Mets' positional versatility gives them many options as trade deadline draws near

SAN FRANCISCO — In some ways, Jeff McNeil was one of the prototypes.

In 2022, the year he won the National League batting title, McNeil played four positions and served as a DH. Now in his age 33 season, he’s played everywhere but catcher and pitcher, and on Friday, president of baseball operations David Stearns said he was so impressed with McNeil’s centerfield play that he could foresee the Mets continuing to use him and Tyrone Taylor there if no obvious permanent solution appears before Thursday’s trade deadline.

Utility players are as native to baseball as leather balls and fresh-cut grass, but having an All-Star utility player, as McNeil was in that 2022 season, is a little bit rarer.

It’s something the Mets certainly are encouraging with their younger players, particularly the trio of Brett Baty, a natural third baseman, and Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuna, natural shortstops. All three can play second and third, and all three have outfield gloves.

“I feel like it’s a trend in the game nowadays that the younger guys are able to play multiple positions because it’s just so valuable,” McNeil said earlier this month. “We’ve got all these young guys that are able to play all over the diamond, and it makes the team better.”

And again, it’s by design.

“It’s important,” manager Carlos Mendoza said in mid-July. “We saw it with Baty last year, Acuna, [Mark] Vientos even this offseason, giving him some reps at first base. Mauricio — this is a guy that came up as a shortstop, didn’t play at all last year, and here he is playing second base, playing third base, outfield versatility. I think this is something David [Stearns], [senior vice president of player development] Andy Green, [assistant general manager] Eduardo [Brizuela], myself, as an organization, we feel like creating that versatility with a lot of our prospects, a lot of our players, is important so that when they do get here, it’s easier for me to not only put together a lineup but manage a game.”

It also gives the Mets more flexibility as the trade deadline approaches. Versatility means higher trade capital, and multiple players who can play multiple positions means that everyone can be valuable but no one is necessarily untouchable.

Take Acuna, for instance. At-bats have been hard to come by, but his speed has been a valuable asset on the basepaths in late-game situations and his ability to play multiple positions means that when he stays in the game, Mendoza has multiple options. And Acuna takes pride in that.

“I’m grateful for whatever opportunity the team gives me,” he said through an interpreter right before the All-Star break. “I’m ready, willing and able to do whatever the team asks of me, so yeah, I’ll be prepared and I’ll be ready to go wherever they ask me, whether it’s defensively, baserunning, anything.”

On Saturday, Mendoza was asked if Acuna eventually will find a steady home in one position or another. He more or less said no (or at least not for now) because, well, he doesn’t have to.

“We feel comfortable in any position,” Mendoza said. “The guy can play second, he can play short, he can play in the outfield .  .  . and he’s elite there.

“He continues to help us win baseball games at this level with a lot of different ways we’ve been using him — defensively, baserunning .  .  . Now he’s back here in that role where he continues to help us and he’s a good player.”

Then he was asked about that glut on the left side of the infield. Young players tend to do better with stability, but the Mets have found greater value in adaptability. So when it comes to solidifying established roles, “it’ll play itself out,” Mendoza said.

“We continue to take it one day at a time .  .  . and not worry about what’s going to happen two or three weeks down the road. I think it’s more, what do we need to do to put those guys in a position to help us win a baseball game today? And they understand that.”

It also helps that things are starting to click just a little bit more offensively. The bottom of the lineup, which has been a weakness for most of the season, has produced during the five-game winning streak they took into Saturday. On Friday, Baty, Francisco Alvarez and Acuna scored out of the six, seven and eight holes (Acuna as a late-game substitution). Though not part of that crew, Taylor also scored and drove in a run out of the nine spot.

“Every time we get that bottom of the order doing what they’re doing now, [it helps drive the offense],” Mendoza said. “The longer we can [make that lineup], we’re going to be in a good spot.”

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.