NY Mets Monday Morning GM: Center field philosophy and execution are underappreciated

Recent New York Mets rumors of interest in Luis Robert Jr. suggest David Stearns isn’t fully content at one of baseball’s most difficult positions to fill. Gone are the days of multiple Hall of Famers, if any, patrolling the outfield position up the middle. Center field is a position where, if you can get superb defense, you should be satisfied enough.

In that case, the Mets should be more than satisfied with the results in center field this season. Tyrone Taylor has been masterful in center field. Choose any statistic you’d like. He ranks among the best at any position. His Outs Above Average is in the 92nd percentile, Arm Strength is in the 87th percentile, and his Arm Value trails at a still awesome 77th percentile. All the while, Taylor is giving the Mets quality at-bats, speed on the bases, and enough all-around results to make him a satisfying choice in center field even if the intention wasn’t originally for him to have such a heavy workload.

The Mets have a philosophy of defense first in center field that can go easily overlooked

Taylor is batting right around the .248/.299/.401 he slash last season with the power numbers being the largest deficit. A lack of doubles is mostly to blame why his slugging percentage is down and his OPS will have to scale a wall to the .701 it finished at last season. Taylor was in a nearly identical situation at one point in 2024. Although the starting center field job looked like it belonged to Harrison Bader, Taylor managed to work his way into the lineup regularly and eventually take over the yeoman’s share.

Tracking well to beat last year’s 4 Outs Above Average while currently sitting at 3 this year, we should keep in mind he had only a 1 OAA in center field. Taylor did most of his show-stealing as a right fielder for the Mets in 2024 where he helped supplement the team when it was clear Starling Marte had little business owning a mitt.

The planned duo of Taylor and Jose Siri manning center field went astray with the latter’s injury, but the philosophical thinking behind valuing defense at the position remains the same. Jeff McNeil’s presence in center field feels experimental and probably only needed if Taylor needs a day off. They’ve denied Brandon Nimmo his chances to go back to the position that he played so valiantly in 2022. Jose Azocar lingers on the roster for the main purpose of ensuring they don’t get stuck losing a game because a center fielder fails them on defense.

Rumors of the Mets circling the idea of adding Robert in a trade is no surprise with Stearns being the kind of person who’ll look at every option available. An extremely good defensive center fielder at times in his career, the question becomes whether a change of scenery (and a little more health) can turn his career around. 

No heat yet on those Mets rumors, we can appreciate what the team has now and has done at one of the toughest position puzzles to solve.