The Mets likely round out their bullpen and invite some big name prospects to big league camp
And is Brett Baty the most important player to New York's success in 2024?
The Mets are expected to sign veteran left-handed reliever Jake Diekman (The Athletic)
Several of the Mets top prospects—including Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, and Kevin Parada will be in big league camp this spring
Another top prospect—Luisangel Acuna took in Citi Field for the first time over the weekend (Instagram)
Is there a more important Met in 2024 than Brett Baty?✍️
Okay, relax.
Obviously I know the Mets can not afford to lose Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Kodai Senga, or Edwin Díaz for any amount of time.
That goes without saying.
To be fair, the Mets already have a pretty good idea what they can expect from each of their top six players in 2024.
Perhaps I should have rephrased.
If the Mets are actually going to be good in the upcoming season, is there a more important player than third baseman Brett Baty?
To me, that answer is a resounding no.
Heading into 2024, there is not a player on the Mets with a wider range of potential production, and thus, if he were to reach his highest proverbial ceiling it would tip the team’s overall success scale more than anything else would.
For their part, the Mets are betting big on Baty delivering.
The organization passed on several different options to upgrade the hot corner this winter. Luis Guillorme is now in Atlanta, Ronny Mauricio is slated to miss the entire season after tearing his ACL in winter ball, and Mark Vientos is being pigeonholed as a DH.
Baty will be playing third base on opening day and most days afterwards, and will be out there to either sink or swim.
Now, he might not become Michael Phelps, but his minor league numbers indicate he really shouldn’t need a life preserver either.
In 263 career games in the Mets system—so not really a small sample size—Baty slashed .290/.390/.507 with 48 homers, 180 RBI, and 64 doubles.
Drafed 12th overall in 2019, Baty was expected to develop into a feared left handed power hitter, and in the minor leagues that’s exactly what he was.
Of course, at the sport’s highest level, that obviously has not materialized. Big league pitchers have been able to expose some of his weaknesses, and in 391 at-bats he’s slashed just .210/.272/.325 with 11 homers, 39 RBI, and 12 doubles.
Still just 24-years-old, it’s far too early to give up on his potential.
And given the Mets current roster projection, why should anyone not root for him to succeed at this point?
Most analytic projections for Baty continue to paint him as a low average hitter who over the course of a full season could contribute 10-15 homers and drive in 50 runs.
Would I be surprised if that’s how his season played out? No.
Would I be surprised if he instead hit around .275 with 25-30 homers and 80+ RBI?
Also, No.
I’ve been high on Baty since the day the Mets drafted him, with visions of the Round Rock, TX native becoming the team’s first long term answer at a premium position since David Wright.
The chatter about Baty roughly 10 months ago was that despite hitting .325 in spring training while incumbent third baseman Eduardo Escobar did next to nothing, his glove was not ready to take over the hot corner. He went back to Triple-A and raked for a month, blasting 10 homers in only 26 games while Escobar struggled mightily. Suddenly the glove wasn’t a problem anymore, and he was promoted.
This sport is such a mental game, though, and hitting a baseball in the Major Leagues is the hardest thing any athlete has to do. I do wonder if some internal anxiety stemming from the conversations about his defense could have clouded Baty’s mind and contributed to some of his struggles at the plate.
To that end, I do admire the way the Mets have handled both he and the third base position as a whole this winter. If the team is comfortable with this season potentially being a retooling year, what was the point of aggressively searching for an upgrade?
They’ve basically assured Baty—without saying it publicly— that the third base job is his, go take it and run with it kid. If he fails miserably, we could up seeing some of Vientos and maybe even Joey Wendle at third base. And in that scenario, two full seasons would probably be enough of an evaluation to admit Plan A didn’t work and move on. But why not turn over every stone and figure out exactly what you have in your young core here in 2024?
Because the flip side of that is Baty thrives and locks himself in as this team’s third baseman for the next half dozen or more years. And that’s exactly what I’m rooting for.
Go get ‘em Brett.
Hot Stove 🔥
The Orioles are reportedly on the verge of acquiring ace righty Corbin Burnes from Milwaukee (ESPN)
Miami won its arbitration case against Jazz Chisholm Jr. (New York Post)
Teams have attempted to buy low on Blue Jays righty Alec Manoah but Toronto will not trade him this winter (MLB Network)
Just as the Phillies (spit) stuck with Alec Bohm, the Mets need to have patience with Baty. LGM
Whiz Kid is such a Fraud can’t even close the deal on Jake !