A Deep Dive Into Newest Met Jared Young

The Mets announced on Monday evening that they signed corner infielder and outfielder Jared Young to a major league contract. The deal will be a split deal worth upwards of seven-figures, according to Will Sammon of The Athletic. Young, 29, has spent time in the majors with the Cubs, and spent 2024 between the Doosan Bears of the Korean Baseball Organization and the Memphis Red Birds, the Triple-A squad of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Young came out of Old Dominion University in 2017 as a 15th round selection of the Chicago Cubs, and made his MLB debut with the Cubs in 2022. In parts of two seasons with the Cubs, he has amassed a .725 OPS with two homers over 69 plate appearances in 22 games.

After failing to latch on with the Cubs in 2023, he left the United States to go to the KBO, where he dominated to the tune of a 1.080 OPS with 10 homers over 38 games. Following his quick stop in Korea, Young returned to the States, where he would play 78 games for Memphis, homering 11 times in 74 games, putting up a .917 OPS. To date, he has accumulated less than a full year of service time, and has two MiLB options remaining.

Young profiles as a potential bench bat for the Mets, with some serious pull-side power from the left side. The ball jumps off his bat, and he is able to drive the ball from the right-field line to left-center field, and put more than half of his homers in Triple-A out to the pull-side. With publicly available date from his time in Triple-A from Statcast, it is easier to dive into the data on Young. For his time in Memphis, his average exit velocity sat just a tick under 92 MPH, with a launch angle of 11 degrees, and an incredible hard hit rate of 50%. Overall, Young posted a triple-slash line of .283/.410/.506, which was closely mirrored by his expected triple-slash line by his expected batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage: .285/.411/.490.

Jared Young has some serious pull side power. Big one here off a legitimate arm pic.twitter.com/fjqGEMzlPg

— ramsey (@jwr020819) December 16, 2024

With how the team is currently constructed, Young would be a favorite to crack the Mets’ Opening Day roster. The Mets still have a ton of time left to make several moves, but the versatility and offensive potential of the lefty are appealing to a Mets roster that still does not have much infield depth on it. The Mets offense as a whole does not have a ton of depth to it, especially once you move past the foursome of Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, Mark Vientos, and newly signed Juan Soto. Young could provide said offensive depth to the Mets, specifically off the bench, which is something the team does not have a ton of at the moment. The bench currently seems to be outfielders Starling Marte and Tyrone Taylor, catcher Luis Torrens, and then some form of open competition between Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuña, and now Young.

Defensively, Young profiles as a corner infielder and corner outfielder for the Mets, with considerable experience at all four positions. During his time in the KBO, he manned the corners of the outfield for 33 total games, while taking the majority of his reps for Memphis at third base. He sprinkled in seven games of first base this past year as well, but has extensive professional experience at several spots. Overall as a professional, Young has appeared in 336 games at first base, 127 in left field, 96 at second base, 90 at third base, and 43 in right field.

Jared Young provides an element of versatility, power, and solid offense from the left side of the plate that the Mets seem to be looking for. With less than a year of service, he could provide the Mets a level of depth and potential longevity that the team needs to find in order to turn themselves into the East Coast Dodgers. Not every move the Dodgers make turns to gold, but a few turn into Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, and Kiké Hernandez. If the Mets can begin to find their own Muncys, Hernandezes, and Taylors, they’ll be in a much stronger organizational place. Jared Young is one of the first swipes at that.

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