Mets interview Troy Snitker for coaching staff vacancy

Snitker spent the past seven years with the Astros as a hitting coach, but was fired following the season after Houston missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

The Mets recently promoted Jeff Albert to be their director of hitting at the major league level. Albert previously ran their minor league hitting program for the past three seasons after leaving his position as the St. Louis Cardinals' hitting coach (2019-2022).

The Mets plan to hire another hitting coach to work under Albert, and Snitker appears to be a top candidate for this job, per Sherman. Snitker was hired in Houston back in 2016 while Albert served as the organization's minor league hitting coordinator.

As Sherman also reported, the belief is that the Detroit Tigers are interested in Snitker as well. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch was with the Astros at the same time as Snitker.

After the Mets collapsed to miss the postseason this past year, they ultimately fired co-hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes.

Snitker's father is Brian Snitker, who recently retired as the manager of the Atlanta Braves following the 2025 season.

What's next?

In addition to hiring a hitting coach under Albert, the Mets also need to bring in a pitching coach, third base coach and catching coordinator.

Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, third base coach Mike Sarbaugh and catching coach Glenn Sherlock (retired) will all not return.

Assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel and bullpen coach Jose Rosado have been granted permission to interview for other opportunities, which means it's certainly possible that the Mets will need to fill these positions as well.

The only expected returning members from Mendoza's staff are strategy coach Danny Barnes, first base coach Antoan Richardson and assistant Rafael Fernandez.

Bench coach John Gibbons also chose to depart from his position to seek other opportunities following the season. The Mets have since filled their bench coach spot by replacing Gibbons with up-and-comer Kai Correa.

Correa served as the Cleveland Guardians major league field coordinator/director of defense, strategy and baserunning the past two seasons. Before that he was Gabe Kapler's bench coach with the San Francisco Giants from 2020-2023.