With things not going well in recent weeks, the Mets decided to Shake things up a little ahead of Friday night’s matchup with the Arizona Diamondbacks, opting Brett Baty It is Christian Scott back to Triple-A Syracuse.
While Baty’s demotion isn’t a surprise with his continued up-and-down production at the plate, Scott has thrown the ball very well in the first five games of his big league career.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza explained the difficult decision when speaking to reporters before the game at Citi Field, citing the outlook for the team’s upcoming schedule as a big reason on both fronts.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” he said in Baty. “Where we are on the calendar with the doubleheader the other day and then facing four lefties in the next six games, there wouldn’t be a lot of playing time for Brett. It’s time for him to go out there and continue to play, continue to take reps, continue to develop.”
Baty has nearly dominated at the minor league level, tearing coverage off the ball during his last few stints, but has yet to carry that success to the major leagues.
The 24-year-old has improved tremendously from a defensive standpoint, but he is batting just .225 in 49 games this season and is hitting too much, continually slamming the ball into the ground and not hitting hard enough.
Mendoza and the Mets hope that with a little more play in the minors, he will be able to continue his development and regain some much-needed confidence at the plate.
“It’s not an easy transition,” said the captain. “The goal is just for him to get down there and continue to put in reps and get comfortable. We all know how much he worked defensively, now it’s more about him getting down and regaining his confidence, especially in the box.
“He’s had success in the minors and sometimes we’ve seen that here, he’s had stretches where he’s impacting the baseball and not chasing, but then he goes through stretches where he’s part of the development and that’s what we told him. He will be back here and will continue to play an important role for this team moving forward.”
For now, however, it will be Marcos Vientos who receives the majority of playing time at the hot corner for the first time in his big league career.
While questions remain surrounding the 24-year-old’s defense, Mendoza and the Mets are happy with what they’ve seen on both sides of the ball in his brief return to Queens and are ready to hand him the keys for now.
“We’re comfortable with him there,” he said. “Vientos will have his chances here, but Brett will also be back, so for now he will play. We like where he is offensively and defensively, so give him credit and he’ll keep working.”
As for Scott, the first-year manager reiterated the same type of message.
With several days off worked into the upcoming schedule due to the two-game road trip against the Philadelphia Phillies in London, there simply isn’t a need for a six-player rotation right now, but the top prospect will be back before you know it.
“He’s a great pitcher,” Mendoza said. “The way he behaved here, the performance and things like that is nothing more than where we are in the schedule with the off days coming up. We don’t need a six-man rotation, we need a bullpen arm, but he’ll be back here and he understands that.”
Scott has more than looked the part, showing tremendous poise and confidence while pitching to a 3.90 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP in his first few big league starts.
