Mets spiral into madness continues with another loss to Atlanta

New York falls to 0-4 vs. the sub-500 Braves this season. Plus, what exactly is Brett Baty at this point in his career?

What’s up with the Mets? ⚾

• The Mets lost yet again on Monday night, falling to the Braves by a 3-2 score (box)

• RHP Paul Blackburn was not good yet again, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks over just 4.2 innings pitched

• RF Juan Soto drove in the only runs for the club with a two-run home run (17) but struck out with runners on the corners in a one-run game to end an 8th inning scoring threat

• RHPs José Buttó, Ryne Stanek, Reed Garrett and Edwin Díaz combined for 4.1 scoreless innings, though it was all for naught in the loss

• New York’s offense went 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and is averaging just 3.4 runs per game over their last 13 games (worst in the NL)

• The Mets are now 0-4 vs. the Braves to start the season, and have lost nine of their last 10 games overall

• RHP Frankie Montas will make his Mets debut tonight after returning from the injured list

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Roster Moves 📰

• INF Luisangel Acuña optioned to Triple-A Syracuse

• RHP Tyler Zuber optioned to Triple-A Syracuse

• RF Travis Jankowski selected from Triple-A Syracuse

• CF Jose Siri transferred from 10-day injured list to 60-day injured list

• LHP Richard Lovelady signed to a major league contract

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Play of the Game 🌟

The Mets (yet again) struggled to do anything at the plate on Monday night against a mediocre Braves team, with Juan Soto’s two-run homer in the 6th inning acting as their only offense.

Naturally, it was all up to Soto yet again to get something done in the 8th inning as he came up with runners at the corners and two outs in a 3-2 game against Dylan Lee.

Despite getting ahead in the count 3-1, Soto never saw a hittable pitch in the at-bat and eventually struck out swinging on a slider below the zone. It’s unfortunate that Soto winds up being the lowlight of the night considering he’s been one of the only Mets hitting over the last few weeks, but baseball isn’t always fair.

With the way things were going, you knew the game was over after this at-bat – and it was as all three Mets were retired with ease in the 9th to end the game.

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Stats of the Day 📊

• The Mets are hitting .173 runners in scoring position over their last 13 games (worst in MLB) and are now hitting .214 with RISP for this entire season, ranking 29th in the league and just two points ahead of the White Sox for dead last

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Down on the Farm 🌾

All Mets minor league affiliates were off on Monday.

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (46-33) vs. Braves (36-41)

Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY

Starters: RHP Frankie Montas (Mets debut) vs. RHP Spencer Strider (2-5, 3.89 ERA)

When: 7:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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Who is the real Brett Baty? ✍️

There’s a lot wrong going on with the Mets right now. They’ve lost nine of their last 10 games, they’ve optioned two of their former top prospects to the minor leagues in Francisco Álvarez and Luisangel Acuña, and have had a large share of their good vibes wiped away in the process.

But even with the recent demotions of a pair of once-promising young players, there remains one more enigma on this roster – Brett Baty.

Once one of the organization’s most prized position player prospects – and a player that I once thought would finally be the heir apparent to David Wright at third base – Baty has a bumpy major league career full of starts and stops… albeit mostly stops.

Despite a fantastic Spring Training campaign this year, I entered this season skeptical due to how Baty has looked in every one of his major league appearances to date. It may be harsh, but after his first few seasons (despite minimal at-bats spread across multiple years), Baty was beginning to have the looks of your prototypical “Quadruple-A” player to me.

So when Baty got off to the start he did this season, posting a .597 OPS over his first 19 games, it was no surprise to me that the club made the decision to option him back to the minor leagues. I thought that, perhaps, that would be the last real shot Baty would get with this franchise at the major league level barring something crazy.

But lo and behold, Baty – playing the role of Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise – proved himself to be unkillable and was given one more shot. The Mets recalled Baty from Triple-A Syracuse on May 7th, and for the first time in his career, he took his opportunity and ran.

Over his first 21 games after being recalled from Triple-A, Baty hit .290/.333/.581 with five home runs, a double, a triple, 16 RBI, 14 strikeouts, and a .914 OPS over 66 plate appearances. For the first time in his big league career, he looked like the player that Mets fans had dreamed about in the years since the organization drafted him.

Those who had always believed in him reveled in the fact that things finally seemed to turn around, and even those who had become skeptical (like myself) began to wonder if this really was the start of his career turning point.

For a few weeks there, it almost became expected that Baty was going to get a couple of knocks, hit a homer, or drive a few runs in on most days. And then suddenly, somehow almost quietly, it all just evaporated.

As impressive as the hot streak had been for Baty, what he’s done since then has been equally as troublesome. Over his last 18 games, Baty is batting just .145/.213/.255 with two home runs, no doubles or triples, four RBIs, 16 strikeouts, and a .468 OPS over 61 plate appearances.

That means that Baty’s recent cold streak has lasted almost just as long as his hot streak (just five fewer plate appearances). When you factor in how much Baty struggled before his hot streak this season and for the rest of his major league career prior to 2025, this situation becomes that much more alarming.

Despite that promising-looking hot streak, Baty is still just hitting .208/.260/.399 this season with eight home runs, four doubles, 24 RBIs, a .658 OPS, an 87 OPS+, and a 0.5 fWAR. And those numbers are only a slight uptick for Baty’s career numbers in the major leagues, which stand at .213/.277/.343 with a .619 OPS, 74 OPS+, and 0.4 fWAR (his first two seasons were in the negative).

In terms of his offensive metrics, according to Baseball Savant, Baty ranks below the 50th percentile in xwOBA (.324), expected batting average (.245), launch angle sweet spot percentage (34.2%), squared-up percentage (21.8%), chase percentage (28.2%), whiff percentage (29.4%), strikeout percentage (26.9%), and walk percentage (6%). Baty is right around or slightly above the league average in terms of exit velocity and expected slugging percentage, with his bat speed (75.7 MPH) and barrel percentage (13.3%) ranking as his only elite traits at the plate.

While his fielding has definitely been a major plus, especially compared to how Mark Vientos was faring out there, Baty has still proven to be an incredibly unreliable offensive player for this organization.

To this point in his career, Baty has just one legitimate hot streak at the major league level that lasted a whole 66 plate appearances vs. over 700 plate appearances spread over three-plus years that tell a much different, much more negative story.

The Mets’ problems right now certainly go beyond any one player – and I will note that Baty did at least go 2-for-3 last night with a pair of singles – but the fact that this team has gotten virtually nothing out of the third base position this season does matter. And though that certainly isn’t all of Baty’s fault, he still has a worse OPS than Mark Vientos, whose struggles were often discussed early on this season.

At age 25, Baty is still a somewhat young player with less than 800 major league plate appearances in his career, but at some point he’s got to show us something. And I’m sorry, but one hot streak that covers 66 plate appearances in three years just isn’t enough for me.

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Around the League 🚩

• Mariners C Cal Raleigh hit his MLB-leading 32nd home run in Seattle’s 11-2 win vs. the Twins

• Reds SS Elly De La Cruz finished a double shy of the cycle in the club’s 6-1 route over the Yankees

• The Cardinals hit a season-high four home runs in their blowout win against the Cubs, winning by an 8-2 score