The New York Mets have made their first two hires on their major league coaching staff.
The Mets have hired Kai Correa to be their next bench coach under Mendoza, as a source told Mets On SI.Correa was SF Giants bench coach from 2020-2023 and most recently Cleveland’s ML Field Coordinator/Director of defense, baserunning and game strategy last 2 seasonsCorrea served as the San Francisco Giants' bench coach under Gabe Kapler from 2020-2023.
He was the Giants' interim manager for the final three games of the 2023 season after Kapler was fired. Most recently, he was the major league field coordinator/director of defense, baserunning and strategy for the Cleveland Guardians from 2024-2025. The Mets also promoted director of hitting development Jeff Albert to lead their hitting program at the big-league level.Recently mentioned Jeff Albert as a potential candidate for the Mets’ hitting coach vacancy. Now he will lead the ML hitting programPer Passan, Albert will be in uniform and the expectation is that the Mets will bring in another hitting coach to complement him. The Mets fired co-hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes following a disappointing season in 2025. Albert has served as the Mets' director of hitting development for the past three seasons, which has seen the emergence of top position player prospects such as Jett Williams and Carson Benge during this span.Prior to arriving to the Mets' organization, Albert, 44, was the St. Louis Cardinals' hitting coach from 2019-2022. Albert helped first baseman Paul Goldschmidt capture the 2022 NL MVP Award in his final season in St. Louis. Albert was also the assistant hitting coach for the Houston Astros back in 2018 and was a minor league hitting coach for the Cardinals for four seasons before that.The Mets still have a number of additions to make to Carlos Mendoza's coaching staff, which saw almost every member get let go following this past season's slow collapse. The only coaches that survived the purge were strategy coach Danny Barnes, first base coach Antoan Richardson, bullpen coach Jose Rosado, assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel and assistant Rafael Fernandez. Rosado and Druschel have been given permission to seek other opportunities. Promoting Albert from a role he was successful in, plus hiring Correa is a start, but the Mets have more work to do in picking the right candidates to fill out Mendoza's staff. As previously mentioned, the plan is for the team to bring in another hitting coach to work with Albert. Beyond Albert and Correa, the Mets still need to replace pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh. Mendoza will enter his third season as manager of the Mets in 2026 with virtually a whole new group of coaches by his side in the dugout.Pat Ragazzo is the main publisher and reporter for the Mets On SI site. He has been covering the Mets since 2018. Pat was selected as The Top Reporter & Publisher of the Year 2024 by the International Association of Top Professionals for outstanding leadership, dedication, and commitment to the industry. He has appeared on several major TV Networks including: NBC4, CBS2, FOX5, PIX11 and NY1; and is a recurring guest on ESPN New York 880 AM and WFAN Sports Radio 101.9 FM. Pat is also the Mets insider for Barstool Sports personality Frank "The Tank" Fleming’s podcast. You can follow him on Twitter/X and Instagram: @ragazzoreport.
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