Jorge Polanco’s Mets Introduction Had It All: First Base, Family Values, and ‘George Bonds’

Jorge Polanco’s introductory Mets press conference had everything you want from a winter Zoom: position flexibility, God references, family values, a nickname that sounds like a Springsteen cover band (“George Bonds”), and at least two moments where reporters couldn’t be heard, which officially makes it a New York press conference.

Polanco arrived sounding like a man who had already unpacked his bags, memorized the Citi Field dimensions, and labeled his glove collection by position. The biggest topic, naturally, was first base — a position Mets fans have been thinking about the way other people think about cholesterol. Polanco didn’t hesitate. “The conversation was easy,” he said. “I’ve been making the transition since last year with Seattle.” In fact, he didn’t just offer first base. He basically offered the entire infield buffet. “I was already offering myself as a second, third, first base,” he said, as if he were a Home Depot employee saying, Sure, I can help you in plumbing, electrical, or lumber.

When the Mets asked if he could handle first and third, Polanco said, “I felt good. As a first baseman, second baseman, third baseman.” That’s not confidence — that’s a man checking all the boxes on the customs form.

Why the Mets? Polanco’s answer had nothing to do with Broadway lights or late-night pastrami. It was about people. “I like the way they take care of their players,” he said. “The way they offer their services. The way they can help you. And above all, the most important thing, how they treat their family.” It was a recurring theme throughout the call. The Mets have sold us The Magic Is Back, promised a September to Remember, and assured us this was Our Time. If they’re looking for the next slogan, Polanco may have nailed it: We’re Nice to Your Relatives.

Polanco also sounded genuinely excited about the current roster, name-checking Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto with the enthusiasm of a kid reading his birthday guest list. “I know the type of leaders they are, and how much they care about their team,” he said. “It’s a team that wants to win.” Mets fans may want to print that sentence, frame it, and hang it next to their lucky rally towel.

The press conference did acknowledge the elephants who recently left the room Edwin Díaz and Pete Alonso. Polanco didn’t dodge it. “I was surprised,” he admitted. “Edwin Díaz is one of the best closers in baseball. Pete Alonso is one of the best first basemen in baseball.” Then came the realism. “This is a business… there’s a lot, as baseball players, that we can’t control. You just have to give the control to God and see what happens.” Somewhere, a Mets fan nodded solemnly while stress-eating pretzels.

As for first base, yes, it sure sounds like that’s where Polanco will spend plenty of time. “As the conversations went on, they told me that I’d be playing a good amount of first base,” he said, though he added he could be “bouncing around.” Which, historically speaking, is very Mets.

When I got my turn to ask a question, this was the one I really wanted answered. Polanco’s strikeout rate didn’t just improve last season — it fell off a cliff, in the best possible way. He went from a career-high 29.2 percent in 2024 to 15.6 percent in 2025, a 13.6-point swing that stands as the largest single-season drop in strikeout rate in Major League history. That’s not a tweak. That’s a full renovation.

Polanco didn’t dress it up. Part of it, he said, was finally being healthy again. “Physically… I’ve been dealing with a knee injury,” he explained. “Now, thank God, I’m feeling better.” That knee issue had lingered, affected his lower half, and quietly changed the kind of hitter he’d become. Once it was repaired, the rest followed. But health alone wasn’t the whole story. Polanco also talked about intentional changes with his hitting coach, getting back to the hitter he was earlier in his career “the player who puts the ball more in play, who punches less, and who fights a lot on the turn.”

The results backed him up. With a quieter setup and a flatter, more controlled swing, Polanco stayed in the zone longer, cut down the empty swings, and still kept enough pop to do damage. This wasn’t contact for contact’s sake. It was contact with purpose, and it produced his best offensive season in Seattle before landing in Queens.

For Mets fans trying to understand what kind of hitter just arrived — especially in the shadow of a departing home run king — this answer mattered. Polanco isn’t promising reinvention. He’s describing a return. And sometimes, in baseball, that’s the most sustainable upgrade of all.

My follow-up went to the nickname that followed Polanco around all last October: “George Bonds.” He smiled when it came up. “I don’t know who came up with it,” he said, which is usually how nicknames stick — especially the good ones. In Seattle, it wasn’t marketing. It was survival. After returning healthy from knee surgery, everything Polanco hit seemed to leave the bat with bad intentions, enough that catcher Mitch Garver dubbed him “George Bonds,” an anglicized upgrade fueled by exit velocity and well-timed damage. As J.P. Crawford put it simply, “The guy can swing it. He has a gift.”

Asked whether those big-moment reps — and that postseason success — would help him handle the constant spotlight in New York, Polanco sounded unfazed. “I try to focus more and I don’t try to make the moment bigger than the moment,” he said. It’s a calm, almost meditative approach — and one Mets fans, conditioned by decades of high-leverage stress, may want to tattoo somewhere visible before Opening Day.

On the defensive side, Polanco explained that first base is different especially footwork and positioning but he believes his athleticism will carry him. “Being a player who comes from the middle of the field… I think that’s going to help me a lot,” he said. Translation: catching throws is easier when you’ve spent a decade dodging ground balls and shortstops.

He also spoke warmly about fans, acknowledging the leap from Minnesota and Seattle to New York. “We know we’re going to have a good fan base and we’re going to count on their support,” he said. That sentence alone probably sold a few jerseys.

Perhaps the most revealing answer came when Polanco discussed why the Mets truly won him over. “They didn’t talk to me to do business,” he said. “They also talked to me about how they take care of the family.” With a wife and four children, that mattered. “It was really important to me.” He even reached out to Starling Marte, who gave him glowing feedback. Endorsements don’t get much better than that.

Finally, Polanco described his lone in-game experience at first base, a moment Mets fans have already replayed in their minds. Was he nervous? “I wouldn’t say nervous… maybe a little excited.” When the first ball was put in play, he smiled and admitted that, for a split second, he thought it was coming right at him. You know the old baseball saying — the ball always finds the new guy. Polanco was ready.

By the end of the call, Jorge Polanco sounded exactly like what the Mets need right now: adaptable, grounded, confident, family-oriented, and fully aware that baseball — especially in New York — is unpredictable. Or as he put it, in both languages that matter in Queens: “Gracias, muchas gracias.”