Since 2023, Jeff Albert, a Rochester, New York native, has traveled around the country and to the Dominican Republic to work with the Mets’ up-and-coming prospects as the Director of Hitting Development. Now, after two years in that role, and helping players get their names called to join the big league club, Albert has heard his name called by the Mets. In 2025, he will suit up in uniform with the big league team as their director of hitting in 2026. ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first to report the news that noted Albert being set to replace Jeremy Barnes and Eric Chavez, who the Mets recently let go.

At the close of the 2025 season, the Mets’ minor league hitting, led by Albert, was highly touted as one of the best hitting farm systems in the league. They ranked No. 11 out of all 30 MLB farm systems for hitting according to Baseball America. They had a hit+ rating of 100.3, a swingdec of 99.2, a contact percentage of 100.4, a zone contact percentage of 1.7, ranked 101.7 in 90th-percentile exit velocity, had a barrel rate percentage of 100.7, and a 98.8 expected weighted on-base average on contact. As mentioned, those scores were enough to be rated No. 11 in all of baseball’s farm systems.

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had the Mets’ farm system hitting even higher, ranked at No. 1 (up eight spots from No. 9 in the preseason).

Much of this credit goes to Albert, who has helped players like Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Francisco Alvarez, and Drew Gilbert make their way through the system and into the major leagues.

While he has never suited up as an MLB player, Albert, a 44-year-old father of two, is no stranger to being in the big leagues as a coach. Prior to joining the Mets in 2023, he served as the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was with the organization from 2019-2022.

Throughout Albert’s tenure in St. Louis, the Cardinals’ batting average and on-base percentages climbed. In 2019, they had a .245 BA and a .321 OBP; in 2020, they had a .250 BA and a .322 OBP. In 2021, their batting average upticked to .262 for batting average, but their on-base percentage (though still impressive) was .308. During his final year with St. Louis, they had a .252 BA and a .324 on-base percentage, consistently showing improvement at the plate with Albert at the helm.

Even more impressive was that during his tenure with the Cardinals, Albert was a part of working with Paul Goldschmidt, the year he went on to win the MVP award.

Before working for the Cardinals, Albert worked for the Houston Astros organization, including one year with the Major League team, and that was when now Mets’ President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns, was the Assistant General Manager for Houston. The two have shared an interest in data and analytics since their time in Houston, and now Albert will get to take his knowledge and implement it with the Mets’ big league team who struggled heavily at the plate in 2025.

Along with his time with St. Louis and Houston, Albert also spent time serving as a hitting coach in the Colombian and Dominican Winter Leagues.

According to Justin Rocke, the voice of the Brooklyn Cyclones, who also won this year’s South Atlantic League Championship, called Albert “one of the architects behind many of the breakout seasons you saw from Mets minor league hitters this year (2025). He’s someone who is highly regarded by players and coaches alike.” Rocke also calls Albert’s promotion a “no-brainer decision.”

Albert is known for being great at getting hitters to pull the ball in the air and working with the younger guys coming up from the minors. Many of the players he’s been working with will soon be in big league uniforms, making them immediately comfortable with who their hitting coach will be and unifying what’s been working in the minor league hitting development and how the big league club is approaching hitting as well.

It is expected that Albert will be joined by another coach as well, but Albert will be in a New York Mets uniform and in the dugout with the big league team, leading their hitting program in 2026.