From Caguas, Three Hundred

At twelve, Francisco Lindor flew from Puerto Rico to Orlando by himself. His family followed later, and for a time they lived in a cheap weekly motel with limited cooking options. He was enrolled at Montverde Academy, struggling with English, calling his mother in tears about the difficulty of boarding with strangers. He took ESL classes and, by his own account, grew independent.

The boy from Caguas became a switch-hitting shortstop who has now hit 300 home runs in the major leagues. He crossed the number on September 27, 2026 — his twelfth season, his sixth with the Mets.

Cleveland took him eighth overall in the 2011 draft out of Montverde. He signed for $2.9 million instead of accepting a full scholarship to Florida State, debuted in June 2015, and spent six seasons with the Indians. He won two Gold Gloves and a Platinum Glove during those Cleveland years, and was named the World Baseball Classic Pool D MVP in 2017. Since joining the Mets in 2021, he has added two more Silver Slugger seasons to the two he earned in Cleveland. Across 1,640 games, he has driven in 905 runs, stolen 219 bases, and hit 351 doubles.

Caguas to Queens

His father, Miguel, trained him as a child by hitting ground balls from the top of a hill while Francisco fielded them partway down the slope. The family bought his early baseball gear on layaway at Al's Sports Shop in Caguas — small payments every couple of weeks until the cleats could come home. When he signed his bonus in 2011, he bought houses for his divorced parents and supported family members including a stepsister with cerebral palsy who received better medical care in Florida.

Teammates have described his consistent post-series locker room check-ins with every player as genuine leadership that makes people feel welcome and supported.

He is 32, still at shortstop for the Mets, with 21 home runs this season through 105 games.

Reporting: Andscape, USA Today, The Athletic, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.