Marcus Semien, the 36-year-old second baseman for the New York Mets, hit .215 with a .620 OPS and finished in the fifth percentile in Outs Above Average. Juan Soto, the club’s left fielder, posted a .908 OPS and still told management he would earn his spot. David Stearns, the Mets president of baseball operations, used that message to set the tone in Las Vegas.
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Speaking with SNY reporter Chelsea Janes at the General Managers’ Meetings, Stearns was asked whether Semien would be handed the second-base job or have to fight for his playing time, and the verdict was blunt.
“He’s going to have to earn playing time, and that’s true for the vast majority of players on our roster,” Stearns said in the interview with SNY. “They know that, and that’s what was impressive to me when talking with our players at the end of the season. All of them, from Juan Soto on down, came in saying, ‘I’m going to earn my spot next year. We’ve got work to do, and we’re going to go out and earn it.’”
The blunt message follows a season in which Semien posted a .280 on-base percentage and a .340 slugging mark with 15 home runs and 49 RBI over 139 games, while his defense graded at minus-9 Outs Above Average. Even Soto, who missed 51 games with two calf strains, still hit 27 home runs in 111 games, and the Mets finished 74-88. A roster-wide standard was overdue.
The warning came with a vote of confidence attached, and Stearns made that clear in his next answer.
“This is an extremely motivated player,” Stearns said at the General Managers’ Meetings, according to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. “This is someone who works as hard as anyone, who believes in his own ability, and who I know is going to get everything out of what he has.”
Stearns can lean on a 14-season résumé built on durability, power and elite middle-infield defense, which explains his faith in a rebound. Semien is also owed $46 million over the next two seasons, so the club has every reason to expect a return on that money.
Semien has faced this test before. After a league-high 35 errors in 2015 with the Oakland Athletics, he rebuilt his mechanics under coach Ron Washington. After a .223 2020, he bet on himself with the Toronto Blue Jays, hit 45 home runs, and landed a $175 million deal. Both times, Semien had a clear mechanical or confidence issue to fix. This time, the challenge is age and durability.
Still, the front office has insurance ready if the rebound stalls. Brett Baty, a former top third base prospect, hit .279/.337/.488 across his final 190 plate appearances from July 1, a strong finish to a season that otherwise produced a .238/.311/.374 line. Jefferson Rojas, a 21-year-old infield prospect, hit .274/.338/.505 over 554 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A.
Baty and Rojas are not the only names in the mix.
Mets second base depth chart runs deeper than Marcus Semien
Émilien Pitre, a 23-year-old infield prospect acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays, clobbered High-A and Double-A pitching before slowing in a small 20-game sample at Triple-A. Mitch Voit, the Mets’ 2025 first-round pick, put together a solid age-21 season that culminated in a Double-A call-up.
“Semien didn’t have the type of year that he wanted to last year,” Stearns said at the General Managers’ Meetings. “He didn’t have the type of year we believe he’s capable of.”
Semien’s 2026 OPS+ sat around 74, well below league average, and a left hip flexor strain put him on the 10-day injured list on June 25, with an expected absence of 4-6 weeks, which suggested a return no earlier than late July.
“We also think we have got a lot of options,” Stearns said when asked about the depth behind Semien. “Both guys who played in the big leagues last year for us and guys who are knocking on the door of the big leagues that we feel good about that position.”
The big league group starts with Baty, who split time across multiple positions during his 2025 breakout and shared reps in a platoon this year. The door-knockers begin with Rojas, the headline prospect in the trade that sent right-hander Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor to the Cubs.
Rojas, Voit, and Pitre can all handle second base, which explains why the Mets are not pursuing veterans like Brandon Lowe, Luis Arraez, or Jazz Chisholm Jr.
With the front office content to let second base play out in-house, the message for Semien is simple. Stearns has made it clear that Semien’s $46 million contract and 14-season résumé will not settle second base. With Baty, Rojas, Voit, and Pitre all pushing from below, the job will be decided by what Semien shows in spring training.