Jorge Polanco started 87 games at DH for the Mariners this year, made 34 starts at second base, five at third and made his first career appearance at first. He expects to rack up a lot of appearances at first base in New York in 2026.
“I would think so,” he said Monday through a Spanish interpreter on a call with reporters. “Like I said before, I offered my services as a first baseman, a second baseman, a third baseman. But as the conversations went on, they told me that I’d be playing a good amount of first base, but that I could also be bouncing around.”
Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
The Mets signed the 32-year-old from the Dominican Republic to a two-year, $40 million deal after Pete Alonso left for Baltimore. Polanco hit .265/.326/.495 in 2025 with 26 homers, 78 RBIs and 30 doubles.
He said he was surprised to see Alonso and Edwin Díaz leave New York, “but once you get into free agency, the business does take over. And there’s a lot as baseball players that we can’t control.”
Polanco went 10-for-48 (.208 batting average) in the 2025 playoffs, but he came up with plenty of clutch hits. He smacked two homers off Tarik Skubal in a Game 2 ALDS win and delivered the walk-off, series-winning single in the 15th inning of Game 5 to send Seattle to its first ALCS in 24 years. He had two clutch RBIs in Game 1 of the ALCS vs. Toronto and a big three-run homer in Game 2.
Polanco thinks the playoff experience in Seattle has prepped him well to handle the New York pressure cooker. The key in big moments is “not to try to do too much.”
He said he is confident and comfortable that he can play first base after working with coaches in Seattle, including bench coach (and former Mets third-base coach) Manny Acta, even though he has virtually no experience in MLB games. The switch-hitter expects his athleticism to help him with the transition as well.
He was asked about his stunning 2025 drop in strikeout percentage. It went from a career-high 29.2 percent in 2024 to a near career-low 15.6 percent this past season. Polanco said he was healthier (he dealt with a knee injury in 2024) and that his hitting coach got him to put the ball in play more like he did earlier in his career.
Polanco posted a career-best .841 OPS in 2019 and hit a career-high 33 homers in 2021 with the Twins. His strikeout percentages were below 20 percent from 2016 to 2021, then began to tick upward until 2025.
MMO’s own Chris Bello asked Polanco if he spoke with any players about the Mets organization’s treatment of players and families, and if any conversations stuck out in the free agency process.
“I think what stood out to me the most was how much the Mets cared about the players and the family,” Polanco, a married father of four, said. He noted that Starling Marte, now a free agent, gave him positive feedback.
He is excited to be on the field with Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor.
“I knew that this team wanted to win, so it was a good spot for me,” he said.
