Polanco, Bichette Could Be Fine Defensively

At David Stearns’ end-of-season press conference, the most viral soundbite was Stearns stressing “run prevention.” The Mets were subpar at run prevention in 2025, and the goal for the 2026 offseason was to improve in that area.

Quickly, the Mets traded away Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil and let franchise home run leader Pete Alonso walk in free agency. These moves largely drew the ire of fans (to say the least), and Stearns’ focus on run prevention was the obvious culprit.

By Fielding Bible’s defensive runs saved, Nimmo was the only one of the three to post a positive mark despite grading out with one of the worst arms of all left fielders. However, he was traded for Marcus Semien, who graded out better and plays second base, a much more valuable defensive position. McNeil moved around between second base and all three outfield spots, and, while the versatility was valuable, he was clearly below-average glove in the outfield and slightly above average on the dirt. Then there’s Alonso, who finished dead last among all first basemen in DRS. He can pick it, but he was dreadful in just about every other aspect of playing first base.

Statcast’s outs above average supports this as well. Nimmo (-1 OAA, 42nd percentile) and Alonso (-9 OAA, 2nd percentile) both graded out as negative defenders, and while McNeil (2 OAA, 72nd percentile) was a plus, he was only a plus at second base. Semien (7 OAA, 92nd percentile) was clearly better. McNeil simply didn’t have a position anymore.

The Mets quickly filled first base by signing Jorge Polanco and then, surprisingly, added Bo Bichette to play third base. They also traded for Luis Robert Jr., a well-known great defender, to play center field, but most of the attention was on Polanco and Bichette.

Polanco has played first base for one at-bat in the majors and zero at-bats in the minors, and Bichette has never played third base in the majors or minors. It’s natural to wonder how Stearns could preach run prevention and then sign Polanco and Bichette to play two positions they’ve never played before.

For fans who have that concern, though, fortunately, middle infielders move to the corners all the time. The changes shouldn’t be nearly as big a story as they have been.

History of Players Moving to First

Let’s start with Polanco. Through parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues, Polanco has technically played all four infield positions. He has primarily been up the middle, spending over 4,000 innings at shortstop and 3,500 innings at second base, but also has over 200 innings at third base.

He isn’t and has never been a particularly good defender, but he has been playable enough for teams to routinely put him up the middle. Interestingly enough, this move to first base could provide him with an opportunity to change that. Don’t be fooled by the Ron Washington line from “Moneyball.” It can be done, and it is done very often.

There are seven players who appear in the top-12 in both DRS and OAA among first basemen in 2025: Matt Olson, Carlos Santana, Ty France, Spencer Steer, Ryan O’Hearn, Kody Clemens and Jonathan Aranda. Of those seven, five came up playing positions other than first base. The two that did are Matt Olson, who did occasionally play right field but has the vast majority of his career innings at first base, and Ryan O’Hearn, who came up as a first baseman but has played at least some outfield in most of his big league seasons.

Here are the other five:

• Santana: Made his MLB debut at catcher, and didn’t play first base until his second year in the league. He has just 4 and 1/3 career minor league innings at first base. He is now in the top 10 among first basemen in DRS since 2003, when The Fielding Bible first began.
• France: Technically made his MLB debut as a pinch hitter, but made his first start as a third baseman. He also played second base as a rookie, and made his first MLB appearance at first base in the second-to-last game of his rookie year, moving from second to first in the 9th inning as part of a slew of Padres defensive changes. Played a lot of both corner infield spots in the minors, but has over 1,000 more minor league innings at third base. First base did not become his primary position until his third year in the big leagues.
• Steer: Made his MLB debut at third base, and also started games at first base and second base during his rookie season. He has over 1000 career minor league innings at third base, over 700 at second base, over 400 at shortstop and just 17 at first base. He is now a primary first baseman, but has significant MLB innings in the outfield and has played up the middle as recently as 2024.
• Clemens: Made his MLB debut at second base, and also started games at third base and left field before he received one at first base. The vast majority of his minor league innings are at second base. He now has twice as many career MLB innings at first base, but still plays second base often, and in 2025 started games at first base, second base, left field and right field.
• Aranda: Made his MLB debut at second base, and also started games at first base and third base during his rookie season. Most of his minor league innings are at second base, but also has over 1000 career minor league innings at first base and over 500 at third base. His first full season in the big leagues was in 2025, and it was also the first time he only played first base.

There’s a good mix of origins among this group. Olson, who is the “purest” first baseman of the seven, is also one of the best defensive first basemen of all time. Santana is right there with him, despite basically learning first base from scratch when he was already in the majors.

Steer and France both made their MLB debuts on the other side of the corner infield, and Clemens and Aranda both made their MLB debuts at second base. All four of them spent significant time in the minor leagues playing up the middle, with first base either being a clear second fiddle or, in Steer’s case, almost not a thing at all.

While Clemens has generally been a good defender wherever he’s put, France, Steer and Aranda weren’t very good at the other infield spots. All were able to become plus defensive first basemen.

History of Players Moving to Third

As for Bichette, he has primarily been a shortstop in his big league career. In fact, when looking at his Baseball Reference page for his historical fielding stats, only one position shows up: Shortstop. Of course, everyone remembers him moving to second base on the fly during the 2025 World Series, but even then, he had at least 262 career minor league innings to draw on as experience.

