On Tuesday night against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, the Mets chose to sit lefty-hitting Brett Baty against left-handers Clayton Kershaw.
I didn’t love that they were doing that, but figured they were simply shielding him from one of the tougher lefties in baseball who also happens to be one of the best pitchers to ever walk the planet. And Kershaw was nearly unhittable that night.
But three things since then made it clear that the Mets are toying with the idea of not using Baty much against left-handed pitching — and that would be a big problem.
The first sign came on Wednesday afternoon against the Dodgers when Eduardo Escobar replaced Baty in the on-deck circle with a lefty reliever in the game and New York leading in the late innings. After the Mets tacked on an insurance run, Baty came back out and took his at-bat.
The second — and more ominous — sign came on Thursday night against the Giants in San Francisco, when Baty was out of the lineup against lefty Sean Manaea.
Then came the third thing.
Before Thursday’s game, Buck Showalter‘s words confirmed that the Mets are currently planning to handle Baty with kid gloves.
When asked by reporters about Baty’s playing time, Showalter said that he would “potentially” start against “some” left-handers “depending on who they are and how he’s doing.”
Showalter added:
“I think down the road, he’s gonna be a guy that plays every day.”
This is a multifaceted situation, and it is not totally crazy on its face for the Mets to be taking this approach with Baty. At least it’s not as bad as them stunting Francisco Alvarez‘s development and hurting his ability to get comfortable at the plate by having him ride the pine most days while Tomas Nido — slashing .105/.146/.105 entering play Friday — starts.
But when taking into account Baty’s success against left-handers in the minors in 2021 and 2022, how he performed against them earlier this year before being called up, and the Mets’ other options against lefties, it feels like a big mistake to be going down this road.
Since being promoted after making a mockery of the pitching in Triple-A, Baty has started two of four games — both against right-handed pitching.
Keeping him out of the lineup doesn’t jive with how he hit them in the minors.
Baty was better against righties, but more than he held his own against lefties, getting better each of the last three seasons. He slashed .269/.328/.442 against them in 2021, .243/.312/.486 against them in 2022, and .308/.400/.769 against them in a small sample this season.
Against Manaea on Thursday, the Mets had lefty-hitting Luis Guillormea switch-hitter Eduardo Escobarand right-handed Tommy Pham all in the lineup. In the case of Escobar, it worked out well, with him mashing a two-run homer off Manaea.
But it almost seemed like the Mets went out of their way to keep Baty out of the lineup, inserting Escobar at third base, Guillorme at second, DH’ing Pham, and sliding Jeff McNeil to right field.
In order to have both Escobar and Baty in there, all the Mets would’ve had to do was keep McNeil at second base, let Pham play the outfield, put Baty at third, and had Escobar DH. That would’ve meant Guillorme being on the bench.
I argued before the season that at the very least, the Mets should open the season with Baty as the regular third baseman against righties, with Escobar getting lots of at-bats against lefties — and Baty eventually taking the full-time third base job . But that was before Escobar had such a rough start to the season.
At this point, with Escobar hitting .145/.186/.291 in 60 plate appearances, it is very hard to justify having him at third base over Baty when lefties are on the mound.
What would be easy to justify is Escobar getting some serious burn as the right-handed DH if he excels against lefties as he did against Manaea on Thursday.
To put it simply, the Mets should be going out of their way to get Baty in the lineup, not keep him out of it. They cannot do to him what they’re doing to Alvarez, even if it’s less egregious.