Bo Bichette’s Mets Journey Begins: Spring Training, Third Base, and Big Expectations

There are a handful of rites of spring that never change. The sun comes up over the back fields, someone insists this is the best shape of their life, and reporters ask a newly arrived star how it feels to be somewhere new. On Thursday afternoon, that star was Bo Bichette the Mets’ freshly imported infielder with the family pedigree and an All-Star résumé, and now, a new glove destined for third base.

And if you were expecting grand pronouncements, chest-thumping or a PowerPoint presentation titled How I Will Save New York Baseball, you got something much more Bichette honest, grounded, understated yet quietly fired up.

“I’m meeting a lot of new people trying to figure out a new routine,” he said. “But I mean, it’s honestly really exciting. It almost feels like my first season again.”

That’s not nothing coming from a guy who spent his entire big-league existence in one organization before signing a three-year, $126 million deal with the Mets in January a contract with enough opt-outs and options to make a mortgage broker sweat. The plan is for him to anchor third base, which is sort of like telling someone who’s driven a sports car their whole life that now they’ll be driving a Tesla Cybertruck same road, totally different feel.

Bichette has been putting in the work immediately, logging time at third with coaches Kai Correa and Carlos Mendoza’s staff, trying to recalibrate instincts forged by years at shortstop.

“Yeah. I mean, they’re helping a lot,” he said. “I feel good over there, but there’s definitely some, I think, mostly timing things. You have a lot more time at third base than you do at shortstop. So just trying to figure that out.”

He described the differences with the tone of someone explaining how gravity works practical and to the point.

“I wouldn’t say surprised. It’s more forward to back than side to side,” Bichette explained. “I mean, shortstop definitely have to come in, but yeah, the having more time at third base is something that I’m getting used to and understanding that I can take a little bit more time.”

In other words: the hot corner isn’t quite as hot when you’ve lived in the middle of the infield your whole life.

As for mentors who’ve made the same transition, Bichette admitted he’s charting his own path.

“I mean, I’ve talked to players who have played multiple positions,” he said, “but nobody that has played the amount of shortstop I have and then moved over.”

Of course, defense is only half the conversation in this town. The other half revolves around lineup cards, radio debates, and the sacred art of batting-order speculation. With Carlos Mendoza floating the possibility that the top of the order could feature Lindor and Soto in the first two spots — and Bichette hitting third he sounded unfazed.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s a ton of really good players on this team,” he said. “And I think you could line it up anyway, but I’ve hit almost everywhere in my career. So I’m prepared for whatever.”

Confidence level at third base? Reporters tried the numerical approach — always a risky proposition when dealing with ballplayers and math.

“I’m not sure I can even put a number on that,” he admitted. “I haven’t played any games, so that’s going to be my biggest hurdle. But I’m excited for it and excited to get comfortable there and excited to play games here.”

That theme "excitement" came up repeatedly when he spoke about landing in New York, even though his experience so far has mostly consisted of unpacking spikes and shaking hands.

“I’m just looking forward to being here,” he said. “So, yeah, I mean, it’s like I said, it’s a great team. It’s an exciting city to play in. And so I’m just excited to be here and excited to get the season started.”

As for clubhouse bonds, we’re still in the early-days stage — the baseball equivalent of the first day of school when you’re figuring out where to sit at lunch.

“Well, it’s only really my first day,” Bichette said. “I mean, I was here yesterday, but I mean, I spent a lot of time around Jorge, Polanco, and I look forward to spending a lot of time around everybody else.”

For Mets fans just getting reacquainted: Bichette arrives with a track record that didn’t materialize out of thin air. Born in Florida in 1998 into baseball DNA, his father Dante a four-time big-league All-Star ,he starred as an amateur, hit .569 as a high school senior, and became one of the sport’s most decorated young hitters after Toronto drafted him in 2016. He rocketed through the minors, at one point leading all of Minor League Baseball in batting average as a teenager, debuted in 2019 with a record-smashing barrage of extra-base hits, earned two All-Star selections, and twice topped the American League in hits.

Even his setbacks injuries, position changes, the grind of recent seasons, read more like plot twists than endings. Last fall he returned from a knee injury to appear in the World Series and delivered a dramatic three-run homer in Game 7. Months later he chose Queens as his next chapter.

Which brings us back to Port St. Lucie, where Bichette stood Thursday afternoon new uniform, new position, same calm focus, sounding less like a hired gun and more like a kid rediscovering the game.

“It almost feels like my first season again.”

And in mid-February, when optimism floats around camp thicker than sunscreen, that might be the most Mets-spring sentiment of all — a fresh start, a new role, and the hope that come October nobody’s talking about timing adjustments at third base anymore.

They’ll just be talking about wins.

Here is the full press conference :