After a historic collapse to close the season, the Mets are overhauling their coaching staff. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes will not retain their positions next season, reported Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. New York is also not bringing back infield coach Mike Sarbaugh, reported Andy Martino of SNY. Martino also noted bench coach John Gibbons is leaving the team and catching instructor Glenn Sherlock is retiring.
The significant coaching shakeup comes a few days after the Mets completed an epic late-season meltdown with a loss on Sunday to the Marlins. New York peaked at 45-24 in mid-June, the best record in the league. They were slowly tracked down by Philadelphia for the NL East divisional crown, and then by Cincinnati for the final Wild Card spot. The Mets won just 10 games in September and endured a brutal eight-game losing streak. They dropped series against Washington and Miami over the final two weeks of the regular season. New York could’ve still snared a playoff spot with a win over the Marlins and a loss by the Reds on the final day of the season, but they were shut out 4-0. Cincinnati earned the final playoff bid, only to be quickly dispatched by the Dodgers in the Wild Card round.
Hefner spent the past six seasons as the Mets’ pitching coach. The team ranked 22nd, ninth, seventh, 19th, 15th, and 18th in ERA during his tenure. The two standout seasons happened to coincide with Jacob deGrom’s final two years with the team. New York nursed competent stretches out of Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea this season, though both faded down the stretch. Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill each delivered promising results before going down with injuries. Kodai Senga put together two solid months, then went down with a hamstring injury. He scuffled to a 6.18 ERA in August and was booted out of the rotation.
Hefner was drafted by the Padres in 2007. He made his MLB debut with the Mets in 2012, then tossed 130 2/3 innings with the big-league club in 2013. The right-hander last pitched in 2016 in the Cardinals’ minor league system. He was previously the Twins’ assistant pitching coach before taking the pitching coach job in Queens.
Chavez had been on New York’s coaching staff for the past four seasons. He was initially hired as the hitting coach in 2022, then moved to a bench coach role in 2023. He’d been back in a hitting coach position for the past two years. After working in a player development role with the team, Barnes became assistant hitting coach in 2022. He got the head gig in 2023 but has since worked in tandem with Chavez.
New York was tied for ninth in scoring with Seattle this past season. It was the third time in four seasons under Chavez/Barnes that the team ranked top 10 in runs. Francisco Lindor has been the driving force of the offense since coming over via trade in 2021. Pete Alonso has been a consistent power threat since breaking in with 53 home runs as a rookie in 2019. The team landed Juan Soto in free agency this past offseason, and after a slow start, the outfielder put together one of his most dominant offensive seasons to date. Soto set career highs in home runs and stolen bases in his first season with the Mets.
Chavez enjoyed a 17-year big-league career. He spent 13 seasons with the Athletics before moving on to the Yankees and Diamondbacks. He won six Gold Gloves at third base for Oakland. Barnes was drafted by the Phillies in 2009. The infielder reached Triple-A in 2012, but never appeared in the majors.
Gibbons is the most high-profile name from a coaching perspective. He spent a total of 11 seasons as manager of the Blue Jays across two different stints. Gibbons was Toronto’s skipper from 2004–2008, and then again from 2013–2018. He had served as a bench coach with the Mets for the past two seasons. Gibbons is not retiring, Martino noted. His name could pop up as a candidate for one of the many available manager jobs.
Sherlock is calling it quits after more than two decades as a major league coach. He got his first big-league job in 1992 as the catching instructor for the Yankees. He reprised that role in 1994-1995. Sherlock then went to Arizona, where he functioned in various roles from 1998-2016. He was a base coach for the Mets from 2017-2019, then joined the Pirates’ coaching staff from 2020-21. Sherlock rejoined the Mets as a bench coach in 2022. He’d been the team’s catching coach for the past three seasons.
Sarbaugh served as the Mets’ third base coach for the past two seasons. He held the same role for Cleveland from 2014-2023. Sarbaugh was credited with helping Brett Baty improve on defense, Martino mentioned. Baty had 12 errors in 112 games in his first two big-league seasons. After Sarbaugh arrived in 2024, Baty has made 10 errors in 191 games.