A New York Mets insider believes there is a clear timeline that Brett Baty has to try and save his spot on the big league roster.
Mets fans have been told for years that Brett Baty can be an infield building block for years. And it is understandable why they felt he had a lot of potential. During his minor league career, he posted a .283 average, .382 on-base percentage, and .889 on-base plus slugging with 64 home runs and 225 runs batted-in over 1,216 at-bats.
Yet, things have been drastically different for him in 179 MLB games the last four seasons. As a big leaguer, his slash line plummets to .210/.274/.591. Fortunately for Baty, his rock-solid defense has always been a plus of his game and has given him the chance to stick around.
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However, on Thursday, SNY MLB insider Andy Martino claimed the starting second-baseman needs to hit, and now or he will get the big league hook soon.
New York Mets will wait until Jeff McNeil’s return to demote Brett Baty
“The plain truth about Baty as a second baseman is that he must hit in order to stay,” Martino wrote. “Mets people know that Baty is a corner infielder playing out of position, without the experience or the physicality to be a middle infielder… The idea last year in giving Baty reps at second base was to see if he could become the type of bat-first middle infielder prominent a decade or more ago.
“In the contemporary game, agility and defense are once again essential. And none other than Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns places a high value on up-the-middle glove work,” he added. “Because of this, the rangier Luisangel Acuña can win playing time without major offensive contributions. But Baty cannot. His bat is his carrying tool, period.”
Martino believes once Jeff McNeil completes the rehab assignment he began this week and returns to the roster, Baty will be demoted. That might take a week or two, so the long-time prospect has until then to try and hold on to his MLB roster spot. Another demotion could mean the eventual end of his career in New York.
