Photo: Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire

Part of a series of articles previewing the defensive performance of all 30 MLB teams by asking the question … are they good? To see the full series, click here.

2024 Defensive Runs Saved Rank: 15th

Team Strengths

New center fielder Jose Siri finished tied for 3rd in Runs Saved last season. There’s a little bit of high-risk, high-reward to his game, as he had a high total of Defensive Misplays & Errors, but the net result is pretty good. Last year he specialized in taking away hits on shallow fly balls.

Francisco Alvarez’s catching is such that it has to be listed as both a strength and a weakness (he’ll miss the start of the season with a fractured left hand). Alvarez has been a very good pitch framer in each of the last two seasons. The rest of his game, as noted below, needs work, but it’s hard to quibble considering the team went 57-25 when he caught in 2024.

In Alvarez’s absence, Luis Torrens will get a good amount of playing time behind the plate. Torrens threw 13-of-28 would-be basestealers out last season, by far the best he’s ever fared in any defensive stat. We’ll see if he can replicate that magic.

Tyrone Taylor is probably going to see some time at all three outfield spots. He was fantastic filling in for Starling Marte in right field last year but he won’t play there much this year with Juan Soto’s arrival.

 Team Weaknesses

Third baseman Mark Vientos seemed to get better as the season progressed but the numbers don’t fully reflect that. He finished with -6 Runs Saved in 2024 and with Pete Alonso sticking around, and a Jesse Winker/Marte platoon at DH, Vientos has to play third base.

The aforementioned issues with Alvarez’s catching are pitch blocking, where he rates as one of the worst in the game, and basestealing prevention, which he got a little better at in 2024, but he’s still a liability.

Juan Soto isn’t necessarily a bad right fielder (he’s tallied -2 and -1 Runs Saved there in 2022 and 2024). But he does have a weakness on deep fly balls, which could come into play given that Citi Field has a bigger outfield to cover than Yankee Stadium.

Other Things To Know

Defensive Runs Saved doesn’t like Francisco Lindor as much as Outs Above Average and MLB’s Defensive Runs Prevented does. It wouldn’t be surprising if he had a good season in that slot and slotted into the ‘strengths’ category, where most of our readership probably thinks he belongs anyway. 

With Jeff McNeil out due to an oblique strain, Lindor’s start-of-season middle-infield mate will be either Brett Baty or Luisangel Acuña. Baty had 1 Run Saved in 27 games at second base in the minors. Acuña has a little more sample size, with 1 Run Saved in 83 games measured there.

Are the Mets A Good Defensive Team?

I wouldn’t go as far as to say they are just yet. The Mets were a far better defensive team in the second half of 2024 than the first half. But this year’s team has a few potential holes.