{"id":362872,"date":"2025-12-23T01:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T01:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/362872\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T01:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T01:38:08","slug":"polanco-willing-to-move-to-first-base-for-mets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/362872\/","title":{"rendered":"Polanco willing to move to first base for Mets"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 Jorge Polanco<\/a>‘s experience at first base consists of one pitch, when San Francisco’s Wilmer Flores lined a sinker off the end of his bat toward right field in the ninth inning of a tied game last April 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just like they always say, whenever you come into the game, the ball always finds you,” Polanco recalled through a translator on Monday. “When the ball was hit, I thought it was coming straight to me.”<\/p>\n

Flores’ hit was way too far toward second for Polanco to have a chance at it, giving San Francisco a walk-off win over Seattle.<\/p>\n

First base figures to be Polanco’s primary position next year as Pete Alonso’s replacement following\u00a0Polanco’s decision to sign a $40 million, two-year contract with the New York Mets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was offering my services to teams as a first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, so when the Mets asked if I was able to do that, play a little bit of first, play a little bit third, I was definitely willing to do that,\u201d Polanco said on a Zoom news conference.<\/p>\n

Alonso, a fan favourite and a five-time All-Star, left the Mets as a free agent for\u00a0a $155 million, five-year contract with Baltimore.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he expects first base will be his primary position, Polanco responded: \u201cI would think so. … They told me that I\u2019d be playing a good amount of first base, but that I could also be bouncing around.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 32-year-old switch-hitter who has batted .260 against righties and .270 against lefties, Polanco was an All-Star with Minnesota in 2019 and set career bests two years later when he had 33 homers and 98 RBIs for the Twins.<\/p>\n

He was primarily a shortstop through 2020 and then a second baseman from 2020-24. Last season, he started mostly at designated hitter for the Mariners, who came within one win of their first World Series trip.<\/p>\n

Mariners bench coach Manny Acta and infield coach Perry Hill approached Polanco this year about preparing for time at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very easy because I had already spoken to my agent about starting to work out at first and trying to become a more versatile baseball player,\u201d Polanco said. \u201cSo when we approached them, they were essentially approaching us at the same time. So it was real easy and a really seamless transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polanco hit .265 with 26 home runs, 78 RBIs, 30 doubles and an .821 OPS in 138 games for Seattle last season, his second with the Mariners following a decade with Minnesota.<\/p>\n

While he didn’t get to start at first, he found work with the coaches invaluable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest difference is the position that you get in to receive pickoffs,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the toughest transition for me because it\u2019s very different from when you\u2019re playing in the middle of the infield. But I think with my experience of playing second, short, third, it allows me to be an athlete and I think that my athleticism will help me while I\u2019m playing first base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours after Polanco spoke with reporters, the Mets announced their deal with reliever Luke Weaver. The former New York Yankees right-hander\u00a0agreed to a $22 million, two-year contract last week,\u00a0subject to a successful physical.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past few seasons Luke has emerged as one of the most reliable leverage relievers in baseball and we\u2019re excited to add him to our (bullpen),\u201d Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said in a news release. \u201cLuke\u2019s stuff, combined with his experience in high pressure situations in New York, sets him up well for success going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weaver gets a $3 million signing bonus, payable upon the contract\u2019s approval by Major League Baseball, and salaries of $8 million next year and $11 million in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 Jorge Polanco‘s experience at first base consists of one pitch, when San Francisco’s Wilmer Flores…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-362872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}