ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Jared Young has spent nine years chasing this stretch, and now that it’s here, he’s not acting like it’s some kind of surprise.
The Mets first baseman has turned a long, hard road through pro ball - one that included a stint in Korea and more than 2,500 minor league at-bats - into a real big-league run this season. Through 91 games, the 31-year-old is batting .265 with eight homers, 16 doubles and 35 RBI. Strip away Juan Soto, who lives in his own offensive tier, and Young is tied with rookie Carson Benge for the best OPS among active Mets at .758.
“I always fully believed it,” Young told NJ.com this week at Tropicana Field. “You just gotta keep believing in yourself and keep playing because there’s a ton of good players that have opportunities and rightfully so, so when you get yours, you just gotta be ready for it.”
What makes this season stand out is that, from the outside, it reads like a breakthrough. Before this year, Young had only gotten into 44 major league games and hit .200 in 116 plate appearances.
Inside the organization, though, the view was different. Mets interim manager Andy Green said the club was seeing the player it expected once Young finally got the chance to show it.
“This is where talent and character finally ran into opportunity,” Green said recently. “Opportunity just never met him before, and it’s finally there for him. We’re getting to see who he is ... and he’s been everything we could hope for.”
Jeff Albert, the Mets’ director of major league hitting, pointed back to a conversation he had with Young early in spring training in Port St. Lucie. Albert told him the organization believed in what he could bring.
“I told him, ‘Hey man, you’re doing things the right way,’” Albert said. “‘You’ve got the tools to contribute.
I know you might not be hearing your name a lot in the media or whatever now, but internally within the organization, we believe that you’re a contributor on a winning team.’ He’s shown the ability to do that.”
Even so, the scale of his role this season was not something anyone could have penciled in back in February. At that point, Young still had a real chance of ending up back in Triple-A.
The Mets were planning to have veteran Jorge Polanco handle first base, with Mark Vientos and Brett Baty also getting work there. If Mike Tauchman hadn’t gotten hurt right before camp broke, Young likely wouldn’t have made the Opening Day roster.
Instead, he wound up with more first-base playing time than any other Met this year, and that has changed the picture going forward. Young is now in position to be on the team next season, and while the Mets may look for an upgrade at first base through trade or free agency - even with a weak market - he could open 2027 as the primary option there. He also gives them flexibility as a defender at both corner-outfield spots, and his splits against right-handed pitching make him a natural platoon fit and a useful bat off the bench when he’s not starting.
Young isn’t spending much time thinking about what comes next. For now, he’s trying to stay locked in on the last few weeks of this season, even if this is a new spot for him after so many years of grinding.
Still, he knows there’s more to unlock.
“I think it’s been a solid year for me, but I know there’s a ton more in there,” Young said. “There’s tons of stuff to work on.
I can get better at defense, I can get better at hitting, I can slug more. There’s always stuff that you think you can do better.
Am I proud of the season? Yeah, but I think there’s a lot more in there.”
Albert didn’t go hunting for flaws when asked what Young should work on next. His message was simpler: keep rolling with what’s already working.
“Basically, just keep going,” Albert explained. “He’s essentially turning himself into an everyday player this year. Sometimes it’s not doing anything different and I think he’s been pretty good about, OK, these are my strengths, this is what I do well and I’m going to stay locked in and execute on that.”
That approach has fit Young’s profile as a hitter who drives the ball, keeps the strikeouts under 20% and produces in traffic. Before his RBI single in his first at-bat in Wednesday’s win over the Rays, he was hitting .333 (21-for-63) with runners in scoring position this season. That’s exactly the kind of bat that plays in the middle of a lineup, especially against right-handed pitching.
If he sharpens the defense, gets on base more often, raises the walk rate and adds more home-run pop, he could be even more valuable next season.
For Young, though, the message is simple: keep forcing the issue.
“I feel like I’ve played well and want to continue to play well and keep opening eyes,” Young said.
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