Unleashing young NY Mets players will have us forgetting all about coaching loss

After losing some of their top sluggers to injuries, the New York Mets need to start pressing another big advantage their roster now features: speed.

In 2025, the Mets were fifth in MLB with 147 steals as a team. Juan Soto led the team with 38, and Francisco Lindor was behind him with 31 steals. Many analysts credited Antoan Richardson, New York’s first-base coach at the time, with helping unlock the speed and stolen base potential of the roster.

But the 2026 Mets’ coaching staff – and roster – is different. Richardson is gone after signing on to be the Braves’ first-base coach in the offseason. The Mets’ new roster also features more speed than last year’s iteration, in no small part thanks to the recent promotions of outfielders A.J. Ewing and Nick Morabito. And both of those youngsters join fellow rookie and speedster Carson Benge in the lineup.

Mets can tap into rookies’ speed amid injuries

It’s no secret that New York has been struck by an especially bad case of the injury bug. Of the nine players in their Opening Day lineup, four of them are currently on the IL. That’s bad enough, but what’s worse is who those players are.

Two of them – Lindor and Francisco Alvarez – ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in slugging percentage on the 2025 Mets. A third, Jorge Polanco, would have ranked third on last year’s Mets behind Soto and Pete Alonso. Luis Robert, the fourth player in the group, has power potential as well with a 38-home run season on his resume.

It is not surprising, then, that the Mets also rank dead last in the National League with their slugging percentage of .360 entering Tuesday’s game against the Nationals. Their 42 total home runs before May 19 were fourth-fewest in the league and sixth-fewest in MLB. Bo Bichette’s recent power surge helps those marks, but the overall marks remain far closer to the bottom of the majors than the top.

How do the Mets counteract those injuries to top sluggers? By using speed to make singles and walks feel like doubles and two free bases on balls. Through the first 48 games of the season, New York has just 26 steals as a team. That ranks 21st in the majors – the bottom third of MLB. With Benge, Ewing and Morabito all up, that number needs to start increasing to balance out some of the power the Mets are losing from their injured players.

Mets should put loss of Antoan Richardson behind them

New York has already seen what kind of speed tool Benge and Ewing have. MLB’s Statcast tool puts the former in the 83rd percentile for sprint speed. Ewing ranks in the 95th percentile. Morabito hasn’t shown off his speed on the basepaths at the major league level yet, but his scouting report on Statcast lists speed as his best tool by far. He stole 108 bases over the last two seasons in the Minors and already had 14 steals in Syracuse before getting the call up to the Show on Tuesday.

As of May 19, Benge leads the Mets with nine attempts and eight steals. Ewing already has two steals on three attempts – and maybe should have been called safe on his third – in seven games. With more reps at the major league level, Morabito should start to stack up steals and attempts as well.

More steals from the Mets’ three youngsters will give New York’s hitters more chances to hit with runners in scoring position. That, in turn, can remove pressure from top sluggers like Juan Soto and Mark Vientos to hit deep balls or find gaps in the outfield to create scoring opportunities. It also lets the Mets play more small ball, deploying strategies like hit-and-runs and squeeze bunts – the latter of which they’ve already started to attempt more in the last two weeks.

In the meantime, they can start putting their split with Richardson behind them. More speed on the roster in 2026 means more chances for steals and perhaps less of a need to rely on the savvy of a first-base coach. And looking at MLB’s team stats, the Braves’ 23 steals rank below the Mets’ total and third-fewest in the National League. Perhaps Richardson alone need not get all of the credit for New York’s success on the bases last year.

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