Mets to call up heralded third-base prospect Brett Baty
Mets third baseman Brett Baty leads off during a minor-league spring training game against the Astros on April 27, 2021 at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in Palm Beach, Fla. Credit: Four Seam Images via AP/Mike Janes
ATLANTA — The Mets are calling up one of the top prospects in baseball, thrusting into middle of a pennant race a fast-climbing, big-hitting potential impact player — no, not that one, the other one.
Third baseman Brett Baty will join the Mets on Wednesday, sources told Newsday. He was on his way to Atlanta on Tuesday but wasn’t going to get there in time for first pitch, so they opted to wait an additional day to activate him.
When Luis Guillorme landed on the injured list with a strained left groin on Monday, the Mets chose not to promote Baty, 22, because they viewed him as not ready for the majors, particularly defensively, a person familiar with their thinking said at the time. They also sought someone who could play elsewhere in the infield, so they decided on Deven Marrero, who started at third against Atlanta on Tuesday night.
But now Eduardo Escobar also is likely headed to the IL on Wednesday, a source said, due to the discomfort in his left side. That made the need at third base more desperate.
So it is time for Baty (pronounced bait-ee, not bat-ee). He is widely considered the Mets’ No. 2 prospect behind catcher Francisco Alvarez. And he will be the highest-ranked prospect to debut for the Mets since Pete Alonso in 2019.
Alonso and Baty worked together during spring training and have stayed in touch since.
“Hopefully, we'll be together again soon and, hopefully, we'll be playing on the same field together soon,” Baty told Newsday’s Roger Rubin last week. “For now, it’s on me to show I can perform at the highest level.”
A lefthanded hitter and righthanded thrower, Baty was the Mets’ top pick in 2019, their first draft choice under then-GM Brodie Van Wagenen. His rapid rise from Austin, Texas, high schooler included a professional debut in 2019, time at the pandemic-induced alternate training site when there was no minor-league season in 2020 and a strong showing with High-A Brooklyn and Double-A Binghamton in 2021.
He spent most of this season back with Binghamton, slashing .312/.406/.544 with 19 homers and 59 RBIs in 89 games. After the Mets promoted him to Triple-A Syracuse last week, he hit .364 (with no extra-base hits) in a half-dozen games.
The Mets have had Baty dabble with leftfield, too, so he brings a small degree of defensive versatility.
In calling up Baty, the Mets passed on Mark Vientos, a corner infielder whose time at third base — historically his primary position — greatly decreased in recent weeks. He has hit very well with Syracuse this year.
Escobar’s situation has become increasingly strange since he was pulled mid-game due to injury Friday night. He was out of the starting lineup for two games, then returned Monday but was clearly uncomfortable at times.
The Mets had hoped he would avoid the IL but manager Buck Showalter became concerned after watching him Tuesday afternoon, triggering his removal from the initial lineup. Showalter called Escobar “playable in certain capacities” and said the Mets were “kind of nearing that point” of needing to make an IL call.
“After the workout out there, I don’t think it was a good idea to run him out there and maybe run the potential of hurting him to the point where it might be long-term,” Showalter said. “We gotta get our arms around what we want to do with this. We thought it was heading the other direction [of healing], but today kind of showed that it might not be.”
Since the Mets had yet to officially announced their plans, Showalter declined to discuss Baty in any context. But he made it easy enough to read between the lines.
“Why don’t you let me think about that and we can talk about it tomorrow?” he said. “Once I’ve given it some consideration.”
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.
