Brett Baty shook off any notion that his sore thumb was a problem by going 3-5 with a homer in his second game back Tuesday night. Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos also homered in the game and it’s easy for Mets fans to dream that those three will bring their power to the majors ASAP. That’s what happens when the MLB team has a .131 ISO.
Three players – Jeff McNeil, Daniel Vogelbach and Brandon Nimmo have double-digit ISOs, while five other players have combined for 74 PA without an extra-base hit. When it comes to power, the Mets’ lineup is essentially Pete Alonso and the eight dwarves.
We knew going in that the upside for power for the Mets was likely middle-of-the-pack HR totals. Currently, the team is 12th in the NL in homers. It’s even worse if you count all extra-base hits, as the Mets are tied with the Cubs for the 13th-best mark in the NL with a 6.7 XBH%. A lot of people are blaming the pitching for the team’s early-season doldrums. But until the Mets start hitting – and preferably with power – there are going to be a lot of frustrating games ahead.
MLB as a whole has a .299 BABIP so far this season. The Mets are last in the NL and 29th in the majors with a .247 BABIP, 17 points behind the 28th-place Tigers and their .264 mark in the category.
The hitting and power for the Mets, in the early going, is a problem. The roster has three players that are defensively-first players. That is two to many.
There is a solution. Have Vientos replace Locastro ( 0 options so you may lose him) and have him be the RHB DH and backup 1B. Use Pfam as the 4th outfielder and as use McNeil as a 5th outfielder. Have Baty replace Guillorme ( he has an option) and then platoon at 3B with Escobar. Escobar would be be the utility infielder when needed.
Baty 391/481/ 870/1.351 3 HR, AAA 2023
Vientos 333/421/636/1.057 3 HR, AAA 2023
The SF Giants have “called up” Darin Ruf to the big leagues, so I guess we can now tally the final results for Mr. Eppler. For the 74 PA .413 OPS and 20 OPS+ the Mets received, they parted with 4 players, including 2+ years of control of JD Davis (who has raked every since he was dealt), 5+ years of control of an AAAA lefty who could still mature into a serviceable bullpen piece, and 2 other raffle ticket minor leaguers. This follows a year in which they gave away highly rated PCA for the rental of Javy Baez. All this from an owner and two GMs that have insisted that they want to build a sustainable winner.
Every trade involves risk and uncertainty, and I don’t want to kill Eppler over one deal, even if it was amongst the worst in franchise history. However, under virtually no circumstances do I want to see the Mets deal any more prospect or major league depth for a rental in 2023, and that includes Ohtani.
Great comments by both Metsense and TJ. I agree 100% with both. I could actually see keeping Locastro over Pham, but either way the plan makes a lot of sense. As far as TJs comments about the trades, while no one could expect Ruf to suddenly forget everything he ever knew about hitting, even if he lived up to expectations we gave up way too much. Also, I hated the PCA-Baez trade when I first learned of it, and it was worse when we found out shortly after that Jake was done since that put a huge dent in the teams postseason hopes that year.
With no Mets game tonight, I tuned in the Syracuse game. The announcer tells me the Mets have a three-run lead thanks to a HR by Brett Baty. Two beats later, Ronny Mauricio goes yard!
https://www.milb.com/syracuse/fans/audio-listen-live
Everybody is on the bandwagon for Baty. as they should be. Mauricio has improved in leaps and bounds in the last year. When are they going to issue him an outfielders glove ? The Mets problem with offense and power are right under their noses. Promote the rookies, and ease them in to the lineup to you take the pressure off them because veterans on the roster are in their twilight years. They have the opportunity to have a smooth transition of the roster.
SNY reports Brett Baty to be called up and to join the team in LA. No word on who would be removed from the roster.