The Mets wrapped up 2025 at 83–79, which wasn’t enough to sneak into the playoffs, but Pete Alonso was still a huge presence in the clubhouse. He absolutely mashed in big moments, putting up a good .370/.452/.800 slash line over 124 high-leverage plate appearances. Just as important, he showed real growth at the plate, nearly cutting his strikeout rate in half from 24.7% in 2024 to 12.8% in 2025, while bumping his walk rate up to 15.4%.

So, with the way Alonso was driving in runs and protecting Juan Soto in the lineup, a lot of fans expected the Mets to lock him up long-term. Instead, Alonso headed to Baltimore, and the hole he left behind was obvious. Still, for Soto, he may have found another bat who can give him that same kind of Alonso-level protection.

“We have Bo [Bichette], I trust him. He’s a great hitter. He can hit homers and hit for average. That’s great protection,” SNY Mets quoted Soto.

So the big question now is whether Bo Bichette can give Juan Soto the same kind of lineup protection that Pete Alonso did.

Alonso, after all, is a lock for a 35-plus homers, 100-plus RBIs, and a slugging percentage north of .500. Bichette isn’t that kind of power bat. So, expecting him to match Alonso’s raw pop just isn’t realistic.

News served to you like never before!

Prefer us on Google, To get latest news on feed

Prefer Us on Google

However, Bichette brings a different kind of threat.

He trades some power for a lot more contact.

For instance, Bichette has led the AL in hits twice and topped 180 hits in four different seasons. Alonso, meanwhile, has never cracked 170 hits in a year. And averages?

Bichette owns a .294 career batting average, compared to Alonso’s .253.

So, from Soto’s perspective, that might still be plenty of protection. Pitchers can’t relax knowing there’s a guy behind them who’s constantly putting the ball in play and doing damage. And if you remember, Bichette’s resume includes big moments, like that clutch three-run homer in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series with the Blue Jays, which is exactly the kind of bat Soto wants looming behind.

But availability is where Alonso trumps Bichette. He never played fewer than 150 games in a full season and logged all 162 games in each of the last two years. In comparison, Bichette hasn’t had that kind of durability, missing significant time in each of the past three seasons.

So yes, Bichette is a valuable addition and can give Juan Soto real protection when he’s in the lineup. But because he may not be there every day, Soto might need to elevate his own game even more this year, especially when Bichette isn’t hitting behind him.

Juan Soto looks ahead beyond the 2025 clubhouse issue

Even with Juan Soto feeling more protected at the plate with Bichette hitting behind him, there were other issues that lingered around the Mets last season.

Well, no one in a New York Mets uniform ever openly called the 2024 clubhouse a problem, but a few people hinted that something was missing!

Earlier this month, manager Carlos Mendoza described last year’s environment as more of a “corporate clubhouse,” which said plenty without saying too much. Still, Soto brushed aside any lingering concerns. “That’s in the past,” he said. “We forget about it. We focus on 2026.”

Those comments suggest that, yes, something wasn’t quite right last year, but it’s something the team believes it has moved on from.

With much of the Mets’ old core now gone and new faces like Bichette in the mix, Soto is clearly expecting a fresh start and a different vibe altogether. Whether that reset actually pays off on the field is still an open question. But for now, the Mets are turning the page and betting that this new-look group can make it work.