Mets send down Brett Baty; Mark Vientos appears to have 3B job on temporary basis
New York Mets third baseman Brett Baty strikes out against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
If you’re thinking the roster moves the Mets made on Friday mean Mark Vientos is now the team’s undisputed No. 1 third baseman, think again.
Manager Carlos Mendoza made it clear that the top reason the Mets optioned Brett Baty to Triple-A Syracuse among the flurry of changes is because the club is facing lefties in four of six games, beginning with Friday night’s Citi Field matchup against Arizona’s Jordan Montgomery.
After going 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the Mets’ 10-9 victory, the righthanded-hitting Vientos is batting .423 against lefthanders and .327 overall with three home runs and a .969 OPS. The lefthanded-hitting Baty is batting .225 with four home runs and a .629 OPS.
When asked if sending down Baty means Vientos finally will get a chance to show he’s a big-league regular, Mendoza hedged, saying veteran shortstop Jose Iglesias — who was called up on Friday — “will get some opportunity there, too. We anticipate [Vientos] will get his chances here, but Brett will be back here as well. So for the time being, [Vientos] will play.”
Does that sound as if the Mets are making a commitment to Vientos?
If not, then it’s nothing new. Since he made his big-league debut in 2022, Vientos has yet to get a full, say, two weeks or a month to show his stuff, whether under Buck Showalter or Mendoza.
In his first three at-bats on Friday, Vientos had a pair of RBI singles, one a slow-rolling infield hit to third in the first and the other a rocket line drive to left-center in the fourth. He added a sixth-inning single.
“It feels amazing that they’re giving me the opportunity,” Vientos said. “Nothing but thankful for it. But with Brett, I know he’s going to go down there, he’s going to work hard. He’s going to be back here as soon as possible.”
The Mets still have high hopes for Baty, who won the third-base job in spring training but has struggled at the plate for most of the season.
“Not an easy decision,” Mendoza said. “But it’s time for him to go down there and continue to get some playing time, continue to get reps, continue to develop, and then he’ll be back here. And we told him that.”
In addition to Baty, pitcher Christian Scott was optioned to Syracuse and catcher Omar Narvaez was designated for assignment.
In their place, the Mets called up the 34-year-old Iglesias and reliever Dedniel Nunez and acquired catcher Luis Torrens from the Yankees for $100,000.
Scott, 24, went 0-2 with a 3.90 ERA in his first five big-league starts. He struck out 25 in 27 2⁄3 innings. His demotion is tied to the Mets having three days off around their June 8-9 games against the Phillies in London and not needing six starters.
“He’s a big-league pitcher,” Mendoza said. “The way he’s handled himself here, the performance and things like that, it’s nothing more than where we’re at on the schedule . . . He’ll be back up here, and he understood that.”
Iglesias gives the Mets a backup middle infielder for the first time since they designated Joey Wendle for assignment on May 15. Iglesias, who was batting .273 for Syracuse, started in place of Jeff McNeil at second.
It was an emotional day for the former All-Star, who last played in the majors in 2022 with Colorado.
“I feel like a rookie right now,” said Iglesias (1-for-4), who asked for and received the baseball after his fifth-inning single.
Narvaez was batting .154 and had thrown out two of 35 would-be base-stealers. He is in the final year of a two-year, $15 million contract, and the Mets are on the hook for the rest of the $7 million he is owed for 2024.
Torrens, 28, has played for three teams since debuting with the Padres in 2017. He is a career .227 hitter.
With Francisco Alvarez having started his rehab assignment on Thursday with Double-A Binghamton – and homering -- Torrens’ stay could be a short one.
Mendoza said the Mets did not consider calling up top prospect Luisangel Acuna, who has been on a hot streak at Syracuse.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.