The Mets made the hiring of Kai Correa and the promotion of Jeff Albert official on Wednesday, naming Correa the bench coach for the 2026 season and Albert the director of Major League hitting. The front office was able to keep these moves under wraps, without anything even leaking about interviews for the open positions on manager Carlos Mendoza’s coaching staff.
Typically, this is how president of baseball operations David Stearns likes to operate. He makes the decisions, many of which come with input from his staff that he has solicited, and acts on them quickly, often before there is any chance for a rumor to spin out of control.
It’s unclear as to whether or not the Mets have been interviewing multiple candidates for the open jobs, or if those two had long been identified as replacements for their predecessors. What these hirings tell us is that the Mets are going to continue building out a data-driven infrastructure.
Albert, 44, helped the Mets minor leaguers understand the analytical and scouting information and how to best use it in an effort to prepare young hitters for the reports they would receive daily in the big leagues. Correa, 37, is said to be an excellent teacher of infield fundamentals, and a whiz when it comes to defensive analytics and game-planning.
While he didn’t play at a high level, the former Division III infielder has been described as a coach who effectively blends the human aspect of the game with the data. The results Correa received in Cleveland were strong. The Guardians ranked second overall in fielding run value over the two years Correa ran the defense, had the 11th-most outs above average and the fourth-most defensive runs saved.
GOLD GLOVE OMISSIONS
Catcher Luis Torrens and left-hander David Peterson were the Mets’ only nominees for the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards this year, with the nominees being announced Wednesday. Notably absent was Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor. Soto regressed defensively this season, with his -13 FRV in 2025 ranking as the second-worst of his career (-17 in 2022). His -12 OAA was disappointing considering he had improved his defense in the two seasons prior, but he was often slow on balls down the line and runners knew they could take extra bases against him.
Tyrone Taylor managed a lot of catches in right-center field, with Soto happy to let the center fielder work his acrobatic magic. Soto lauded Taylor often, saying he admired his defensive instincts and athleticism. Taylor had the 10th-best FRV in baseball and the fifth-highest in the NL (eight), but the three NL nominees — Pete Crow-Armstrong (Chicago Cubs), Jacob Young (Washington Nationals), Victor Scott II (St. Louis Cardinals) — all maintained an extremely high level of play in more innings.
Lindor had a down season defensively, at least relatively speaking. The shortstop was still one of the top shortstops in baseball, but FRV of 3 and his 5 OAA were well below what we’ve come to expect from him, and well below his metrics from 2024, when he was a finalist for the NL MVP Award.
When moving laterally toward third, Lindor had -5 OAA. At times, he tried too hard to get to balls that should have been the responsibility of the third baseman, which could further illustrate the importance of solidifying the position next season.
QUICK HITTERS
The baseball season is long, and with so much downtime, you learn a few things about the players and coaches. Here are a few of the things I learned about some of the Mets in 2025.
– Rookie pitcher Jonah Tong grew up watching the Toronto Blue Jays, so before bench coach John Gibbons resigned a few weeks ago, the right-hander was excited to work with the manager who skippered his childhood team. While he wasn’t exactly starstruck, seeing Gibbons after his big-league call-up was a “welcome to the big leagues” type of moment for the 22-year-old.
– Tong’s girlfriend was recently named the captain of her Canadian university hockey team, something he was exceptionally proud of. Despite growing up in Canada, Tong admittedly was never good on skates, so the fact that his girlfriend can play forward or defense has always been impressive to the Mets’ rising pitcher. He was practically beaming while talking about her accomplishments on the ice.
– One of my favorite things I learned about catcher Francisco Alvarez this season is that he has two pugs named Trinidad and Tobago.
– Speaking of catchers, as much as Torrens loves baseball, he also loves soccer. This isn’t necessarily surprising given the sport’s popularity in his native Venezuela, but his favorite team isn’t in the Americas at all — Real Madrid. Ultimately, he wants his kids to do whatever activities make them happy, but he did say that he’d be pretty happy if his young son ended up playing for Real Madrid. A guy can dream, right?
– Former Mets center fielder Jose Siri is spending the winter in New England. Typically, he spends the offseason in Florida or his native Dominican Republic, but his girlfriend has ties to New Hampshire, so the tropics aren’t it for him this year. Siri is hoping for a snowy winter.
– Right-hander Chris Devenski’s late mother taught him how to pitch with a hackey sack. This was arguably one of the more heartwarming stories to come out of the season.
