2025 Report Card: Jeff McNeil, 2B-OF
Jeff McNeil
Player Data: 33 (4/8/1992) B/T: L/ R
Primary Stats: .243/.335/.411/.746, 12 HR, 54 RBI, 42 R, 97 H, 21 2B, 5 3B, 3 SB, 49 BB, 55 SO, 462 PA, 122 G
Advanced Stats: 111 OPS+, 111 wRC+, 11.9 K%, 10.6 BB%, .253 BABIP, .334 xwOBA, 2.1 fWAR, 2.0 bWAR
2025 Salary: $15.75 million
Grade: C+
2025 Review
Jeff McNeil started the season on the injured list with a right oblique strain that sidelined him until late April. He ended it in a 4-for-46 slump. In between, he was inconsistent, but provided good value and defensive versatility in his eighth year with the Mets.
His best month was June, when he hit .264/.323/.483 with five homers and 14 RBIs and reminded manager Carlos Mendoza of his 2024 second half. McNeil posted a .923 OPS after the All-Star break in 2024, with seven homers in 41 games before he was hit by a pitch and fractured his right wrist, ending his regular season.
“A really good player and a good hitter, and I’m going to go back to the second half last year when he kind of turned it around,” Mendoza said on June 11. “When he started driving the baseball, using the whole field. Just dictating at-bats and (swinging) with conviction. Just the past week, I feel like he’s done that, where he’s putting himself in a really good position to hit.”
Like the manager said, McNeil, three years removed from a batting title, still made contact at an elite level. His strikeout percentage is in the 94th percentile and his whiff percentage is in the 89th, per Baseball Savant. McNeil’s strikeout percentage would be 12th in MLB and lead the Mets if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. (He was 40 short.)
But after a solid August at the plate (.276/.339/.459, three homers, 15 RBIs), September was rough.
“I feel like he gets in trouble at times when he just tries to put the ball in play on pitchers’ pitches as opposed to getting a pitch where you can drive,” Mendoza said.
McNeil went 14-for-75 in September for a .187 batting average, posted a .514 OPS, and on Sept. 12, he was ejected for the first time in his career. He argued a called strike three from Jacob deGrom during an 8-3 loss to the Texas Rangers.
He also, at age 33, took up a new position, starting 28 games in center field after logging just 16 innings there in his career. The results were mixed. He robbed a home run from Marcell Ozuna on June 25. He misjudged a ball in Philadelphia in September. He was negative-1 outs above average in center, per Baseball Savant, which is about as good as you can hope for from a fill-in, 33-year-old center fielder. At second base, his natural position, where he started 69 games, Baseball Savant had him at four outs above average.
2026 Preview
Overall, McNeil’s offensive numbers this season were in line with his 2024 stats. He hit the same number of homers (12), extra-base hits (38) and his batting average was five points higher (.243) this year in 10 fewer plate appearances (462). This should be the expectation for next season.
He could be the Opening Day second baseman, in a utility role, or elsewhere.
Tim Britton of The Athletic suggests that McNeil could be on the trading block. He will earn $15.75 million again next season, but only $12.5 million counts against the Mets for luxury tax purposes. The whole salary would count against a team that acquires him.
“Coming off a solid bounce-back season, McNeil should have some value on the trade market, but most of it will be in getting out from under the contract,” Britton wrote, though a team like the Mets could certainly afford McNeil and his value.
Looking two years down the road, the Mets have the option of paying him the same salary in 2027 or buying him out for $2 million, which would make him a free agent.
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