How New York Mets could deploy infielder Brett Baty

Baty has little to prove at the minor league level and while he does offer some value off the bench as a lefty bat, the best long-term strategy for the Mets is to find him at-bats. The Mets penciled Baty into the lineup at third base ahead of Wednesday's game, giving Mark Vientos a day off against a right-handed starter in Arizona's Merrill Kelly.

The maneuvers today also came as a result of Brandon Nimmo needing a DH day, requiring McNeil to slide to left field and Acuña going to second base. While Baty could factor into the mix at second going forward, one option to watch here would involve him returning to his natural position of third base more often.

The Mets have been using Starling Marte as their primary DH with Winker out, hitting him cleanup the past two games, but he hasn't produced much all season long. While manager Carlos Mendoza will likely give Marte a run of every day at-bats to try and get the veteran going, there is a chance Marte can't seize his opportunity and goes back to being the short-side of a DH platoon.

This scenario is where Baty fits in the best: while the Mets could use Baty as their left-handed hitting DH, he is a better defensive player than Vientos, so using Baty as a DH would be a waste. The Mets could utilize Baty's defensive value at third while having Vientos DH against right-handed pitching, getting the best of both worlds in that scenario. Against lefties, Marte would still have his role as the DH with Vientos returning to third and Baty being available off the bench.

Since David Stearns took over as president of baseball operations, the Mets have made it a priority to give young players opportunities to play. As such, Baty wouldn't have been the pick to fill Winker's roster spot if the team didn't have some kind of plan in place to utilize him going forward.