I Am a Proud Brett Baty #Truther

I tried to tell y’all that this is BB7’s breakout year. Brett Baty and his exceptional camp are forcing the Mets’ hand for a Major League job—and it’s not spring training “overreaction.” At 25, he’s leading the Grapefruit League with a 1.123 OPS, slashing .354/.415/.708 with three home runs and ten extra-base hits this spring.

Brett Baty has been unstoppable this spring:

.354 AVG
1.123 OPS
3 HR
9 RBI

This really might be the year Baty breaks out 😳 pic.twitter.com/H0ZEc0WNiB

— MetsMuse (@MetsMuse) March 22, 2025

Mets Came to PSL with Questions, Baty Showed up with Answers

With Opening Day less than a week away and with Jeff McNeil (oblique strain) starting the season on the IL, that middle infield role is up for grabs. After showcasing legitimate improvement on both sides of the game—more range, cleaner hands, quicker decisions, pop, and power; I think Brett Baty should open the season as the Mets’ starting second baseman.

“Brett the Met,” Minor League Hall of Famer

After dominating at both Double-A and Triple-A as a top-100 prospect—where he became a staple in Syracuse and would be a first-ballot inductee if the “S’Mets” had a Hall of Fame—Baty’s journey at the major league level has been more complex, and there’s an argument made for a possible rushed debut.

He shined in his August 2022 debut with a first-AB home run off the Atlanta Braves. But over the next 42 plate appearances, the third baseman produced a .184/.244/.342 line, hinting at an opportunity to make some tweaks.

He opened 2023 in Syracuse and hit well enough to earn a return to the Mets. He looked comfortable in his first 15 games back, slashing .319/.385/.511. That stretch was followed by a bit of a slump: a .196/.258/.294 line over his next 306 plate appearances, and he was sent back to Triple-A in August.

With any player, the jump from the Minors requires fine-tuning—those big-league arms are throwing at a velocity that’s almost impossible to hit. Even after returning in September, he hit just .200/.221/.293.

Despite the struggles in his previous stints at the major league level, Baty opened 2024 as the Mets’ third baseman but posted just a .225/.304/.325 line through May before another demotion to Triple-A. He spent the remainder of the season in Syracuse, aside from a brief trip to London for the Mets-Phillies series.

Baseball is a Game of Adjustments

But this is baseball—it’s a game of adjustments—and Baty made real fundamental changes this offseason.

“Honestly, I’m just focused on swinging at strikes and taking balls, in the simplest form,” Baty told The Post. “I made a lot of swing adjustments in the offseason. For me, the biggest thing is keeping it simple. When I do that, I tend to have success.”

“It’s being just a little bit more athletic in the setup,” he continued. “Not striding closed. I’m really focused on keeping two hands on the bat for a stronger top hand—just those simple things. I think the bigger thing I worked on this offseason was my approach and simplifying that.”

“I am not doing as high as a leg kick, and I’m finishing with two hands,” Baty said. “I am just trying to barrel the ball wherever it’s pitched.”

I am a Brett Baty truther

— Gab (@gabrielleraucci) March 20, 2025

Big League Baty

Luisangel Acuña remains a high-upside option, but Baty has had an exceptional camp and is playing some of the best baseball of his professional career. Though it seems like ever since Brett Baty handed over No. 22 to Juan Soto and slipped into No. 7, the baseball gods have accepted this like a sacrifice, and his reward is an alignment of the stars—the proof is in the work he has done this offseason.