{"id":665847,"date":"2026-04-06T04:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T04:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/665847\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T04:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T04:33:16","slug":"jared-young-makes-his-impact-felt-in-last-minute-mets-starting-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/665847\/","title":{"rendered":"Jared Young makes his impact felt in last-minute Mets’ starting chance"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Jared Young didn\u2019t know for sure he would be in the Mets starting lineup Sunday, but took the approach that it was best to think in those terms.<\/p>\n

He knew that Brett Baty\u2019s left thumb was barking following a dive into second base a day earlier. Baty was scheduled to start the series finale against the Giants, but Young was Plan B.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of like, \u2018Let\u2019s come in today and prep like I\u2019m going to play,\u2019\u201d Young said. \u201cIt\u2019s always easier to wind down than it is to ramp up.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Plan B the Mets exercised, going to Young for the start in left field as Baty took a day to rest his thumb.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s 3-for-3 performance offensively and strong defense were a significant component in the team\u2019s 5-2 victory at Oracle Park<\/a> that gave the Mets a winning series and road trip.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s running catch on Patrick Bailey\u2019s line drive in the third stood out, along with his play off the carom on Jerar Encarnacion\u2019s shot that hit the left field fence in the fifth. Young threw out Encarnacion attempting to stretch a single into a double.<\/p>\n

The three-hit performance was the first of Young\u2019s career, as was the outfield assist. Most of Young\u2019s major league playing time has come as a first baseman.<\/p>\n

\"JaredJared Young of the New York Mets catches a fly ball hit by Rafael Devers #16 of the San Francisco Giants in the bottom of the third inning at Oracle Park on April 04, 2026 in San Francisco, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only the at-bats for Jared, but his ability to play the outfield the way he\u2019s doing it, he just adds more to it,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said. \u201cIt\u2019s not only a pinch hitter or a guy that can play first, now you feel good with him playing the outfield as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendoza\u2019s original lineup before Baty was scratched had Carson Benge in left field and Baty in right. The manager said the decision to move Benge from right was based on Benge\u2019s overall familiarity playing the various outfield positions compared to Baty, who is a converted infielder.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Baty is expected to be available for starting duty Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Mendoza indicated nothing had changed with Juan Soto, who will be reevaluated before the Mets begin their next homestand Tuesday. The All-Star outfielder is dealing with what he\u2019s termed a \u201cminor\u201d right calf strain <\/a>and the Mets face a decision on placing him on the injured list.<\/p>\n

The Mets had a third straight game with at least 12 hits. The franchise record is five straight such games, established in 1976 and tied in 1990.<\/p>\n

Luis Robert Jr. stole two bases, giving him multiple steals in a game for the first time since May 4 of last season with the White Sox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Jared Young didn\u2019t know for sure he would be in the Mets starting lineup Sunday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,66,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-665847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mets","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-mets","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkmets","15":"tag-san-francisco-giants","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116355898905465556","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}