With the additions of Robinson Cano and Jed Lowrie to the New York Mets infield, Jeff McNeil seems destined for an outfield role in 2018. In fact, just last week General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen mentioned McNeil’s name in response to a question about potentially acquiring outfield depth.
“I think with Lagares and Broxton, and now Jeff McNeil moving to the outfield in a primary role, I think we’ve got five great outfielders that can give us a lot length to our lineup,” Van Wagenen said.
And as Tim Healey of Newsday reports, going forward the Mets are going to be “making a commitment to developing Jeff McNeil as an outfielder.”
As Healey notes, next weekend the Mets will be sending quality control coach Luis Rojas to work with McNeil on his outfield defense prior to the beginning of Spring Training.
McNeil played most of his games in left field back in 2011 as a freshman in college at Long Beach State University. However, over his six year minor league career McNeil spent just 56 innings playing the outfield.
According to Healey, the current plan is for the Mets to give the 26-year old time in the corner outfield spots as well as the infield, in hopes of turning him into a “true super utility player,” like a Ben Zobrist type.
“He’ll bounce around at all the positions because we want to use that as an asset,” Van Wagenen said.
Last season, McNeil broke out at both the minor league and big league levels. Over 63 games in his rookie year, McNeil hit .329/.381/.471 with eleven doubles, six triples, three home runs, and 19 RBI. He also scored 35 runs, and posted a 137 wRC+ and 2.7 WAR.
