With the Mets’ busy offseason coming to an end, it feels like a good time to take a look at the team’s depth chart. We’ll start out by taking a look at the corner outfielders.
Big League Starters
Juan Soto (RF)
Age: 27
Contract: 15 years, $765M with the potential to reach $805M
Roster Status: 40-man roster
Juan Soto is one of the most fun and electric players in the game, and he took that to a new level in 2025, stealing 38 bases for the first time in his career. His .263/.396/.515/.921 slash with a career high 43 homers and 105 RBIs was one of the best seasons in Mets history. That slash line also came with a “slow” start as Soto slashed .231/.357/.413/.770 through May. But from June onwards, he slashed .282/.417/.688/1.005. In 202,5 Soto was in the 97th percentile or better in exit velocity, barrel rate, hard hit rate, chase rate, and walk rate.
His only real flaw is his defense in the outfield, posting a -13 fielding run value, which was in the bottom one percent among outfielders. He did improve as the season went on, though. Across the last seven weeks of the season, Soto’s -2 deserved runs prevented per Baseball Prospectus was in the 21st percentile among right fielders compared to being ranked last before then. This was above names, including Ronald Acuna Jr. and Jo Adell. Soto has also defended well before – he put up a plus-5 OAA in 2019 (88th percentile) and +4 OAA in 2021 (88th percentile). Soto is determined to improve his defense and become a more complete player. Coming into his first time playing consecutive full seasons in a ballpark since 2021 and spending the offseason working with Kai Correa, he could achieve that goal. Who saw him stealing 38 bases in 2025?
Carson Benge/Brett Baty/Tyrone Taylor (LF)
Carson Benge
Age: 23
Contract: Pre-Arbitration Eligible
Roster Status: Not on the 40-man roster
Carson Benge posted a .281/.385/.472/.857 slash in the minors in 2025 and looks poised to make an impact in the majors as soon as opening day. President of baseball operations David Stearns has repeatedly stated that Benge will be given every chance to earn that opportunity out of spring training. His results in Triple-A were not pretty, but everything under the hood looked the same as Double-A. Sometimes, 103 PA with a hit-by-pitch to the hand in the middle is more noise than anything else, and Benge will have the opportunity to prove that in spring training.
He hits the ball very hard with a 92.1 MPH average exit velocity and 105.9 MPH 90% exit velocity. His hard hit rate in Triple-A was 53.5%, which was in the 97th percentile. His 86.5% zone contact rate was in the 76th percentile. He is good on the base paths and can provide above-average defense in center field or potentially even plus defense in left field.
Brett Baty
Age: 26
Contract: Pre-Arbitration Eligible
Roster Status: On the 40-Man Roster
After a slow first couple of weeks, Brett Baty seemed to use his plus bat speed to put everything together in 2025. From April 12 onwards, Baty slashed .265/.327/.456/.783 with 18 HRs across 405 PA. He provided strong defense at third base and showed he was capable of playing second base, a position he learned in spring training. There are still some concerns with the hit tool, though. His 27.3% whiff rate was in the 30th percentile and his 82.7% zone contact rate was in the 35th percentile. But when he did make contact, it was hard. He put up a 56.9% hard hit rate (72nd percentile), 90.7 MPH average exit velocity (64th percentile), 115.6 MPH max exit velocity (89th percentile), 107 MPH 90% exit velocity (77th percentile), and 12.8% barrel rate (80th percentile)
The big question is whether or not Baty can play left field, which MMO discussed here. With the quickness he took to second base, he should have the athleticism to play the outfield, something Stearns has echoed both this and last offseason.
