With injuries up and down the Mets’ roster before the start of the regular season has even arrived, Brett Baty and David Peterson have proven this spring that they are capable of stepping up and are doing everything they can to help carry the load.
Wednesday night’s win over the Houston Astros was no different as both players had a significant impact on the outcome of the game.
Baty, playing second base as he continues to get comfortable at a new position, went 2-for-3 with a double and a triple to raise his batting average to .333 and his OPS to 1.010. He also made a fine defensive play in the field, showing off some range and his arm in the process.
With Jeff McNeil starting the season on the IL with a low-grade right oblique strain, Baty and Luisangel Acuña (and some others) have been battling it out for the starting second base job. While Acuña is the superior defender (and versatile, too), he hasn’t hit much so far this spring or in his career at Triple-A.
And even after coming up to the majors late last season — in the middle of a playoff race, no less — and providing an offensive spark, it’s still too small of a sample size to hang on to. On the other hand, Baty has been the exact opposite.
In his career, Baty has destroyed Triple-A pitching which has earned him a promotion to the big leagues on numerous occasions, but the 25-year-old has been unable to convert his success to the majors. However, unlike Acuña, Baty is having a phenomenal spring training offensively which is why he’s currently leading the pack to start the season as McNeil’s replacement.
While it’s impossible not to take notice of Baty’s offense so far, manager Carlos Mendoza is also liking what he’s seeing out of Baty’s defense lately.
“I thought he’s gotten comfortable as we’re progressing in camp,” Mendoza said after Wednesday’s win. “There was a really good play today to his right. Really good first step, the angle, he ended up diving for the ball, and then just having the awareness of who the runner was [and] knowing that he had time.
“Making the routine plays, going to the right places when he needs to. The communication between him and [Francisco] Lindor or some of the other infielders has been great so, like I said, I think he’s gotten comfortable.”
If Baty keeps getting more comfortable at second base and is able to finally hit in the majors like he has this spring and in Triple-A, he may not give up the starting job even when McNeil returns.
As for Peterson, the lefty has been nothing short of brilliant in four spring outings so far, owning a 0.57 ERA over 15.2 innings in his first spring training without any hiccups in over two years. Against Houston on Wednesday, the 30-year-old went five scoreless innings and struck out four against an Astros lineup filled with starters.
“It was good to get the five ups, get the pitch count up and felt like we were able to work everything and see what we wanted to,” he said. “… Having an offseason where I was able to get all my strength back and feel like I was 100 percent coming into camp was awesome and it’s been good to have a normal spring again.”
With the Mets already down two starters in Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea to begin the season, Peterson is reminding everybody of what he did in 2024 and how important he can be to New York’s rotation when fully healthy.
“Just trying to build off the good stuff mechanically that I had last year and get the pitches where I want to,” Peterson said.
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