Tauchman Homers in First Spring At-Bat

All Mike Tauchman can do, in what could be one of the last spring trainings of his career, is give the Mets a tough decision when it comes to who makes the cut in the outfield.

He did that Tuesday, blasting a three-run shot off Astros starter Jason Alexander in the first inning at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie. He also drew a walk in the second inning.

“You know, results are great,” Tauchman told reporters after the Mets and Astros played to a 6-6, 10-inning tie. “Happy to put a good swing on a ball and I was pretty happy with the other at-bat too. So that was great, but it’s the first game and you know I’m not even into March yet. So just gotta keep going, you know, fine-tuning things and try and get ready for the season.”

Tauchman, who hit .263/.356/.400 with nine home runs and 40 RBIs in 385 plate appearances for the White Sox in 2025, had offers from other teams. The 35-year-old said he picked the Mets for a host of reasons, including the potential for a lockout after this season.

“The opportunity for a clean camp and an opportunity to make the team,” he said. “Also I am under no illusion that I’m not getting older and a little bit probably towards the end of my career, especially with what’s going on potentially next year.

“So the opportunity to play on a team that I believe has a chance to make a deep playoff run, do some special things, appealed to me. I also think that my skill set works a little bit more on a team like that because I have experience playing every day, coming off the bench, pretty much done every single role somebody in my position can do in this game. And I think I’ve done them at a fairly decent level. So that all went into the decision.”

Tauchman is vying for a spot on the team with Carson Benge and MJ Melendez.

“David Stearns and Mendy were really honest and straightforward about that,” Tauchman said. “And you know I appreciated that. They just said there was opportunity. And they also just talked about the opportunity to have a pretty, like, normal spring just in terms of getting at-bats and giving me the chance to kind of get in a rhythm with some starts and moving around in the outfield a little bit. And also since I was little bit late to camp giving me that time to kind of get acclimated and get going.

“It’s been great. They’ve been true to their word.”

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