Catch-22: Brett Baty

[Edgy MD]

NAME: Brett Baty

AGE: 22

POSITION: Third Base (and some left field)

NUMBER: 96 in spring training, but currently rocking 22 in Bingo

NICKNAME: "Brett the Met"

fWAR IN 2021: 0.0

ZIPS PROJECTION FOR 2022: 1.3



Hi, I'm Brett Baty, your Mets 2019 top draft pick and high-end prospect almost three-years later. While there was some buzz about me opening at AAA, somebody decided I needed more than 40 games at AA. Either that, or maybe they figured Mark Vientos and I would fight if we were kept in the same cage. So while Eduardo Escobar was treating all the Mets personnel to Fogo de Chao on the eve of the big league opener, I was in Binghamton, treating all the Rumble Ponies peeps to Fogo de Quiznos. You gotta pay your dues, you know?



But maybe ZIPS knows something the Mets don't, because they have me projected for 1.3 big league fWAR in 2022, and that's more than, say, Edwin Díaz or J.D. Davis. Maybe that gets a WtF from you, but I've started my season here in the re-named Eastern League with a 1.261 OPS through my first five games. So who's WtFing now? Huh?



Still, I've got a few hurdles to clear before I'm adding value to a major league roster. David Wright went from AA to AAA to the bigs in one year. It all depends on how things break.



So how are they going to break?



[FIMG=300]https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/05/24/PNJM/e0914f00-f50c-41ff-a0fd-a1ff3fb97ab2-Mets_Brett_Baty_2.jpg?crop=3072,2304,x0,y201&quality=50&width=640[/FIMG] [FIMG=400]https://www.nydailynews.com/resizer/qfLXNpNENhKSo6YxqSFZ1qv7Q5E=/1200x0/top/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/IXBVJS5DKVBUZIDAKQ7UBYNUDY.jpg[/FIMG]

[FIMG=302]https://metsmerizedonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/67D6178D-BF5F-428A-800A-D6272EA6E373.jpeg[/FIMG] [FIMG=398]https://baseballprospectjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/13Zg3pI_W8quF10mKmaB7ZA.jpeg[/FIMG]

[Fman99]

Hoping that Baty, and also Alvarez and Mauricio, get some quality AAA time here in the 'Cuse before they make the big show.

[Willets Point]

Edgy MD wrote: [FIMG=400]https://www.nydailynews.com/resizer/qfLXNpNENhKSo6YxqSFZ1qv7Q5E=/1200x0/top/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/IXBVJS5DKVBUZIDAKQ7UBYNUDY.jpg[/FIMG]

In high school, Baty had 10 unexcused absences including one day when he took his girlfriend and depressed best friend on a tour of Chicago.

[smg58]

Did he go to Wrigley Field?



OK seriously, I see a September call-up highlighted by a crucial pinch hit in a meaningful late-season game.

[kcmets]

“The question isn't ‘what are we going to do,' the question is ‘what

aren't we going to do?'” -- Brett Baty



I can (and will) wait until 2023 and let Brett mature a bit more...

[ashie62]

No need to rush him.



Give him this year to make LF his own. Full time 3B is less likely.

[MFS62]

The Rumble Ponies were in a rumble tonight:

https://www.nj.com/mets/2022/04/mets-double-a-pitching-prospect-takes-punch-to-head-in-minor-league-brawl.htmlhttps://www.nj.com/mets/2022/04/mets-double-a-pitching-prospect-takes-punch-to-head-in-minor-league-brawl.html



And Bret Baty was taken out mid-game.

I'm not sure if he was tossed out by the ump or injured in the brawl.





Later

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, though I think the first concern is Rumble Ponies pitcher Marcel Renteria, who seems to take a massive cross from Tyreque Reed. The tweet below misidentifies their respective teams. It's hard to read what's going on, but from what I can glean, it looks like Renteria provokes Reed after hitting him, which, if true, seems pretty dumb with anybody, but moreso with Reed, who looks like he weighs in at a rock-solid 250.



Reed lays him out so thoroughly that Renteria lies alone and seeing stars for a few minutes while the Ponies' defenders all intercept Reed. And then after couple of awkward beats on the mat, he charges at a random dude. But that's pure adrenaline, and you can see he's clearly hurting. Baty and Reed were the only ejections.


https://twitter.com/MiLB_Tonight/status/1517324914092560385



Portland took it out on the baseball after that and went on to win 12-5, having trailed 3-0 early.