Projected NY Mets lineup for 2026 has a major question near the top

The 2025 New York Mets were never bold enough to bat Juan Soto leadoff. He had 96 starts batting second and another 64 in the number three spot. He did much better batting second, but it had less to do with the where and more with the when.

From mid-May through early August, Soto was the number two hitter. He did well at times, but the end result wasn’t positive. An inferior .250/.386/.509 slash line versus the .272/.401/.535 while batting second had the Mets switching him back to the number two spot.

The projected Mets starting lineup for 2026 according to FanGraphs has Soto batting third once again with Marcus Semien as the team’s number two hitter. Two straight seasons of an OBP barely over .300, is this actually what the Mets will do?

Marcus Semien hasn’t been a number two hitter for a couple of years

The Texas Rangers used Semien all over their 2025 lineup with a .141 batting average out of the leadoff spot and .218 when batting third. He never did hit second for them. It’s not because they knew better or anything. They just had other holes to plug him into.

Semien hit .230/.305/.364 last season, coming up short of the .237/.308/.391 from the year prior. He was the American League hits leader in 2023 and finished third in the AL MVP vote. It was actually the third time in his career he finished third in the vote and with the third team. Why not shock everyone and make it a fourth with the Mets?

Expectations for Semien’s bat aren’t exceptionally high. The phrase “once is random, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a trend” need not apply here. It’s already a trend and it’s rolling downhill for Semien as an offensive player.

It’s difficult to conjure up exactly what the Mets starting lineup could look like in 2026 with the players they’ve added in. Jorge Polanco is no one’s dream clean-up hitter nor is Semien a player appearing to be a number two hitter. Polanco in the five-hole and Semien closer to the bottom would provide some sense of satisfaction although that would require two significant additions which could be too hearty for this offseason’s Mets mission.