MIAMI — With the season on the brink Thursday and a lefty on the mound in the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza had to ask himself a simple question with a difficult answer: Whom do you trust?
Once upon a time, Brett Baty may not have entered in the equation in this kind of situation: He’s historically struggled against same-handed pitchers, and though his defense is solid enough, prolonged cold streaks at the plate took him from being the Opening Day third baseman in 2024 to minor-league banishment after the first two months of the season.
But things change and people evolve, and Mendoza’s (winning) lineup decision wasn’t all that shocking: Baty, the superior defensive option after Mark Vientos committed a costly error at third the day prior, was slotted to start at the position and hit seventh. Baty rewarded the trust, hitting a three-run homer off Imanaga that proved to be the biggest blow in a must-win game; it was his career-high 19th homer and his third off a lefty.
All of it is a testament to how much Baty has grown as a player in a few short months: Entering Friday night’s game against the Marlins, he was slashing .292/.354/.480 in the second half of the season; a career .200 hitter against lefthanded pitchers, he’s hitting .247 against southpaws this year.
And with the Mets trying to stave off the Reds, who entered the day a game behind them for the third wild card spot with the tiebreaker in hand, the answer to “whom do you trust?” is getting a little easier. Baty started at third and hit sixth against Marlins righthander Sandy Alcantara Friday, but Mendoza confirmed that he’s no longer overly attached to platoon splits when deciding when to deploy the infielder.
“He continues to earn it,” Mendoza said. “The more at-bats he gets against lefties and the way he plays defense, he continues to earn it and there’s a good chance we’ll continue to run him out there.”
There are plenty of reasons for his improvement, but one key one — one that plagued Baty earlier in his career — is that he no longer seems to let cold streaks snowball on him. When asked about better success against lefties, Baty said it was a combination of hard work and mind set — “just hanging in there and not trying to do too much,” he said. He credited Francisco Lindor’s theory — the one that says that if you give everything you have to this game, it’ll give back to you.
Mendoza and Lindor, meanwhile, lauded his consistency.
It’s “been outstanding,” Lindor said. “The way he works and how he prepares, it shows up. He continues to get better and continues to be more consistent. I think we haven’t fully seen what Brett Baty is capable of doing, so I can’t wait for him to continue to go out there, day in and day out, and help us win.”
There’s another aspect, too. Baty has had to fail a lot. He played 50 major-league games in 2024, batting .225 before getting sent down for the remainder of the season. Even this year, he was optioned on April 24 before getting recalled on May 5. He’s had to claw to get back to this spot, even as the noise around him was already declaring him a bust.
“He’s maturing as a player and (he went) through a lot of adversity and so many challenges,” Mendoza said. “He ended up getting sent down (last year) and never got an opportunity. This year, he had to fight again. I think it was him understanding that it was never going to be easy.”
Earning trust almost never is.
Note & quotes: Clay Holmes will start Saturday, and the Mets bullpen solution will continue to remain flexible and may factor Sean Manaea and David Peterson. “The only thing we know is that Clay will start and then we’ll go from there,” Mendoza said, saying they opted for Holmes over Manaea because “Clay was feeling a lot better” than the lefty after both pitched in relief Wednesday. “Sean is feeling good today, but (it was) based on how they were feeling yesterday.” . . . Tommy John surgery was recommended for Reed Garrett, but he’ll get a second opinion . . . Kodai Senga will continue to throw bullpens in Port St. Lucie; the Mets have not yet considered shutting him down.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.