PORT ST. LUCIE — A week into Grapefruit League play, Brett Baty is making it hard for the Mets not to pay attention to him.
The former third base prospect, who has been up and down between the minors and the big leagues over the last two seasons, is 6-for-11 with two home runs and a double through his first four spring games. It’s a small sample size, but now the Mets are seeing some encouraging trends, especially when it comes to lifting the ball.
“He’s hitting the ball hard, he’s staying behind the baseball, he’s getting his pitches and he’s not missing them,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “And he’s using the whole field. We’ve seen him staying up [the] middle, he pulled it today, we’ve seen him go the other way again. I think the rhythm is there, and the timing. Doing a lot of good things … he’s feeling good.”
However, Baty, now 25, did a lot of good things at the plate last spring and the spring before that when he posted an .885 OPS in 50 plate appearances. He came into spring training in 2024 ready to hit the ball in the air more often, and yet it still ended up on the ground often after the start of the regular season.
Baty lost his spot to Mark Vientos and the Mets sent him back to Triple-A last June to work on a potential position switch to a utility role. He played third base and second last year for Triple-A Syracuse, and took reps in left field in 2023. Over the winter, he put a heavy emphasis on infield fundamentals, working with infield coach Jacob Madrid in Dripping Springs, Texas, outside of Austin, at first, second and third bases.
The Mets are considering Baty for a utility infield role, despite the fact that he’s never played shortstop. The Mets were planning on using Nick Madrigal in that role as somewhat of a stop-gap measure before he broke his left shoulder last weekend in his first Grapefruit League appearance. Madrigal would have allowed Luisangel Acuña to get more at-bats in Triple-A and Baty to get time in the minors playing second, and potentially shortstop.
Still, even before Madrigal’s injury, Mendoza and David Stearns let Baty know the door was open for him to win a spot on the Opening Day roster.
“They said the same thing as last year. They said, ‘Hey, you’re going to have to win a job. You’re going to have to come in here and fight for a job,’” Baty said. “The way I kind of view that now is, you can’t really compete against anyone but yourself. You can try to look around the room and see who is going to make the team and stuff, but at the end of the day, you’re just trying to be the best version of yourself.
“That’s what I’m trying to do right now.”
What the best version of Baty looks like as a utility infielder is not yet known. The Mets don’t think he’s reached his potential, but they also haven’t given up on him. Other teams have expressed interest in potentially trading for the 6-2 Texan, but the team that drafted him is still intrigued by what he could become.
Baty feels comfortable with the footwork at second base and now has a second base glove, which will make it easier for transfers and flips on double plays. There are no plans for him to play shortstop in Grapefruit League games right now, but that could change. Mets are happy with his progress and are having him do extra work with infield coach Mike Sarbaugh before Grapefruit League games.
“I feel really good and I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on it,” Baty said.
Last year, the Mets briefly carried Baty as an emergency utility infielder. It was poor roster construction and ultimately, not a sustainable solution given Baty’s defensive limitations at the time. The Mets were forced to play Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor for all nine innings of every game without days off.
The experiment didn’t last long, with the Mets realizing Baty needed to play every day anyway, and they called up Jose Iglesias to take his spot on the roster, changing the course of the season.
However, if Baty continues to hit like this, the Mets could carry him as a utility infielder and move McNeil from second base to shortstop late in games. Mendoza has not yet checked with McNeil about whether the infielder/outfielder would be willing to slide over to shortstop on occasion, but he’s fairly certain it wouldn’t be a problem.
If Baty’s bat is finally big league ready, he could be a weapon off the bench. He could also put the Mets in a bind without a backup shortstop. It’s a tough decision, but it’s one the Mets have to make for another few weeks.
“It starts with controlling the strike zone [and] not missing his pitches,” Mendoza said. “He’s had some good results in the past, but as long as he’s doing the things that he can control, he’s going to be in a good place. He just needs to do it consistently.”
