Tyrone Taylor, CF
Age: B/T: R/R
Primary Stats: 341 PAs, .223/.279/.319/.598, 69 H, 2 HR, 27 RBI
Advanced Stats: 70 wRC+, 4.7 BB%, 22.3 K%, .286 BABIP, .306 xwOBA, 0.8 fWAR, 1.2 bWAR, 8 DRS, 3 OAA
2025 salary: $3.03 million
Grade: C
2025 Review
What a tough year for Tyrone Taylor.
Coming into the year, if the 31-year-old could just repeat his wonderful 2024, in which he played the fourth outfielder role perfectly for a team that made an NLCS run, the Mets would take it.
Taylor is still a well-above-average defender and the best outfield defender on the team, so by wins above average, he still provided positive value. A center fielder who doesn’t hit much is still a good player to have, but a center fielder who doesn’t hit at all? Then your roster spot comes into question, and that’s what happened to Taylor for most of the season.
Unfortunately for Taylor, the results just weren’t there.
Through the trade deadline, Taylor had a .553 OPS and 56 wRC+. It was the second-lowest wRC+ and lowest OPS in the league among players with as many plate appearances as he had to that point (294).
His performance was a key reason the team traded for Cedric Mullins. They needed something out of the center field spot.
And perhaps it was the spirit of competition, but Taylor turned it around after Mullins joined. Playing in a platoon, Taylor slashed .357/.413/.476/.889 over his next 47 PAs, cutting his strikeout rate nearly in half. He certainly had some luck (.429 BABIP over that stretch), but he returned to being a playable center fielder.
His renaissance was cut short at the end of August, with a hamstring strain ending his regular season. Mullins went on to repeat Taylor’s first-half performance, and Jose Siri was worse. It got to the point where Jeff McNeil was playing games in center field, better than both Mullins and Siri.
He ended the year with just 2% of his fly balls going for home runs, just a .097 isolated slugging percentage—nearly 30% below league average—and a .598 OPS. But damn, if his defense wasn’t still great. That, plus his solid final month of the season, is why he ends with an average grade.
2026 Outlook
Perhaps Taylor’s final month of the season gives you hope, but his inclusion on the roster has to be in question heading into the offseason. He’s projected to make just $3.6 million in 2026, and we’ll see if he’s tendered a contract by November 18.
If he is tendered one, it’s because of his defense. David Stearns harped on run prevention is his season-closing press conference, and on the defensive side, Taylor is one of the best the team has—and certainly the best in the outfield.
On the offensive side, he’ll need to show results. His batted ball profile didn’t change drastically from 2024 to this year, and neither did his BABIP. He didn’t really massively underperform other expected metrics, either, which lends one to believe he’s just trending in the wrong direction. His season can’t just be chalked up to bad luck.
I think he ultimately is tendered a contract, though, and he’ll be back next year as a fourth/fifth outfielder. However, his leash in 2026 will be much shorter than it was in 2025.
