The New York Mets won for the sixth time in the seven games since the trade deadline Monday night. They took down their division rival, Atlanta Braves, in their series opener, 8-5. The win continued a surprising run from a stingy Mets bullpen. The group includes only one holdover from before the deadline selloff, and they shutout the division-leading Braves over the final four frames while allowing just one hit. It also continued an intriguing trend of a high octane offense that’s scored no less than six runs in all of their victories over the recent stretch.

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The biggest run-producing moment of the game came in the form of a grand slam off the bat of Brett Baty in the first inning. Eight of the nine starters collected a hit and three had themselves a multi-hit game. The only other Met who drove in multiple runs was first baseman Jared Young, who has really come on as of late as a stable lineup presence. He collected two hits, both singles, for his second multi-hit game in a row bumping his OPS on the year to .774, the highest it’s been since June 26. 

Before this year, Young had never received a real opportunity in the big leagues. The 31-year-old’s career high was just 47 plate appearances, a number he reached twice, in 2023 with the Cubs and 2025 with the Mets. Considering his production in the minors, his lack of opportunity is a bit head scratching. Missing a year due to COVID combined with his already advanced age for each level he arrived at clearly made scouts and executives pause. But much of the time baseball can be anything but linear. 

Following his first full season in Triple A in 2022 (.731 OPS), Young figured out minor league pitching. Over the next two seasons (165 games), Young’s OPS cleared .900 (.995 & .917) and he accumulated 117 R, 31 2B, 32 HR, 107 RBI. Young then took his talents to South Korea and dominated with a 1.080 OPS with 16 2B and 10 HRs in 38 games. Finally ending up with the Mets in 2025 Young picked up where left off and posted a .969 OPS with 18 home runs in 79 games for the Syracuse Mets. 

You can split Young’s 2026 thus far into three pretty distinct thirds. The first third was strong and saw him make the Opening Day roster for the first time in his career. Coming off the bench to spot playing time, Young was earning more and more at-bats against righties before going down on April 12 with a torn meniscus. Upon return he picked up where he left off and through June 11th (75 PAs) he was slashing .288/.360/.530/.890. 

Given that this was by far the most playing time Young had ever received in the big leagues, a period of adjustment was inevitable. Over Young’s next 23 games (73 PAs), his production plummeted as he slashed .167/.247/.258/.504.

One silver lining during his lull in production was that Young was still making quality contact with a 43% hard-hit rate. That across the whole season would rank in the 62nd percentile in baseball, just ahead of Julio Rodriguez. 

Since July 9 (80 PAs), Young has had easily the best stretch of his big league career so far, slashing .329/400/.514/.914. The advanced metrics during this stretch back up the production, with a 56% hard-hit rate and 91.1 mph average exit velocity. Both would rank in the 98th and 82nd percentiles, respectively, over a full season. The one caveat is that his hard contact hasn’t translated into much home-run power, likely because his average launch angle during the stretch is just six degrees.

Young is having a very strong first year in the bigs and has been a source of good production and quality at-bats. His slash line on the year is .262/.338/.436/.773 and is supported by a strong hard-hit rate (49.1), avg EV (90.3), and chase rate (26.5). He’s also been a stabilizing presence at first base defensively (-1 OAA), especially considering how much Vientos (-9 OAA) was struggling defensively, providing league-average defense.

With Young’s injury and limited playing time his counting stats don’t jump off the page. But when you pace his numbers over a 162 game season you suddenly see a player who may have played his way into a key role for 2027.

162 Game Pace: 78 R, 159 H, 30 2B, 6 3B, 21 HR, 75 RBI, 9 SB, 54 BB, 129 K

Thus far, he’s primarily played the strong side platoon playing the majority of his time against righties (only 32 PAs against LHP). But it wouldn’t be surprising to see manager Andy Green give him some more run against southpaws until the end of the year to really see what kind of player the Mets have. With the team’s intention to contend in 2027, the last 42 games of 2026 will be important in identifying key contributors for next year. 

Jared Young could be playing his way into the Mets’ primary first-base role next year.