Mets bring back Brett Baty with Jesse Winker sidelined for 6-8 weeks
Brett Baty #7 of the New York Mets follows through on his second inning two run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2025. Credit: Jim McIsaac
PHOENIX — Twelve days later, Brett Baty is getting another chance.
The Mets brought Baty back to the majors on Monday afternoon as a roster replacement for Jesse Winker, who landed on the injured list with a right oblique strain sustained on Sunday in St. Louis.
For Baty, it’s another opportunity — less than two weeks after the club demoted him to Triple-A Syracuse — to make good on the Mets’ long-held belief that he can be a legitimate major-leaguer. That is especially true considering the playing time made available by Winker’s absence, which manager Carlos Mendoza said will last six to eight weeks.
Winker returned to New York on Monday for further tests, the results of which were not encouraging.
“We didn’t get good news,” Mendoza said.
As Winker said on Sunday, before the Mets knew the extent of his injury: “Any time you’re not playing, it sucks. I know whatever it is, I’m in good hands here.”
Winker is the third different Met to have an oblique injury this season. Sean Manaea suffered a setback and won’t be back until about mid-June, about twice as long as initially expected. Jeff McNeil sat out six weeks after expecting three to four at the outset.
“They’re tricky,” Mendoza said, sharing the common baseball lament about obliques.
Winker had been splitting DH duties with Starling Marte, starting against most righthanders and drawing a bit more than half of the at-bats. So now that playing time is available — and won’t be assigned to any particular individual, per Mendoza, who prefers to spread it around.
One arrangement he specified: Baty at third, with Mark Vientos shifting to DH and Luisangel Acuna sticking at second, plus McNeil maybe heading out to the outfield “if we’re facing a tough righty.”
With a lot of players who play a bunch of positions, Mendoza will have options.
“There’s a lot of different ways I can go,” he said. “It allows me to move people around, not only when I’m making out a lineup, but when you’re making in-game moves. It helps.”
Although Marte will continue to play against lefthanded starters, Vientos and leftfielder Brandon Nimmo could serve as the DH on other days.
“These are the conversations I’ve been having with them,” Mendoza said. “It’s not easy to play every day on the field and all of a sudden you’re DHing a lot more. But now that there is some flexibility there out of the DH spot, we could use it. Instead of giving a full day off, maybe it’s a half day where you still get their bat in the lineup but getting off their feet a little bit here.”
Not a candidate for the hitter-only role: Juan Soto, who did it Sunday only because the Mets were playing a doubleheader.
“The goal with him is to keep him in rightfield,” Mendoza said. “That’s the plan. He’s the rightfielder.”
Baty, 25, won a spot on the Opening Day roster with another hot spring training, didn’t do much out of the gate and showed flashes of ability in mid-to-late April. Over his last week in the majors, he batted .333 with a 1.040 OPS. In his final game before being sent down, he hit a second-deck home run off Zack Wheeler.
Then McNeil returned from his own strained oblique, and Baty was squeezed out.
Now that he is back, Baty will be deployed in “the same way we were using him,” Mendoza said.
Baty, who was due to arrive at Chase Field about an hour before first pitch, had three hits (two doubles) in 10 at-bats in Syracuse. He hadn’t played since Wednesday because of a sore right big toe, but worked out over the weekend and would be available off the bench Monday.
Surgery for the lefties
A.J. Minter will have season-ending surgery on his torn left lat next Monday, Mendoza said.
And Danny Young accepted doctors’ recommendation to have Tommy John surgery, which will keep him on the sidelines for at least a year.
So the Mets officially will be without both of their season-opening lefthanded relivers the rest of the way.
McLean on the move
The Mets promoted righthander Nolan McLean to Syracuse, less than a year after he devoted himself fully to pitching (after entering the professional ranks as a two-way player).
McLean, 23, a third-round draft pick by the Mets in 2023, opened the season by dominating with Double-A Binghamton for a month: 1.37 ERA, .213 opponents’ batting average, 30 strikeouts and 12 walks in 26 1/3 innings.
If McLean does well in Triple-Am which has proven to be a difficult step for Mets pitching prospects in recent years, he figures to be a candidate to reach the majors this season.
Man of the hour
Before their series opener, the Mets and Diamondbacks honored 93-year-old Jim Marshall, the oldest living former Mets player and a retired longtime Diamondbacks employee.
Marshall entered in the ninth inning of the Mets’ first game ever, on April 11, 1962. He retired from the D-backs’ front office a few years ago after 70 years in baseball.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
