Clubhouse Chemistry

BY KEVIN KERNAN

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL. –Walking into the Mets clubhouse on Friday at Clover Park you could sense a different vibe.

More players were at their lockers. Something as simple as that tells a story.

In this age of mega-complex spring training sites, it is easy for players to be somewhere else than at their lockers with the expansive food room, video centers, batting cage areas, multiple meeting rooms, workout areas, therapy rooms, hitting labs, pitching labs and many other luxurious accommodations, including sleep rooms.

It is a far cry from the days of three-legged stools, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a nasty old couch, a card table and leaded and unleaded coffee from when I first started entering major league spring training clubhouses.

One of the downfalls of such baseball luxury, though, is that time spent with teammates in a clubhouse can be curtailed, especially if the players do not always want to hang together.

As soon as you walk in the clubhouse door at Met camp, the first locker you pass belongs to one of the newest Mets, Bo Bichette, and that is a good thing.

“I love talking baseball,’’ Bichette told BallNine. Here’s why.

Bo is from a baseball-first family. His dad Dante Bichette, 62, played 14 years in the majors, bashing 274 home runs, 201 as a proud member of the Rockies Blake Street Bombers. Bo’s older brother Dante Jr was the 51st pick of the 2011 draft by the Yankees and played eight years in the minors. I did a column on him back in the day and his love for the game came shining through.

Bo was the 66th pick of the 2016 draft by the Blue Jays, developed into a star with Toronto and came two outs away from winning the World Series in seven games over the Dodgers last year. His three-run home run in the third inning of Game 7 off Shohei Ohtani put the Blue Jays on top, 3-0, a game the Blue Jays would lose 5-4 in 11 innings. Last season Bo batted .381 with runners in scoring position and .329 with runners on base. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Bo hit .306.

Considering the Mets batted .236 in those situations last season, Bichette’s bat can be a difference-maker and to me, his signing was a huge win for a team that needed to change its culture, not to mention stealing Bichette away from the Phillies.

It is not just being in the clubhouse, it is being present and Bichette was here talking baseball with Mark Vientos, who has the locker next to him. These are the moments that help a team develop, the one-on-one conversations between veteran player and a player with not the same experience.

Bichette will turn 28 on March 5th. Vientos is 26, so they are close in age, but Bichette already has 748 major league games under his belt while Vientos has played 313. Bichette owns 3,075 MLB at-bats to 1,091 for Vientos and 904 hits to 261 for Vientos, not to mention Bichette coming back from a knee injury and came off the deck to bat .348 in last year’s World Series.

At the end of that row, another new Met Jorge Polanco was at his locker the entire time the clubhouse was open to the media. Polanco told me how he shortened his swing last year with the Mariners, “Short to the ball, that was the key,’’ he said of his jump in batting average.

From 2024 to 2025 Polanco’s batting average went from .213 to .265 and being short to the ball increased his power. He went from 16 home runs to 26. I brought up my hitting talks with Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn to Polanco and he was fascinated to hear every detail about some of Gwynn’s “short to the ball’’ secrets.

The Mets signing Polanco was another example of David Stearns making a cultural shift from the previous season of discontent. Included in the changes are changes in positions. Bichette, a shortstop has shifted to third base, a position he has not played since travel baseball. Polanco, a second baseman, is learning to play first base on the fly, both difficult adjustments, but true baseball players can make such moves. Another veteran Marcus Semien has been added to all the new baseball ingredients, but he is staying at his natural position, second base as the Mets hope to tighten up their defense and that means Luis Robert Jr. in centerfield after all his lost years with the White Sox.

As everyone in the Mets’ world knows, slugging first baseman Pete Alonso signed as a free agent with the Orioles and somehow the Mets are going to find a way to replace his 38 home runs. Brandon Nimmo was traded to the Rangers for Semien. Devin Williams, who failed with the Yankees, twice losing the closer job, signed to be the Mets closer as Edwin Diaz jumped to the World Champion Dodgers because they paid him $69 million and they are back-to-back World Champions. The Mets have not won a World Series going on 40 years now. Jeff McNeil also was sent away by Stearns to the A’s.

I found it interesting that the Mets are not naming anyone captain. In my mind, that’s a good thing.

Juan Soto is Mr. Met because of his 15-year, $765 million contract.

If Soto were to be captain, the C would stand for Contract.

No need to go there. These Mets will need leadership from all their veterans.

The Mets don’t need a captain, as owner Steve Cohen said, and if shortstop Francisco Lindor was named to that spot, I believe that would have been the wrong move to make for the team overall.

I did notice, and talking to people in the Mets organization, that Soto is much more relaxed this season and is spending more time in the clubhouse, again, an important presence in the coming together of a team, especially in the early days of spring training when so many players are going in so many different directions. He also is in better shape than last season.

When I spoke to Soto he was in a relaxed baseball-first place after the whirlwind of the Free Agent Tour of 2025.

On this day Soto even favored a rock, paper, scissors settlement when facing Nolan McLean and there was a dispute on a ball-strike call during an at-bat. Soto won and said he had never done that before, letting out a laugh as he walked back to his locker, noting, “First time for everything.’’

It was a small thing, but it also was a big thing, in an important baseball way.

Spring training needs to be fun. It just can’t be all numbers and measurements. These are just big kids making outrageous big money playing this game. Across the board baseball has become too nerdy, especially with the battalion of number crunchers every team has hired, swarming like bees around a hive.

That is another reason clubhouse baseball conversations are so vital.

At the end of the workout session, I asked manager Carlos Mendoza what are the attributes that make for a successful major league clubhouse … other than winning.

Mendoza offered a thoughtful answer, saying: “Man, good people. Have each other’s backs. They are committed. They communicate. The Trust Factor. They have got to be able to trust each other, that is where everything starts. And that happens because of communication, holding each other accountable. That is what good clubhouses are. You trust each other. You don’t have to be best friends but do it right. You trust that those guys are prepared and they want to go out there and compete and that is all you can ask for.’’

I followed up with, “Am I simplifying this too much, that it is just important to have ballplayers, and that’s why you bring in a Bichette, a Polanco?’’

Mendoza didn’t hesitate.

“Yeah, I know what you mean, Kevin,’’ he said. “You have to go out there and you have to execute. You have got execute fundamentals. From a position player side, I’ve always been a guy who takes pride in the two-strike approach, putting the ball in play, hitting behind runners. Hitting with runners in scoring position and the numbers don’t lie. We feel like we have got a few of them, we felt like we had them last year, but this year I am just excited. You mentioned Bo, he adds that to the equation, so I am excited to have him.’’

Mendoza should be excited, hitters who hit with runners in scoring position make a difference. The Blue Jays had the most hits in baseball last season with 1461 and that helped take them to the World Series. The Phillies were next at 1426, and they won the NL East. Then came David Stearns’ old team the Brewers at 1423 and they won the NL Central. The mighty Dodgers were seventh at 1384. The 83-79 Mets, who could not make the 16-team playoffs in 2025, were way down the list at 16, with 1359 hits.

Talking baseball, trusting teammates, putting the ball in play, all that plays a role ultimately in clubhouse chemistry as well. These Mets clearly believe changing so many pieces will change the clubhouse and the team for the better.

Clubhouse Chemistry 101.