Reese Kaplan -- The Brett Baty Era Has Come to an End

One of the issues that’s come up with the return of Jeff McNeil was David Stearns’ decision to farm out suddenly hot Brett Baty to make room for the former batting champion to return to the big club after his injury rehab.  The Alavarez for Senger move was expected and not at all surprising, but the Baty move did catch a few folks off guard.

To look back at the options Stearns had before him, it seemed rather obvious to the casual fan that AAAA outfielder Jose Azocar who was ostensibly an emergency injury replacement for Jose Siri.  Azocar has started a game but the main CF duty has gone to Mets veteran Tyrone Taylor.  Given the fact that Jeff McNeil, Luisangel Acuna, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte all can play in center field if necessary, it seemed that the lifetime .247 hitter was not slated to get too many starts (in particular since he bats from the right side, same as Taylor).  After playing parts of three seasons for the Padres, Azocar was brought up primarily as a necessity, not based upon anything he’s done in Syracuse.  He has 20 SB type of speed but no power at all.

The problem is that Azocar is out of options so it would mean cutting him loose is not the same as sending him in an Uber to the New York State capitol.  He could then engage playing opportunities with the other 29 teams as a free agent if he was so inclined.  He does have a reputation of being a solid defender which is something none of the in-house options on the MLB roster can claim.  Consequently it is understandable that rather than potentially losing him for nothing at all, David Stearns took the more prudent approach and sent Baty down instead.

From the Baty perspective, he will in Syracuse get the opportunity to play every single day, somethgn that was less and less certain for him in New York with the mix of Mark Vientos, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor and Luisangel Acuna ahead of him.  Acuna also demonstrated far greater base running speed and positional versatility which probably was the final nail in Baty’s 2025 starting-the-season-in-Queens coffin.   The fact he’s hitting .292 doesn’t hurt a bit either.

Right now it would appear that Baty is playing himself into a trade chip by having what everyone hopes is a monstrous offensive year in Syracuse.  After the slow start with Vientos, he’s been turning on the ball more regularly and solidly of late which reaffirms his ownership of third base.  With McNeil and Acuna here, there’s really not much in the way of playing opportunity for Baty unless something happened to the lefty half of the DH platoon.

While not every high draft pick is destined to become an All Star, it is disappointing to many fans to see Baty thrive in the minors but then struggle in the majors.  Right now the luster is off his prospect star and the only way he can put it back is to dominate in AAA.  We wish him well even if it’s not at Citifield anymore.