Brett Baty's demotion adds to Mets' 2024 questions
Mets third baseman Brett Baty reacts after making a fielding error that allowed Los Angeles Dodgers' Mookie Betts to score during the ninth inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Saturday, July 15, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Mets are at a place where Brett Baty no longer resides in a Citi Field clubhouse that Daniel Vogelbach still calls home in early August.
Go figure.
This bizarre Mets season has defied explanation in so many ways, and a turbulent 12-day stretch for the franchise spit out another shocker Monday afternoon when Brett Baty was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse.
The stunning part wasn’t so much that Baty was sent back to the minors. His struggles at this level were only getting worse, and statistically, his performance was indefensible. Baty was at the bottom of nearly every category among the 27 third basemen with 300-plus plate appearances, and since July 1, he was in an accelerating nosedive, hitting .149 (13-for-87) with eight walks, 32 strikeouts and a .482 OPS.
Those numbers basically gave the Mets little choice but to save Baty from himself. It’s just surprising that it eventually came to this, simply because we always expect high-ceiling kids like Baty — still only 23 — to figure all this out on the fly. Also, this typically is the time of year when prospects head in the opposite direction, or at least stick around for an extended audition, especially with “repurposing” teams like these Mets.
To ship out Baty now speaks to the depth of his struggles and also serves as a cautionary tale for the “Play the Kids!” crowd. Going from top prospect to All-Star is not guaranteed, and even when a team is lucky enough for that to happen, the process often doesn’t take a linear route.
(On a related note, don’t expect to see Ronny Mauricio anytime soon, as Mets evaluators haven’t been thrilled lately by his at-bats or defense.)
That’s something to remember in the wake of the Mets collecting a handful of highly touted prospects at last week’s trade deadline, and Baty is Exhibit A.
He’s a former first-round draft pick (12th overall) who once resided in the farm system’s penthouse. But after smashing his way out of Syracuse in mid-April, Baty is headed back upstate four months later, with the Mets rightly concerned about his development stalling further.
“We wanted to use this opportunity to kind of give him a timeout,” general manager Billy Eppler told Newsday before Monday night’s game against the Cubs. “And let him feel like he can take some chances. Take some chances in the batter’s box, look for particular pitches to ambush or sit on and try to really do damage. Or defensively, take some chances on certain balls, tinker around with some arm slot, things of that nature.”
As Eppler explained it, that was getting tougher for Baty to do with the Mets, due to not only New York’s unblinking spotlight but the personal responsibility he felt to the rest of his flailing team as it sank in the standings.
Baty had plenty of veteran accomplices when it comes to the team’s demise, including a few All-Stars. But as he tries to establish a foothold in Flushing, booting grounders at third base or blowing an AB gets more difficult to shake off. Combine that with the grind of his first full-time season in the bigs, and it evidently swallowed up Baty.
“Everything you do here can snowball,” manager Buck Showalter said. “And it’s up to us to stay in reality when we’re dealing with these guys, because when he first came up, it was, ‘Why did it take so long?’ Then all of a sudden it’s the other way.”
The Mets announced the demotion after the clubhouse closed to the media Monday, so Baty wasn’t available to discuss heading back to Syracuse. But he has talked in the past about dealing with the new challenges up here, and it’s been a particularly long road for him this season after he showed up in Port St. Lucie in January to work on his defense.
Eppler sounded optimistic about Monday’s move, thinking Baty could respond well to the Syracuse mental breather and reclaim his starting gig with the Mets before too long. That’s the expectation, anyway. But the fact that Baty’s progress along the learning curve went sideways for most of this season does raise some questions about their third-base job for next season.
Until recently, Baty figured to be that guy, and the Mets even removed his primary competition by trading Eduardo Escobar — along with eating nearly all of his $5 million salary — to the Angels on June 23. But rather than Baty stepping up to provide long-term clarity at the position, his continued hardship only muddied those waters, and what already was an uphill climb just got a bit steeper.
Eppler said Baty is returning to Syracuse with objectives detailed by hitting coach Jeremy Barnes and infield coach Joey Cora, so there’s a checklist for him to follow.
“Those will be the things we measure when he goes down,” Eppler said. “Hopefully it’s not a long stay there. He’ll control that. That’ll be up to him.”
But the Mets will have their fingers crossed. For a team with so many questions about the future, it would be better if Baty weren’t one of them.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
