Why Bo Bichette is having a better season than NY Mets fans realize and why he's not

It has been a tale of two seasons for Bo Bichette in his first campaign with the New York Mets. Bichette signed a massive three-year, $126 million deal with the Mets in free agency this past offseason, but got off to an abysmal start in New York.

Through the end of May, Bichette, who was brought in to play third base, was batting .219/.275/.308 with five home runs and 28 RBI. Bichette's horrid start played a big part in the Mets' poor start to the season given he was brought in to replace the production of first baseman Pete Alonso in the middle of the lineup.

However, Bichette has turned his season around since the calendar flipped forward to June and is now having a much better showing. This is the big bopper the Mets expected to get after investing so much money in him this past winter.

So let's look at why Bichette is having a better season than Mets fans realize and why he's not.

Why Bo Bichette is having a better season than Mets fans may realize

Bichette, 28, is among the National League leaders in hits with 149 (tied for 10th) on the year. This will likely come as a surprise to Mets fans after Bichette got off to such a slow start. But since Jun. 1, Bichette is hitting .299 (97 hits) with 11 homers, 44 RBI and 43 runs scored in 83 games.

Another surprising note is that Bichette has one Outs Above Average as the Mets' everyday third baseman after having no experience at the position in his career. It is certainly fair to say that Bichette has held his own at the hot corner.

It's hard to not sit there and wonder what the Mets' season could have been had Bichette gotten off to a better start. Regardless, now that Bichette seems comfortable in New York, his turnaround is something to build on for next season as long as he doesn't opt-out of his contract this offseason.

Why Bo Bichette isn't having such a good season

Overall, Bichette is having a down season because he is still well below his career norms in terms of his slash line. Bichette is slashing .266/.314/.401 with a .715 OPS, 16 homers and 72 RBI in 142 games in 2026. For his career, Bichette has a .290/.333/.459 slash line with a .792 OPS in 890 games. That's what got him the big contract with the Mets.

He also has a 98 wRC+, which is two points below league average and just a 1.8 fWAR when he was projected to have a 4.4 fWAR this year.

Will he stay or will he go?

The question that remains with Bichette is: Will he opt-out of his contract after the season? Bichette has opt outs in his deal for the next two seasons, where he is set to make $42 million annually if he stays.

Despite his turnaround, it doesn't seem like Bichette has done enough to justify opting out of his contract after the campaign ends. The best bet for Bichette is to opt in, put together a full season that is closer to his career standards, and then test the free agent market again in 2028.

At this point, it's hard to envision another team giving Bichette a figure greater than $42 million this offseason after his horrific start to the year and overall slash line.

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