Outfielder Mike Tauchman is in camp with the Mets on a minor league deal. If the club doesn’t give him a roster spot at the end of camp, he can seek out opportunities elsewhere. Will Sammon of The Athletic reports that Tauchman has a March 25th opt-out in that deal. The Mets start the season on March 26th.
The Mets have two outfield spots spoken for. Juan Soto will be in left field and Luis Robert Jr. in center. The right field job was seemingly left open by design, as the Mets wanted to give prospect Carson Benge a chance to earn a spot. Benge has not yet made his major league debut, so the club needed to have some contingency plans. Tyrone Taylor is on the roster and could step up but he also would be a good fit as a glove-first fourth outfielder. Brett Baty is going to be in a super utility role and will be in the mix as well. Tauchman was brought in to give the Mets another option without taking up a roster spot. MJ Melendez was added to the roster but he has an option remaining and could be sent to Triple-A.
Benge is doing what he can to get the job, with a .367/.406/.433 line in spring so far. That’s held up by an unsustainable .440 batting average on balls in play but it’s encouraging nonetheless. Tauchman is putting up even better numbers. With a .400 BABIP, he has a .333/.481/.619 line in spring action so far.
Sammon floats the idea of both players cracking the roster but also notes it may not be realistic. With Francisco Lindor trending towards being ready on Opening Day, the roster is tight. Backup catcher Luis Torrens will have one of the four bench spots. Taylor and Mark Vientos are out of options and should have two more. The final spot could go to a backup infielder like Ronny Mauricio.
Mauricio does still have an option remaining, so the Mets could send him to Triple-A and add Tauchman to the bench. Doing so would leave them without a bench infielder, so the Mets would have to be comfortable with the versatility of their starters. Second baseman Marcus Semien and third baseman Bo Bichette are both former shortstops, with Bichette being an everyday guy there as recently as last year. Baty can play second and third. Vientos give them some cover at the hot corner. Jorge Polanco is expected to play a lot of first base but he also has recent experience at second and third.
It’s unknown how the Mets feel about that jumble but it’s theoretically possible they could feel comfortable without Mauricio in the mix. If he were sent to Triple-A, he could get some regular playing time, which he hasn’t had for a while. He missed 2024 due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Last year, he was still rehabbing that knee to start the year and then was mostly kept in a bench role once he was healthy. Vidal Bruján is only on the roster and out of options but the Mets may try to get him through waivers.
If the Mets don’t find a spot for Tauchman, he could find one somewhere else. He’s not a star but has been pretty solid for the past three years. Since the start of 2023, he has a combined .255/.359/.381 line, which translates to a 111 wRC+. He doesn’t have huge power but he has drawn walks at a strong 13% clip, while keeping his strikeouts down to a 21.3% clip. His defensive grades have been strong as well. FanGraphs credited him with 4.1 wins above replacement in 310 games over that span.
Despite the solid production, teams have somewhat surprisingly been averse to investing in him. The Cubs non-tendered him after 2024 despite a fairly modest $2.9MM projected salary from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. He spent 2025 with the White Sox and had another decent campaign but he was once again non-tendered, with Swartz projecting a $3.4MM salary.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
