PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — As a census-designated part of the Port St. Lucie area, many of the sporting activities in the Palm City area are in the nearby town of Port St. Lucie. The St. Lucie Mets are the most prominent team for people to catch in the area. The Low-A Southeast minor league baseball team has been competing in the area since 1988 and has been a minor league affiliate of the New York Mets since the beginning.

The St. Lucie Mets had a good season in 2021, as the team went 60-55. The club had the fourth-best record in the Low-A Southeast league, but it was not enough to reach the abbreviated playoffs that year. But the team still tied the Jupiter Hammerheads for the East Division title that year.

The team spent the 2021 season under the tutelage of Reid Brignac, who made his debut as the team’s manager. The 2021 year was Brignac’s first year as a baseball manager.

Brignac was signed by the Mets to be the manager of the Columbia Fireflies at the start of the 2020 season. But like with every other minor league baseball team, the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mets moved Brignac to the St. Lucie Mets after the Fireflies left the Mets organization to become the Low-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

Brignac has nine years of Major League experience and is aiming to bring his baseball expertise to the next generation of New York Mets. Brignac was a second-round draft pick for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2004. He was drafted out of St. Amant High School in the Baton Rouge suburb of St. Amant.

Brignac made his way through the Devil Rays’ minor league system and first played with the club in 2008. He spent five seasons with the Rays as an infielder. His best season was in 2010, when he played in 113 games and had a .256 batting average with eight home runs.

He continued playing in the MLB for four seasons after being traded to the Colorado Rockies in 2013. He spent those four years with the Rockies, the New York Yankees, Philadelphia, Miami and Atlanta.

Brignac retired from playing professional baseball in 2018. He had an MLB line of 194 hits, twelve home runs and 84 RBI in nine years with a .219 average.

Brignac’s work in professional baseball has brought him through many teams, and he has hopes that he will impart his knowledge of the sport to a new generation of New York Mets players. Brignac will be looking forward to leading the St. Lucie Mets in 2022 and producing a team everyone in Palm City and other parts of the Port St. Lucie area can support.

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