The Mets have added a familiar name to their coaching staff, bringing in Mariano Duncan, the former Yankees World Series champion, to work with their position players and help bridge the gap between the minors and the big-league club.
Duncan, who is 63, has spent the last five years as the bench coach for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies. He worked there with players such as AJ Ewing, Carson Benge, and Nolan McLean, and now he’ll be part of Andy Green’s staff after Green sheds the interim label and takes over full-time next year.
According to Joel Sherman, Duncan will help position players in “multiple areas,” and his presence could be especially valuable because of how well-known he is to the players he’s already helped develop. That familiar face may matter just as much as anything technical.
For plenty of Yankees fans, Duncan’s name still carries the most weight from October 26, 1996, the night the Yankees clinched Game 6 of the World Series. Joe Girardi’s triple stood out offensively, Charlie Hayes made the final out after battling the dugout steps, and Wade Boggs’ horse ride became the lasting image of the celebration.
Duncan supplied the line that still sticks: “We play today. We win today.
That's it.”
He has not coached in the majors since 2010, when his five-year run on the Dodgers’ staff ended. Since then, he has worked his way through the minors and climbed through the Mets’ system after arriving in 2019.
The move also serves as a reminder of how the Mets have been able to promote from within while producing a steady stream of young talent over the past year-plus. Juan Soto may have brushed off the Yankees’ farm system when he chose the Mets’ pipeline over Ben Rice, Cam Schlittler, and George Lombard Jr., but the point stands: there are real players coming in Queens.
From a Yankees angle, the addition of Duncan only sharpens the case for a similar jolt in the Bronx. The club’s incoming coaching shakeup would seem to call for an authoritative, trusted voice alongside Aaron Boone, and a revamp of the hitting program - along with a little of the old Joe Torre standard - feels like a necessary next step. The Mets’ decision to elevate Duncan might be exactly the kind of nudge that makes a parallel change look even more appealing.
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