This season may be the year–it probably has to be the year–for Brett Baty to show he belongs in the Majors.
So far, so good for Brett Baty. He should be a lock to make the Mets’ 25-man roster, considering that he has hit three home runs and had 10 extra-base hits in 18 spring training games with a 1.123 OPS. Last Friday, Baty had a double and two-run home run in the Mets’ 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
I am not even sure if Baty had to do this well to travel with the team up north. It seemed like he would make it since the Mets want to see him play this season, which is one reason they did not bring back Jose Iglesias. Nevertheless, this performance doesn’t hurt. It validates confidence that the 2019 No. 12 overall draft pick can contribute to the Amazins this season.
We all know he can hit, but it hasn’t translated yet in the Majors, at least not yet, and it seems like it is now or never for Baty. He has had several chances to show he belongs in the Majors, but he has had nothing to show for it. He can only have so many chances.
The one-time can’t-miss Mets prospect spent the offseason analyzing every aspect of this game. He watched videos on how to swing and hit the ball with authority. Based on his play this spring, it showed. Watching him on Friday, I saw that he seemed like a different player than he had been in the past. He used his leg kick more and hit the ball with authority. It wasn’t like he was lucky to get a hit here.
The fourth-inning double came easy for Baty. How he hit that ball and the sound of the crack told you all you need to know. He knew he was going to get it by the way he looked at how he hit the ball. This is where you know he is in a groove right now.
The sixth-inning home run he hit was a no-doubter. You didn’t have to know exit velocity to understand that the ball would be gone. How he smiled when he hit that one out told you all you needed to know. Baty is just swinging free and easy rather than thinking at the plate.
Maybe that’s the trick. After so much failure, he decided he would rather play within himself than try to do too much. What choice does he have at this point? If he’s going to fail, he may as well fail by playing loose and easy.
At this point, this is his last chance. If Baty can’t figure it out, he never will. He knows it, too. Maybe that’s why he had a different approach heading to spring training.
We all know he has the talent, but that means nothing if he can’t display it and put it into use in live action. Too often, he would be guessing at every pitch when he was out there. There were times he played like he did not belong in the majors.
It’s easy to be cynical about what he does in spring training. We all know he hits well at minor-league parks. Now comes the hard part. He will be tested early and often, including how well he will do at parks with bigger dimensions. It was not a problem for Mark Vientos because he had the talent and smarts, but he was also always confident that he could get the job done. His confidence served him well. With Baty, it’s not like that. He overthinks and tends to go into a funk if he slumps.
Baty will get a chance to show what he can do early on. This has to be an opportunity. He can either run with it or lose it altogether. If he does well, he can be the everyday second baseman and make Jeff MMcNeil’sreturn moot.
Baty has home-run power, so the Mets have stuck with him. However, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza has sidestepped the question about whether or not Baty can take MMcNeil’s job if the situation presents itself. That will be Baty’s next trick. If he does, he will have answered the question about his future.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Baty does when he plays live games starting on Thursday against the Houston Astros. Can he handle adversity if he runs into it again? It will happen. It always does in the regular season. How he handles his first crisis will determine if he can handle it a long way.
