The New York Mets signed infielder Bo Bichette to play third base and help replace Pete Alonso's offensive production. Where does he rank on Buster Olney's top 10 third basemen in 2026?
New York Mets third baseman Bo Bichette isn’t a natural third baseman and has already shown some struggles in spring training as he adjusts to his new position.
The Mets signed Bichette to a three-year, $126 million contract (with opt-outs after each season) late in the offseason as part of a flurry of moves that saw New York also bring in ace right-hander Freddy Peralta and former All-Star center fielder Luis Robert Jr.
It was a slow offseason up to that point in late January, but those moves capped off a major overhaul of the roster that changed nearly one-third of the 26-man roster. The roster underwent these massive changes because President of Baseball Operations David Stearns wanted to improve the team’s run prevention.
Fan favorites like first baseman Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil are all on different teams and have one thing in common: poor defensive numbers.
Which makes the acquisition of Bichette interesting. Bichette is a fantastic hitter and was among the league-leaders in hits for the fourth time in seven seasons (led American League in 2021 and 2022). In 2025, he slashed .311/.357/.483 with 18 home runs and 94 RBI in 139 games.
Bichette also tore it up in the playoffs for the Toronto Blue Jays and came up just short of winning the World Series. He went 8-for-23 (.348) with a homer off of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and six RBI while playing solid defense at second base.
Though the team came up short, Bichette proved that he could hit in the regular season and the postseason. The Mets, which still needed to find help in replacing Alonso’s offensive production, signed Bichette to take over at 3B because the team acquired 2B Marcus Semien two months prior to his signing.
Semien is by far one of the best defenders at the position and Francisco Lindor is the man at shortstop, so the hot corner is all that’s left. The problem with that is Bichette is a historically bad defender with poor range and advanced metrics.
Still, he was ranked as the seventh-best player at his position in 2026 by ESPN’s Buster Olney despite never playing there in the past.
“He'll be a nice fit to bat behind Juan Soto in the Mets' lineup,” Olney wrote Monday. “The defensive challenges for Bichette are real, as he moves from shortstop to third base. Rival evaluators have noted that at shortstop, he almost never dove for ground balls -- the-step-and-dive is elementary for playing third in the big leagues -- and he has some inconsistency with his throwing.
“Stars as great as Cal Ripken and Alex Rodriguez initially struggled in the move from shortstop to third base.”
Obviously, spring training is the time to get the mistakes out of the way and to get prepared for the long 162-game season, but I’d be lying if I said there isn’t at least some concern regarding Bichette’s ability to play third base. It would be one thing if he was a plus-defender at another position prior to the shift, but that isn’t the case.
Fans shouldn’t panic just yet as it’s super early in the transition process, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.