There’s no sugar coating it here with Bichette — he’s a bad fielder. But bad fielding shortstops often move to third base and do just fine.

There are seven players who appear in the top-12 in both DRS and OAA among third basemen in 2025: Ke’Bryan Hayes, Maikel Garcia, Ernie Clement, Ryan McMahon, Nolan Arenado, Matt Chapman and Nacho Alvarez Jr. Of those seven, four came up playing positions other than third base. Hayes, Arenado and Chapman are third basemen through and through.

Here are the other four:

• Garcia: Made his MLB debut as a shortstop, didn’t play third base until his second year in the league. He has over 3,000 minor league innings at shortstop and under 100 minor league innings at third base. He even has one more minor league inning at second base than he does at third base. Now, the vast majority of his MLB innings come at third base, but he also started games at shortstop, second base, center field and right field.
• Clement: Made his MLB debut as a pinch hitter and his first MLB start as a second baseman. He split time between second base and third base as a rookie. He has over 2,000 career minor league innings at shortstop, a little over 350 at second base, and a little over 200 at third base. He has played third base the clear most as a big leaguer, but is still used as a utility infielder. In 2025, he made 66 starts at third base, 49 at second base, 19 at shortstop and six at first base.
• McMahon: Made his MLB debut as a pinch hitter and his first MLB start as a first baseman. Most of his minor league innings came at third base, but he didn’t become a primary third baseman until his fifth MLB season due to sharing an infield with Arenado. While he now has by far the most career innings at third base, he was moved around between first base, second base and third base early in his career, initially spending by far the most time at second base.
• Alvarez Jr.: Made his MLB debut at second base. Has over 1,500 career minor league innings at shortstop and about 500 at third base. In his 64 career MLB starts, 56 have come at third base.

Arenado, Chapman and Hayes are elite defensive third basemen who have eight Platinum Gloves between them (Arenado with six and Chapman with two), and while the two veterans have slipped a tad defensively at this point in their careers, Hayes is in his defensive prime and could easily win a Platinum Glove of his own.

Aside from the three generational third base defenders, though, the rest continue the pattern of former middle infielders moving to a corner. McMahon’s path to third was blocked by Arenado, but he wound up playing a very good defensive second base while he waited for his turn at the hot corner. Garcia, Clement and Alvarez Jr. are all former shortstops who moved off the position once in the majors. Garcia moved for Bobby Witt Jr., Clement moved for Bichette, and Alvarez Jr. mainly just filled in for an injured Austin Riley at third base in his limited MLB action.

Overall outlook for the New York Mets

The Mets have a good infrastructure in place to help Polanco and Bichette make these transitions. The Mets hired Kai Correa to be the new bench coach, who is well known for helping players improve their defense. Eno Sarris of The Athletic noted that Correa “helped JD Davis into his best time at third base defensively,” and that “he’s really good at this.” Davis, the former Met, struggled mightily at third base throughout his career in Queens.

Much has also been made about Bichette’s subpar arm strength, but that’s also overblown. The throw from shortstop is longer than the one from third base, and he had the same arm strength last season as Alex Bregman, a widely accepted good defensive third baseman. As long as the throws are accurate, the arm strength won’t be a big deal.

Yes, Polanco and Bichette have both been bad fielders throughout their careers. Polanco is below average, and Bichette, to put it kindly, has been one of the worst shortstops in baseball. But the Mets don’t need them to turn into great fielders; they just need them to be fine. Both were signed, first and foremost, for their bats. Defense is important everywhere, but it’s the most important up the middle. There, the Mets have greatly improved with the additions of Semien and Robert Jr.

As stated earlier, Alonso was dead last in DRS among first basemen in 2025. As long as Polanco doesn’t do the same, he will be an improvement. At third base, Mark Vientos was dead last in DRS among all third basemen, despite playing fewer innings at the position than Baty. As long as Bichette doesn’t do the same, he will be an improvement. Yes, Baty was a plus defensive third baseman, and it’s fair to think he will continue to be one in 2026. Baty playing third base while Bichette is the DH is a lineup configuration that could occur fairly often.

Neither Polanco nor Bichette has played in their new position before, but it’s a common transition for players. The examples above are recent, but there are plenty more. Bregman was mostly a shortstop coming up through the minors, and while every time he’s played shortstop, he’s been nothing more than average, he’s a great defensive third baseman. Manny Machado (1,768 minor league innings at SS, 36 at 3B) is one of the best defensive third basemen of the last few decades, and he’s very firmly a bad defensive shortstop. Eugenio Suárez came through the minors as a shortstop and struggled mightily defensively whenever he played there in the majors, but played a solid third base for many years.

Even longtime Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy, who was worth -64 DRS at second base over his career (the third worst since 2003), was worth positive-26 DRS at first base (the 20th best since 2003).

Over and over again, middle infielders prove they can handle a corner. If you can survive up the middle, as Polanco and Bichette have for many years, then you have a very good chance of at least being playable at a corner. Will they be among the best defenders in baseball at their new positions? Probably not, but there’s a very real chance they’re better than they were up the middle, and the bar is low for them to be an improvement on what the Mets had in 2025.

Most importantly, this is normal. Asking middle infielders to move to the corners is normal, common, and bordering on a non-story — the opposite of what it has been.

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