Carlos Mendoza dropped 2 future NY Mets starting lineup hints on Opening Day

There may not be a more discussed New York Mets starting lineup for months than the very first. Up against Houston Astros lefty Framber Valdez, the team went right-handed heavy with only Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo swinging from the left side of the plate. Soto’s position didn’t change. The perception for Nimmo is he’ll hit fifth against lefties and trade places with Mark Vientos in the clean-up spot against righties.

Carlos Mendoza’s first Mets starting lineup of the year didn’t offer any major shockwaves, but did suggest two hints moving forward.

The Mets will probably keep the catcher spot in the number nine spot

If there’s a switcheroo to debate, it would be to have Luisangel Acuna hitting ninth to give the Mets some speed at the very bottom of the order. Rather than do this, Mendoza put him in at the number eight spot with Luis Torrens batting ninth. It appears the Mets will lock the catcher spot in at number during the absence of Francisco Alvarez. Hayden Senger certainly won’t be hitting any higher. If Torrens can’t up against a lefty, it’s going to take a hot or cold bat for this to change.

It’s not worth getting upset about or spending too many breaths debating. Avoiding back-to-back lefties in the lineup seems to be the preferred method. Acuna should be replaced by Brett Baty in the number eight spot beginning on Friday. Everyone else gets to stay pretty much put with the catcher at number nine and the center fielder in the seventh spot. And on that note, we had the one possible surprise with the first lineup of 2025.

The Mets may prefer Tyrone Taylor against lefties, at least for now

Tyrone Taylor had pretty good reverse splits for much of last year but ended up with nearly identical totals against righties and lefties. Versus righties, he slashed .249/.296/.406. Against lefties, Taylor slashed .245/.306/.392.

His shared center field duties with Jose Siri can be a bit questionable as each has many of the same qualities. They play the position remarkably well, can run, and have some pop—Siri much more so. Does going with Taylor over Siri on Opening day suggest a preference of one over the other?

A career with several extremes, Siri has not done well against lefties. A lifetime .196/.253/.380 hitter against them compared to a mildly better .215/.271/.418 against right-handed pitchers, we can come to a quick conclusion with the Mets planning to make Taylor their starting center fielder against lefties with sprinkled opportunities versus lefties.

Fluidity of player usage was huge for the Mets last year to discover what worked best. The lineup is what it is and a player like Torrens can definitely move up, especially against a lefty. The center field competition might simply be a back-and-forth of using the hotter player until the icicles begin to form.