Opening Day is right around the corner, and the Mets and Yankees both enter the season with playoff aspirations.
Hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy is obviously the goal for every MLB team, but if the Mets or Yankees are to reach their ultimate goal, which players will need to make the biggest impact in order for their respective teams to be in the hunt for a World Series title?
We polled our panel of SNY experts and compiled the votes to come up with our list of the Top 10 most impactful New York baseball players for the 2024 season.
Here’s a look at our list, with two players revealed each weekday on Baseball Night in New York…
10. Starling Marte
In 2022, Marte was a catalyst for the Mets offense, as his All-Star production (.814 OPS, 16 home runs, 63 RBI, 76 runs scored) helped lead the team to 101 regular season wins. But his 2023 season was basically doomed from the start thanks to offseason double groin surgery. Marte was never truly healthy and was never able to play at full speed in 2023, and his lack of production (.625 OPS in just 86 games) was a big reason why the Mets took a step back as a team.
When Marte is right, he can do it all – hit for average and power, steal bases, and play Gold Glove caliber defense. And if he can stay on the field in 2024, the Mets are a much different team than the underachieving 2023 squad.
9. Carlos Rodon
When Rodon signed a massive six-year, $162 million deal with the Yankees last offseason, the hope was that the lefty would be a 1-B ace along with Gerrit Cole at the top of the rotation. But things quickly went wrong for Rodon in his first season in pinstripes. A forearm injury suffered in spring training, coupled with back issues, pushed Rodon’s regular season debut all the way back to July, and he missed some more time in August with a hamstring issue. When he was healthy enough to take the mound, the results weren’t very good, as the lefty posted a 6.85 ERA in 14 starts.
But the start of the 2024 season marks a clean slate for everyone, and with Cole beginning the season on the IL with elbow issues, the Yankees will need Rodon to step up and be the ace he was in 2021 and 2022, when he made the All-Star team and finished top six in Cy Young voting both seasons.
8. Kodai Senga
Senga was as good as advertised, and maybe even better, in his first major league season.
After an illustrious career in Japan, Senga brought his patented “ghost fork” to Queens, and the results were downright spooky.
Senga pitched to a 2.98 ERA, earning an All-Star nod, and finishing second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in Cy Young voting. With Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer now gone, Senga steps into the role of Mets ace for the first time.
His season has gotten off to a delayed start due to a posterior capsule strain in his right shoulder, so the right-hander’s availability will have quite the impact on how far the Mets go in 2024.
7. Francisco Alvarez
It’s a bit shocking to recall that Alvarez wasn’t even on the Mets’ Opening Day roster in 2023, but a very early injury to Omar Narvaez saw the Mets’ top prospect get the call to the bigs in early April.
Alvarez soon assumed the starting catcher role, and he ran with it, playing 123 games while blasting 25 home runs with 63 RBI. Alvarez has already shut down the notion that he might struggle behind the plate in the majors, so now the question becomes what’s next for the 22-year-old slugger.
Perhaps if Alvarez can see his batting average improve (he hit .209 last season), the Mets’ offense will be in a better place than it was last season.
6. ???
To be revealed on March 25
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To be revealed on March 25
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To be revealed on March 26
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To be revealed on March 26
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To be revealed on March 27
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To be revealed on March 27
