Jun 5, 2026; San Diego, California, USA; New York Mets first baseman Jared Young (29) hits a solo home run during the second inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images
The Mets’ first-base plans were fluid as it was, but an additional wrench was thrown into it when Jorge Polanco was scratched from his rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday due to ankle soreness.
With it, the Mets are shutting him down and sending him back to Queens for further re-evaluation on the area, which had been plagued by Achilles bursitis since April.
“He felt some discomfort while he was going through his running progression before the game,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He kinda got shut down there. He mentioned that he was feeling it, so he’s going back to New York, and we gotta take a look and see what we got.”
Having been out for nearly two months with that ankle issue and a wrist injury, Polanco was initially hopeful that he’d be able to rejoin the Mets during their three-game set in San Diego this weekend. But the team kept him in Syracuse to give him some more reps before making the jump back up to the bigs.
While the career middle-infielder signed a two-year deal to take over at first base following Pete Alonso’s departure, Polanco was going to see the bulk of his initial time with the team at the DH spot to keep him off his feet.
That leaves the Mets’ first-base situation at its current, underwhelming place.
Mark Vientos has failed to run away with the job in his fifth different season trying to stick it in the majors. He’s batting .214 with a .617 OPS, seven home runs, and 28 RBI in 55 games. Over his last 14 games, he’s batting .130 with a home run and four RBI, while his defense has been significantly suspect throughout.
It makes Jared Young the obvious choice at first base in the interim. The left-handed bat entered Sunday’s series finale against the Padres batting .288 with an .875 OPS on the season and has three home runs in his last seven games.
“He’s been impactful for us,” Mendoza said on Friday (h/t SNY). “This is a guy who has the ability to control the strike zone… He puts together consistent at-bats. IT’s good to see him finally get an opportunity to play every day, and he’s taken it.”
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