Monday marked the beginning of one other spherical of staffing adjustments for the Mets. Troy Snitker might be becoming a member of the Mets as a hitting coach underneath Jeff Albert, the membership’s director of Main League hitting, whereas baserunning/outfield coordinator Antoan Richardson might be leaving to hunt alternatives with different groups.
Richardson’s impression was felt tremendously on the basepaths. The 42-year-old Bahamian helped remodel Juan Soto into an elite baserunner this season, serving to the outfielder swipe a career-high 38 luggage. Soto’s earlier career-best mark was 12, set in 2019 with the Washington Nationals and matched in 2023 with the San Diego Padres.
The Mets’ star proper fielder, who signed a $15-year, $765 million contract final December, largely credited Richardson along with his newfound prowess on the basepaths. Stealing extra luggage was one thing Soto had all the time needed to do, and thought he may, however with different groups it wasn’t vital. Richardson helped him perceive positioning, pitcher tells and timing, permitting him to change into a risk on the basepaths regardless of below-average dash pace.
Richardson was lauded for his preparation by a number of members of the Mets, together with Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte. The Mets described him as a superb communicator and trainer as effectively.
Because the outfield coordinator, Richardson was additionally tasked with serving to enhance Soto’s protection, an Achilles heel of kind all through the slugger’s profession. Soto regressed defensively this season, with -12 outs above common. As a bunch, the Mets -13 OAA was twenty first in baseball. Run suppression has been cited as a precedence for 2026.
Snitker, the son of former Atlanta Braves supervisor Brian Snitker, was not too long ago let go from the Houston Astros after spending the final a number of years as a co-hitting coach together with Alex Cintrón. Because the two had been named to their posts in 2018, the Astros gained three American League pennants and a World Collection championship in 2022. Houston was among the many league’s OPS leaders yearly besides 2020 underneath Snitker and Cintrón, with an offense that was recognized to place the ball in play and grind out at-bats.
Snitker has beforehand labored with Albert within the Houston group, in addition to president of baseball operations David Stearns, who was an assistant common supervisor with the Astros earlier than main the baseball operations efforts of the Milwaukee Brewers. Very similar to Albert, Snitker, 36, has a background in train science.
The Mets used Jeremy Barnes and Eric Chavez as co-hitting coaches over the previous two seasons, a system Chavez stated was ineffective because of the quantity of data that gamers had been left to parse by. This 12 months, Albert will lead the hitting efforts and Snitker is anticipated to work beneath him.
Barnes and Chavez had been dismissed after a disappointing 2025 season concluded and not using a playoff berth. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner was additionally let go, and the Mets proceed to seek for a alternative. Assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel left the Mets after one season to return to the Yankees. The Mets are additionally looking for a catching coordinator after Glenn Sherlock retired. Kai Correa changed John Gibbons as bench, with the veteran skipper selecting to resign on his personal.
