New York Mets infield prospect Brett Baty heard boos from frustrated fans throughout the club’s 5-1 homestand, and some of those paying customers have called for the Mets to send him back to Triple-A following his struggles across his 27 at-bats this season.
Nevertheless, SNY’s Andy Martino and Will Sammon of The Athletic reported following New York’s 5-0 loss to the Miami Marlins on Wednesday afternoon that the 8-4 Mets aren’t yet “close” to optioning Baty back to the minors.
“One of the factors helping to buy Baty more time is that potential replacements Donovan Walton and Luis De Los Santos are struggling offensively in Triple-A,” Martino explained. “But when Jeff McNeil returns from the injured list (oblique), Baty could go down without having proven he can hit in a big-league regular season – unless, that is, he heats up soon.”
Sammon added that the Mets feel “it is important to give their younger players opportunities” and that the sample size is “too small to make a move” this early into the campaign. That’s all well and good, but McNeil could return to big-league action by the end of April.
The hope coming off Baty’s excellent spring training performances was that he’d finally show he could hit MLB pitching on a consistent basis to the point that the Mets wouldn’t have any other choice but to keep him on the roster. Instead, the 25-year-old went 3-for-27 (.111 batting average) with 11 strikeouts, zero RBI and a .259 OPS over 10 games. He seemed to press at the plate as recently as Wednesday, and the confidence he flashed during spring training is now but a memory.
“It’s not easy because you want to see results and as of right now, he’s struggling,” manager Carlos Mendoza said following Wednesday’s game, according to Laura Albanese of Newsday. “He’s going through it. But he’ll continue to work hard. We’ll continue to support him and we’ll continue to give him opportunities. He’s got to fight through it.”
Baty likely appreciates such support, but the harsh truth of the matter is he still looks like a “Quadruple-A” player who can’t match his Triple-A accomplishments at the highest level. Per Anthony DiComo of the MLB website, Baty acknowledged on Wednesday that the idea of being sent back down to the minors is “always kind of in the back of your mind.”
He’ll have to put such thoughts out of his head before the Mets begin a three-game series at the Athletics (5-8) on Friday night.
