The Mets are batting Jared Young where? NYM fans baffled by lineup decision
The Mets are batting Jared Young where? NYM fans baffled by lineup decision originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The New York Mets are batting Francisco Lindor leadoff and Bo Bichette second in Friday night's lineup to take on the A's.
It's in the 3-spot where things get really weird, really quickly: Jared Young .
Wait, what?
The lineup then goes Luis Robert Jr. , Brett Baty , Marcus Semien , Ronny Mauricio , Francisco Alvarez , Carson Benge.
OK, that's all fine.
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But Jared Young in the No. 3 spot in the lineup? Old-school thinking, new-age thinking, doesn't matter -- this is absolutely wild.
Why is Jared Young batting 3rd for Mets?
Short answer: We don't know.
When Juan Soto got hurt, it created an opening in the top-three spots, but normally you'd move a regular starter up there.
The Mets have instead moved a 30-year old journeyman with a .218 career average there.
Young is 5-for-14 on the young season (.357), but could that really be the thinking?
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There isn't a ton of reason not to move someone up from lower down in the order -- or to leave Bichette third and get some kind of speedy player up in the top-third to at least match old-school thinking.
Nope, it's Young, who has 119 career MLB at bats with six home runs. He's 30 years old, a former 15th-round pick, a guy no one would've pegged at this point in his career as an MLB 3-hitter.
There he is, though. The Mets never cease to amaze.
