One of the biggest storylines from this past offseason was who would be the Mets’ third baseman come opening day.
The blue and orange were originally planning to keep the job in-house. But after top prospect and projected starter Ronny Mauricio tore his ACL, the Mets became rumored with nearly every third baseman on the open market.
However, the Mets ended up sticking with their original plan and kept the job in-house, with the battle coming down to Brett Baty and Mark Vientos.
Baty, who struggled enough in 2023 to be sent back to Triple-A Syracuse, impressed during spring training and claimed the job over Vientos.
The 24-year-old has impressed to start the season, slashing .305/.359/.373 with a .732 OPS, one home run and nine RBIs. In addition, Baty has improved tremendously defensively, making multiple highlight-reel-worthy plays.
Baty has been a key cog in the Mets’ recent hot streak, but it appears that the blue and orange will be without the Texas native for a little bit.
Baty has a hamstring injury
During Tuesday’s 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baty was forced to exit the game due to left hamstring tightness.
“I just talked to him. Hopefully, we caught it early, and there’s nothing,” Carlos Mendoza said postgame.“Obviously, we’ll go day by day and see how he feels [Wednesday] into the off day, and then we’ll go from there.”
The Mets’ first-year manager also revealed that the injury occurred during Baty’s second at-bat when he was reaching for the base trying to beat a ground ball to third.
Who replaces Baty in the lineup?
If the Baty injury is, in fact, short-term, the most probable candidate to replace him would be Joey Wendle.
Wendle replaced Baty Tuesday evening and hit a game-tying RBI double in his first at-bat.
The Delaware native has had limited playing time thus far but should play a larger role in the Mets lineup over the next few days.
If Baty were to be out long-term, look for Vientos, to be called up and to receive reps at third base, as he has been raking in Triple-A Syracuse.
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