

Capable of playing all of the corner spots even if first base is where he has played the most, Jared Young is a dark horse candidate to make the team and a Marte injury could improve his chances by a few percentage points. Working against him is the fact that he swings from the left side of the plate. As versatile as he may be, even capable of giving innings at second base and third base, the only way this would make sense is if he’s paired alongside Acuna on the Opening Day roster.

First, Young will need to have an explosive spring training to justify a move. Already on the 40-man roster but with minor league options, the Mets can patiently test him out in Triple-A before making any sort of decision. Despite being several years older than Baty and Acuna, he has only 22 games of MLB experience under his belt and worse results than even the former whose time in MLB has made us all a little doubtful.

It’s Young’s numbers from Triple-A and in Korea last season which jumped out as most favorable to his case as long as he shows the same things in camp with the Mets. He hit 11 home runs and slashed.285/.411/.506 in 286 plate appearances in Triple-A. He added 10 more home runs while hitting .326/.420/.660 in the KBO during his 169 chances.

A sneaky find by David Stearns, the roster wouldn’t have enough balance with him compared to some of the other choices.