Why NY Mets adding Yankees World Series Champion to coaching staff already feels different

The New York Mets are undergoing a lot of changes to their leadership even without a complete overhaul. Many people kept their jobs, Andy Green staying on to manage as one of the more notable events.

The Mets will have another name added to the coaching staff. Mariano Duncan, a member of the 1996 New York Yankees World Series Championship roster, has been promoted from Double-A to an unspecified role.

Throughout the David Stearns era, the Mets have done little to bring in new coaches with vast major league experience. Duncan, who played in parts of 12 MLB seasons and even won a World Series prior to joining the Yankees back in 1989 with the Cincinnati Reds, adds that kind of peer-to-peer leadership the Mets might have lacked.

The Mets needed more ex-big league players on the coaching staff and they’re getting them

Duncan didn’t just have a cup of coffee in the majors. Parts of a dozen seasons makes him a name anyone who followed baseball in the late 1980s and through the 1990s will know. Your storage unit still has a shoebox full of his baseball cards.

The 2026 Mets coaching staff had a severe lack of coaches who could connect with players because they’ve been there, done that. Green didn’t have a long major league career, but it is on his resume. Hitting coaches Troy Snitker and Jeff Albert never played in the majors nor did pitching coach Justin Willard. Third base coach Tim Leiper played a dozen seasons in the minors, but never made it to the show for that connection to the players. Bench coach Kai Correa went into coaching immediately after his college career.

Just because someone has played the game at a high level or hasn’t doesn’t give a team one result or the other. Plenty of successful big league players can’t coach and vice versa. However, in an offseason where things had to be tweaked and not everyone could be fired, adding coaches who can say to players they’ve already been there has value. Like it or not, we’re all more prone to listen to someone who has been in our shoes before.

Before re- joining the Mets in 2026, Duncan spent a year managing the Mumbai Cobras over in India. He had already been a minor league coach for several different Mets affiliates before going overseas. At 63, he brings a wealth of knowledge and possibly a connection that can help with the Latin American players. Born in the Dominican Republic, the immediate thought could be how he might work alongside Juan Soto or even Jorge Polanco. A diverse defender, helping Brett Baty better himself defensively up the middle is another one of those tasks on his to-do list. He might even be the first to give Jefferson Rojas a handshake whenever he gets promoted. Duncan will already know him from the brief time they spent in Binghamton last year.

At times, Stearns is caught trying to reinvent the wheel a little too often. Promoting an experienced big leaguer who has had a variety of roles feels like the kind of decision that's right inside the box and exactly what the club lacked at the start of 2026.

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