Tom Brennan - Who Does Brett Baty Remind YOU Of? Collective Confidence; Peroza/Perozo

Brett Baty, courtesy of Richard Nelson

Watching Brett Baty (1 for 4 in last night’s 8-6 slugfest win over LAD) in some highlight clips, he reminds me of John Olerud a whole lot, perhaps with more power.  

Or Jeff McNeil, with more power.  

Or Keith Hernandez, with more power.

How about you? Who does he remind you of?

Photo Al Bello.

Edwin’s WBC injury has me hanging my head, too.

Each MLB team has what I would call a collective confidence.

The Mets in 1969 had it big time from mid August forward.

The Mets in 1973 had it starting in early September.

The Braves last year had it,  Just 23-27 at the end of May, the rest of the way, they went 78-34.

The Mets had it last year, for a variety of reasons, with their heads held high, but the key one (in my view) was the incredible dominance of one Edwin Diaz.

His patellar tendon injury HAS to reduce the team's collective confidence.

He saved a ton of close games against tough line ups in 2022, and his 118 Ks in 62 innings screamed "SWAGGER."

That swagger got sent to the season-long IL.

So far it hasn't hurt them - the pen has been stellar in winnable situations so far.  But as I reminded someone the other day, it is a LOOONG season and there will be big challenges.

David Robertson at age 37 in 2022 saved 20 of 28, a solid result, but now he is 38, and Edwin saved a superior 32 of 35 last year. 

Verlander and Max were supposed to bring swagger - but the V Man pulls a muscle I never heard of (I was probably snoozing in anatomy class) and Max surrenders 8 runs in 11 innings in his first two starts, with 4 HRs.  That seems to be more laggard than swagger.  That has to impact the team's collective confidence, too.

Me?  I think the drop in collective confidence could drop them below 90 wins this season.  Time will tell.  Maybe Brett Baty will add to the team's collective confidence soon.

No one thought the swagger would evaporate after the great Mets seasons of 1984-90.  But the Mets went 208-277 in 1991-93.  Swagger and collective confidence are fragile things.

P.S. The tremendous excitement I had heading into March has dissipated. My volume of writing may dissipate as well. I like to write about a dominant team. I don’t see this Mets team being one - I'd like to be wrong, but I am insufficiently confident at this point.  

PERAZA/PEROZA/PEROZO

Three of them in one farm system can confuse the best of us. 

So here goes:

Jose Peraza is 28 and has played for the Mets and others. In Syracuse, he is 10 for 32, with a walk, 6 Ks and 4 RBIs.  He ought to play more with Baty headed west.

Jose Peroza is a 22 year old who is rehabbing with St Lucie. 1 for 10, 3 walks, 3 Ks, and likely headed to light-hitting Binghamton ASAP.  Jose was one of the Mets' minors' hottest bats after June 2022.

Vincent Perozo is a 20 year old St Lucie catcher who is 7 for 18, 4 walks, 4 Ks and 4 caught stealing.  A fine start to his 2023 season, and maybe a fast-rising catcher in the Mets' organization.

So...stop getting them mixed up - thank you for your consideration.

THINGS EVENTUALLY EVEN OUT

David Peterson is 0-2 in games where he allowed just 3 earned runs in 11 innings, but 1-0 and a ND in two games where he got spanked, including the 6’6” lefty surrendering 6 runs in 6 innings with 6 Ks. He should suck every time out, he’d never lose again. At least that’s how I figure it. Opponents are batting .313 against DP in his first 4 starts. Alex Trabek tells me his rotation location may be in Jeopardy when Justin arrives. (You can’t say “return” if you’ve not yet thrown an inning for your team, can you?

SCARY PROJECTION LEAVES ONE WONDERING

Braves were 6-4. Now they’re 13-4. Will they end up 158-4? Just wondering. Can the Mets move to another division? Just wondering.