Brett Baty insists that nothing has changed. The Mets’ second/third baseman comes to the park as the same player every day, regardless of what he’s dealing with on or off the field. It’s important that he maintains a consistent demeanor to be able to find consistency on a big-league playing field.
But this is where his assessment that nothing has changed differs from reality because this is the first time Baty has produced consistently at this level.
Coming into Wednesday, Baty has slashed .333/.366/.821 with eight extra-base hits over his last 12 games. His Triple-A demotion last month wasn’t a result of poor play, but simply a numbers game with two players coming off of the injured list, unlike in the past when Baty was demoted because he wasn’t producing.
After three seasons of going back and forth from Triple-A to the Major Leagues, the 25-year-old Baty finally appears poised for a breakout.
“I think we learn all the time that it just takes different pacing for different players to establish themselves or break out, or whatever you want to call it, at the Major League level,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said Wednesday at Citi Field. “Does the clock run out on players at certain points in their careers with certain organizations? Yes, it does if you run out of options, or if a particular position gets filled or something like that. Then, yes. I have seen it, and have certainly been involved with players where time the clock has just run out with the organization…
“But when they have that level of talent, they’re generally going to figure it out at some point and have some success at the Major League level. And I think we’re seeing that with Brett right now.”
There aren’t any magic metrics that can tell the Mets whether Baty’s play is for real or whether it’s an aberration. There are ways to determine whether certain things he’s doing are sustainable or not, but adjustments are constant in baseball and there is no telling whether a prospect will be a superstar or a bust. Most of the time, they’re somewhere in between.
Baty will have ups and downs throughout his career. At some point, he won’t hit like he has over the last 12 games, and he’ll have to figure out how to pull himself out of a slump. But the hope is that by then, he’ll have the confidence to know that he can because of what he’s already done.
There is no one formula for developing talent and no crystal ball to see if they will develop. For now, they like what Baty is bringing every day.
“Why are we seeing it now at the big league level? I don’t know that I have the definitive answer for that,” Stearns said. “If I had the definitive answer, we probably would have implemented that a long time ago to help him get to this point. Clearly, he’s seeing the ball well, he’s gotten some pitches he can handle, he hasn’t missed them, and there are probably a variety of reasons for that.”
INJURY UPDATES
Right-hander Paul Blackburn (knee inflammation) will make his next start Friday night with Double-A Binghamton in Hartford, and will likely make one more after that before the Mets activate him off the injured list. The club wants to build him up to be able to take on a starter’s workload, and would like to see him reach a 75-pitch threshold.
However, where they slot him in is yet to be determined, and will be based on need.
“He may not immediately slot into the rotation, but if we don’t get him built back up to the full starter workload now, we’ve got no shot of doing it if he goes into the bullpen when he comes back,” Stearns said. “And we think having him build up to that length is important.”
The Mets are content to have infielder Ronny Mauricio remain in the minor leagues after his rehab assignment ends, but the team won’t hesitate to call him up if there is a need.
SOTO’S DAY OFF
For the first time this season, Soto sat on the bench. The slugger was not in the lineup Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he wasn’t necessarily happy about it either.
“When you’re talking about a player of this caliber, they want to be in the lineup,” Mendoza said. “But big-picture, we’re playing a long game here. It was a back and forth until I finally told him he would be down.”
The Mets wanted to give Soto two rest days, with Thursday being a team off day. However, when Mendoza passed the weight room earlier in the day, he saw Soto “getting after it.”
“So much for an off day,” Mendoza said. “But that says a lot about who he is as a player.”
Soto has played 162 games only once in his career, doing so in 2023 with the San Diego Padres.
Jose Azocar took his spot in right field against Pittsburgh.
