Reese Kaplan -- Flashes in 2025 vs. Flashes in 2024

It’s that time of year when we all need to finish venting our wrath about how the season ended and then correspondingly looking at fantasy roster and coaching configurations that will allegedly turn everything around for the 2026 season.  We’re all guilty of it, myself very much included.  There’s no arguing that numerous changes will need to be made.  We could take a look at who is still on the roster and how we feel they might fit into the future.  Over the next few months that output will very likely appear here.  Today, however, we will instead analyze two players who have their believers and detractors who may or may not be a part of the 2026 Mets team.

Brett Baty is an annoyingly inconsistent hitter who shows flashes but then seems to revert to the same stature that kept him from becoming a regular of the past several seasons combined.  Towards the latter part of the 2025 season Baty seemed to be on the brink of establishing himself as a more solid player.  His batting average improved up to the heretofore never achieved .254 level and his defense was mostly a fun thing to watch.  He was pushed onto second base occasionally to allow others to tackle third but it would appear for now third base is where his future is.

If you look a little more closely at his baseball card numbers for this past season, you see he had 393 ABs and came within a single strikeout of matching his 109 Ks achieved during his 353 AB season in 2023.  The truly big numbers for Baty this year were in run production.  He finished the year with 18 HRs and 50 RBIs.  The former suggests he was on the path towards a 25 HR season had he played full time but the latter should be offset by his bottom third of the order batting position he was assigned whenever he was penciled into the lineup. 

After failing to secure a position with extended looks in 2022, 2023 and 2024 Baty made great strides this past season.  He nearly matched his 2022 aggregate totals of 19 HRs and 60 RBIs in about the same number of ABs.  As you look over his minor league numbers you see he hit for a career .283 AVG but his batting average tanked as he began swinging more for the long ball.

By contrast Mark Vientos was born to be a DH.  He reminds many people of the revolving door of candidates who tried and failed to play the hot corner during the Mets 63 year history.  Where he has shined (relatively speaking) is in his ability to hit the long ball and to drive in runs.  Both he and Baty have been around for parts of the 2022 through 2025 seasons during which Vientos holds a signficant edge in HRs, RBIs, SLG and OPS.  He trailed Baty by a single point in OBP and execeed him by 6 points in career batting average. 

With the real possibility of Pete Alonso leaving there are many who advocate starting Baty at third base while having Vientos shift across the diamond to cover first.  It is a less defensively challenging position but the issue remains which Vientos will you get in 2026? 

As a reminder, WAYYYYYY back in 2024 Vientos played himself into a semi-regular position by hitting .266 with 27 HRs and 71 RBIs in well under 500 ABs.  It was that kind of output that led the Mets to think he would have the leg up as a third baseman with Baty struggling even to make the roster until Jeff McNeil turned up injured and the team needed another infielder. 

The question often debated among the fans and detractors of both of these players is whether they are more valuable starting for the Mets or would they generate a greater return as trade bait.  A rumor surfaced that the Yankees wanted to obtain Baty in July in exchange for Trent Grisham.  Given that Grisham finished the year with 34 HRs many feel that was a missed opportunity but apparently it was David Stearns who turned it down.  Bear in mind that Grisham is very much an all-or-nothing swinger whose season ended with a .235 average which was a big step up from his career mark of just .218.

Now for Mark Vientos you’d be dealing from the bottom of the deck as his 2025 season was pretty forgettable though he did manage to hit 17 HRs and drive in 61.  It is the high strikeout totals, the lack of baserunning speed and the butchery on defense that would temper the return they could get.  Would he be more valuable as a full time DH, again return to an undefined role or do you make him the new first baseman if Alonso leaves?  None of these answers look great.

In conclusion neither Baty nor Vientos are going to be considered irreplaceable core players but at the current time Baty finished on an upswing while Vientos had a bad year.  Let’s not forget you also have unproven Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuna as well as late season AAA player Jett Williams as alternatives.  None of these others make you smile much yet either. 

David Stearns is going to have some difficult choices to make to try to improve the roster.