The best Mets player to wear number 2

Surprisingly, the New York Mets have only had 25 players wear the number 2. Mickey Sasser is the Met who wore that number for the longest period of time as he wore it from 1988-1992. Some others who have worn the number include Dilson Herrera and Justin Turner.

The best player who has worn number 2 as a Met is Dominic Smith.

Dom Smith has had a very interesting Mets career. He was a former first-round pick and ended up being a very highly touted Mets prospect. Unfortunately, he never really stuck at first base and Pete Alonso burst onto the scene in 2019 making Smith learn how to play left field.

Dominic Smith is the best Mets player to wear number 2

When Smith was first called up in 2017, he wore number 22. He wore that number until the 2020 season. In the offseason prior to the 2020 season, the Mets signed former Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello. The right hander was a veteran coming to his new team and had worn number 22 in Boston so Smith either willingly changed the number or got a little something for the change.

Once Smith switched to number 2, he had his best season in the Major Leagues. Yoenis Cespedes had the DH spot initially, but once he left Dom Smith took his at bats and ran with it. In the shortened 2020 campaign Smith slashed .316/.377/.616 with 10 home runs and 42 RBI. His 166 WRC+ was fourth in the National League and he ended up finishing 13th in the National League MVP balloting.

After that amazing season he was given a full-time role, but it was in left field. Smith had a very rough 2021 season which saw him hit just 11 home runs with an 84 OPS+, nearly 100 points lower than his 2020 total of 168 OPS+. As one of the few Met projected regulars who played most of the games the Mets played, his regression was disappointing. Could it have been a nagging wrist issue? Could it have been the position change? Either way, Smith has to earn a full-time spot if he even is a Met next season.

His rough 2021 season doesn't change the fact that due to his outstanding 2020 season and the fact that the Mets just haven't had many great players wear number 2 that Dom Smith is the best player to have worn that number.