Brett Baty will be on the road to redemption this year after a tough 2023 campaign, and he is off to a hot start in Grapefruit League play.
On Saturday, Baty homered in an exhibition game against the Miami Marlins, which sparked some excitement from some of his New York Mets' teammates.
Baty's deep shot led to teammate and good friend, Francisco Alvarez, to take to Instagram to make a bold prediction that the fellow former top prospect will hit 30-plus home runs this season.
A 30-home run campaign for Baty would be a major boost for the Mets, who passed on the opportunity to bring in another big bat this winter. But is a 30-homer season a realistic expectation for Baty? Maybe not considering he never hit more than 19 homers across a minor league season. However, the Mets just need him to be productive and consistent on both sides of the diamond.
Unlike Alvarez, Baty has yet to see much success in the beginning of his young career after receiving a ton of prospect hype coming up through the minor leagues. Baty overtook veteran Eduardo Escobar for the starting third base job in the early part of last season. But he had more downs than ups in his first full year in the big-leagues. In 108 games, Baty slashed an anemic .212/.275/.323 with a .598 OPS, nine home runs and 34 RBIs. He also struggled immensely on defense, which is an area the Mets are hoping he can improve in given he will once again have the job at the hot corner to begin the regular season.
Baty's performance continued to dip throughout the season in 2023, which led to a demotion to Triple-A Syracuse. But after showing some production in the minor leagues, he was brought back up as a September call-up after just three weeks.
The good news is that, as ugly as last season was for Baty, he is still only 24-years-old, and isn't far removed from being the No. 2 prospect in the Mets' organization as well as a Top 100 prospect in all of baseball.
Despite the early disappointment, there are many reasons to be optimistic that Baty will bounce-back. He has talent and major upside, which is why the Mets opted to give him a fair shot at proving he is the third baseman of the future, as opposed to bringing in a veteran such as Gio Urshela, who they showed interest in this offseason.
With the regular season on the horizon, the Mets and Brett Baty are about to learn whether he can overcome adversity and become the star he was expected to be, or in the very least be a productive big-leaguer at this stage in his young career.
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