Mets’ Brett Baty struggling at plate despite hitting the ball harder
Brett Baty’s season has begun like he spent much of 2024, with the infielder struggling at the plate.
Baty got the start at second base Saturday against Toronto right-hander Chris Bassitt.
He entered just 1-for-14 with four strikeouts on the season and went out and struck out twice more before a base hit extended the bottom of the seventh in the Mets’ 3-2 win.
Baty also grounded out to start the bottom of the ninth.
With Jeff McNeil on the IL with an oblique injury, Baty and Luisangel Acuña have split time at second.
Asked prior to the game about how Baty has looked at the plate so far this year, Carlos Mendoza said, “Fine.”
“He’s not getting results early, but I feel like he hit a couple balls hard in Houston,” the manager said. “In general, the conviction, when he’s getting pitches to hit, he’s putting his A swing on it [and] not chasing as much.”
To Mendoza’s point, Baty’s average exit velocity this season is 93.7 mph, up from his career mark of 88.5 mph.
That’s come along with a slightly higher chase rate than normal, which Mendoza acknowledged.
“It feels like, at times, he’s going out of the strike zone,” Mendoza said. “But it’s early, a few at-bats. He’s just got to get going here and he will.”
But it’s unclear how much time Baty will have to turn things around, with McNeil potentially not too far away from a rehab assignment.
Whenever McNeil does come back, the Mets will have to determine if there’s still room for the lefty-swinging Baty on the roster, since the versatile Acuña is better defensively.
In the meantime, the Mets are looking for Baty to get going after he lost the third base job to Mark Vientos last year and then dealt with a broken finger at Triple-A Syracuse.
“What we’re looking at here is the approach, the process [and] the quality of the at-bat,” Mendoza said. “He continues to have quality at-bats. It’s a result-oriented game, but if he hits the ball hard, gets the guy over, walks and controls the strike zone, he’ll get there.”
The inclement weather at Citi Field Saturday prevented McNeil (right oblique strain) from taking batting practice outside for the first time, but the second baseman is making progress toward a minor league rehab assignment to set up his season debut.
“We’ve got to see him for a few days hit BP on the field and maybe face the machine on the field,’’ Mendoza said. “So far, he’s feeling good. We’ll see how it goes.”
The Mets continue to get good — and lengthy — contributions from their bullpen, as Huascar Brazobán dominated for 2 ¹/₃ innings Saturday night after Max Kranick did the same for two innings on Friday.
Prior to the game, Mendoza praised Kranick’s “ability to come in and attack the strike zone. It doesn’t matter if we’re down or we’re up. [Friday] was a perfect scenario: He comes in and not only finishes the game, we didn’t have to get anybody up. That’s important. It’s how you win series, when you don’t have to get someone loose.”
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