Brett Baty hopes the Jose Siri injury keeps him in the majors

The Mets opened the season with a somewhat odd construction of hitters/defenders. Since they were running a platoon at DH with two nominal outfielders, their roster consisted of six outfielders and five infielders. But with the injury to Jose Siri, who might miss the majority of the year, the construction of the team is in flux. It seemed that when Jeff McNeil returned that one of the two young infielders would be sent to Triple-A. Now, that may no longer be the case.

McNeil has played a bunch in the outfield corners and even logged 16 innings in center field back in 2023. On his rehab stint a few days ago, McNeil was once again in center field for a game. While no one should view this as McNeil is going to see a ton of time in CF, it should be a hint that he’s an option to play there in a pinch.

Tyrone Taylor is a solid player. And while his results have not been there at the plate here in the early going, it’s a result of some poor fortune. Taylor is hitting the ball with authority but is not having the hits fall in for him here in April. He has a .225 BABIP which has led to a .180 AVG. But with the quality of his contact, Taylor has a .247 xBA. And it’s not just potential singles finding gloves, as his xSLG is 147 points higher than his actual SLG to date.

The injury to Siri forces the Mets to look at Taylor the way they should have viewed him coming into the year – as the team’s starter in center the vast majority of the time. The question is how much time should he have off and how do you give him those breaks. While Starling Marte has logged a lot of time in CF in his career, he’s no longer an asset in an outfield corner, so it’s hard to view him as an option to play in the middle except in an emergency.

Brandon Nimmo is certainly an option and has already seen some time there in 2025. Yet one of the first things that David Stearns did was to move Nimmo to a corner to improved the club’s outfield defense. A healthy Nimmo has the range and hands to play CF – he just doesn’t have the arm. But is Nimmo back to 100% health? He’s played every game and we haven’t heard anything about his various leg injuries. Still, just because we haven’t heard it from the mainstream media doesn’t mean it’s not an issue in some way.

When Siri went down and the Mets finally put him on the IL, they called up Jose Azocar. In 193 games in the majors, Azocar has played 64 in CF, compared to 75 in both the outfielder corner spots. But that’s a hair misleading, as he has 57 starts in center, compared to 27 starts in right field and 12 in left. Azocar is certainly capable of being a traditional outfield reserve. The question is what the club wants to do with its two young infielders.

After slow starts to the season, both Luisangel Acuna and Brett Baty have been playing better here lately. Acuna even has his OPS+ up to a 108 mark. His ability to play shortstop is certainly a plus and with experience playing CF in the minors, he could even be an option there. While my opinion is that the Mets would use him before Marte, they would prefer not to use him at all in center. Still, that flexibility should not be ignored.

Baty had a modest five-game hitting streak snapped when he entered Saturday’s game as an injury replacement for Mark Vientos, yet he still reached base with a walk. After posting a terrible .238 OPS in his first eight games of the year, Baty has a .308/.357/.462 line in his last 28 PA over eight games. Of course, we shouldn’t be doing jumping jacks over what he’s done over the past eight games. Still, if that’s advisable behavior – should we crucify him for what he did in the first eight games?

Strikeouts have been a huge problem so far for Baty, as he’s fanned 17 times in 49 PA for a 34.7 K%. There hasn’t been any improvement there in our eight-game splits, which goes to show how well he’s doing here lately once he does make contact. The question is if he can cut down on his whiffs with sporadic playing time in the majors moving forward. Lifetime, Baty has a 27.0 K% in the majors and it was 24.6% with the Mets in 2024. He has a 24.8 K% in the minors.

Acuna’s better overall numbers, his ability to play short and the speed he offers makes him the choice over Baty. So, the issue becomes if it’s better to keep Azocar or Baty when McNeil returns, which should be sometime in the next couple of days.

There’s no one right answer. Keeping Azocar makes it an easy play to give Taylor time off and not suffer a big drop defensively. Yet it seems to me that what should be driving this decision is what’s best for Baty at this point in time, assuming the Mets feel he still has upside. Azocar is what he is at this point – a competent reserve outfielder.

It’s just that we still don’t know what Baty is. There seems to be two questions the Mets need to answer with regards to their former first-round pick. First, is it better for Baty’s development – and psyche – to be a bench player in the majors or to play every day in the minors? Second, which assignment is better for his trade value? If he hits well in the minors, is he labeled a Quad-A player, one too good for the minors and not good enough for the majors? And would he get the same label if he stays in the majors and doesn’t hit?

Ultimately, my view is that there is more upside for the 2025 Mets with Baty on the roster than there is with Azocar. If they keep Baty, they have center field reserve coverage with Nimmo and McNeil – and if need be with Acuna and Marte. Baty offers more experience at 3B than Acuna and gives the team a lefty bat off the bench, something they don’t have on days when Jesse Winker starts. Plus, there’s more upside at the bat with Baty rather than Azocar.

Stearns values defense. But while he stocked up the 2024 Opening Day roster with guys known for their defense, by the end of the year those guys were either released or sent to the bench because they couldn’t hit. Sometime next week, we should get another clue as to our PoBO values a known floor with Azocar compared to a lower floor and a higher ceiling (both offensively and defensively) with Baty.