Tyrone Taylor
Age: 32
Contract: Arbitration Settled at $3.8M
Roster Status: On the 40-man roster
Taylor’s 2025 season could not have gone much worse offensively. He slashed .223/.279/.319/.598 while only hitting 2 HRs in 113 games. Things didn’t look a lot better under the hood. While he did have an 88.8% zone contact (83rd percentile) and 22.7% whiff rate (62nd percentile), he was bottom 21% or worse across every power metric. That is a steep drop off from the 48th percentile barrel rate, 45th percentile max exit velocity, and 62nd percentile 90% exit velocity from 2024 when he posted a .701 OPS. A career .238/.292/.414/.706 hitter, there should be some optimism for an offensive bounce back if he moves back to a more part-time role with more rest. He did slash .262/.328/.344/.673 in the second half of 2025.
Taylor’s real calling card is his defense and speed. He was 81st percentile in outs above average with plus-2 and 90th percentile in sprint speed at 28.9 feet per second. He ideally would slot into the fourth outfielder role, but could see more time in left field early on if Benge is not ready out of camp.
Outfield Depth
Nick Morabito
Age: 22
Contract: Pre-Arbitration Eligible
Roster Status: On the 40-man roster
In Double-A in 2025, Morabito slashed .273/.348/.385/.734 with six homers and 49 steals. He tore it up in the Arizona Fall League, slashing .362/.450/.464/.914, though that was in a small sample size of only 80 PA. We do not have Statcast data for Double-A, but in the Arizona Fall League, he showed strong contact rates with an 87.1% zone contact (81st percentile), 19.4% whiff (86th percentile), and 18.9% o-swing (82nd percentile). His 87.3 MPH average exit velocity was in the 20th percentile, but he did hit a ball 111.8 MPH.
Morabito profiles as a low-power but solid hit tool bench outfielder in the majors. He likely does not have the defense to be a starting center fielder, but as a fourth or fifth outfielder who can be a menace on the base paths, he does have value. He still holds all three minor league options.
Jared Young
Age: 30
Contract: Pre-Arbitration Eligible
Roster Status: On the 40-man roster
Jared Young continued president of baseball operation David Stearns’ trend of signing players out of the KBO, including Eric Thames, Josh Lindblom, and Brandon Waddell. Young slashed .186/.234/.488/.722 with four homers in his sporadic cups of coffee in the majors, but across 79 games in Triple-A, he slashed .303/.402/.567/.969 with 18 homers. His Statcast profile in Triple-A was a sea of red, sitting in the 93rd percentile or better in barrel rate, hard-hit rate, average exit velocity, 90th-percentile exit velocity, and max exit velocity. His 83.1% zone contact was in the 55th percentile, and his hardest hit ball was 115.5 MPH. For reference, his 92.8 MPH average exit velocity and 115.5 max exit velocity were not far off from Pete Alonso’s (93.5 and 115.9), though Alonso’s were in the majors.
Young has played 189 games in the outfield in his career, and he is capable of playing corner outfield. He has one option left.
Cristian Pache
Age: 27
Contract: Minor League Contract
Roster Status: Not on the 40-man roster
Pache is a glove-first depth piece who posted his best season in 2023, slashing .239/.319/.417/.736. The former No. 12 prospect in 2021 per Pipeline is a career .181/.243/.275/.518 hitter with a 35% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate. He spent 2025 in Triple-A and slashed .251/.351/.389/.740. His 82.3% zone contact was in the 48th percentile, and he struggled to make consistent hard contact. He is likely depth in the minors, similar to Jose Azocar in 2025.
Ryan Clifford
Age: 22
Contract: Minor League Contract
Roster Status: Not on the 40-man roster
Now able to see the ball better, Ryan Clifford’s contact rates spiked back up to 84.5% (64th percentile). His 54.3% hard-hit rate was in the 97th percentile, his 93.6 MPH average exit velocity was in the 99th percentile, and his 11.1% barrel rate was in the 88th percentile. Few hit the ball harder last year in Triple-A than Ryan Clifford. He slashed .237/.356/.470/.826 with 29 HRs across 139 games, and his metrics and .274 BABIP argue that he was unlucky with that slash line.
Clifford is capable in the corner outfield spots because he is an average runner with a plus throwing arm, though first base is likely his best defensive home. He could debut in 2026 as a power bat in the Mets lineup.
