On Wednesday morning, manager Carlos Mendoza surveyed the fringes of the Mets position-player group and acknowledged, “It’s not going to be an easy decision” regarding who leaves when Jeff McNeil returns, which is expected Friday.
By Wednesday afternoon, Brett Baty had made that already-hard decision a little bit more difficult.
In what essentially amounted to the final tryout before a more definitive roster is decided by Friday, Baty added one last item to his résumé: his first home run of the season, one that was demolished.
In the second inning against Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, Baty saw a cutter cut across the plate and hammered it to the second deck in right field for a two-run dinger that left his bat at 113.9 mph — the hardest-hit ball of Baty’s major league career, the hardest-hit homer by a Met this season and the eighth hardest-hit homer by anyone this year.
“That’s one of the ones where you don’t even feel it coming off the barrel,” Baty said after he was responsible for the only runs scored off Wheeler in an eventual 4-3, 10-inning win at Citi Field.
The homer gave the Mets a chance in the game and may have given Baty a stronger chance of sticking.
The Mets likely will make room for McNeil either through optioning Baty or Luisangel Acuña or designating José Azócar for assignment (which would open up a fourth outfield spot for Acuña).
Several weeks ago, the Mets would have had no second thoughts about demoting either Baty or Acuña.
But both have come on strong — Baty elevating his OPS from .238 to .598 in his past 11 games in which he has gone 9-for-33 (.273) with the homer, triple and two doubles, and Acuña (who pinch hit for Baty in the seventh and went 1-for-2) showing signs his bat has come around, when his defense and baserunning already were established.
Baty — a first-round pick in 2019 who consistently has stumbled with his big league chances — might be figuring it out.
“I felt like I was just in between pitches for the first couple of weeks,” Baty said in looking back on a rough beginning to his season, “and then these past couple of weeks, I’ve just swung with more conviction.”
He has been a threat in the batter’s box.
He has played solid defense at second base and at third base.
He has done what has been asked — but so has Acuña.
Azócar, meanwhile, has received just seven at-bats but tallied three hits.
The 28-year-old played three seasons with the Padres and has a history of being a solid defender at three outfield positions, which is valuable.
Because he can no longer be optioned to the minor leagues, he likely would be lost on waivers if exposed, while Baty or Acuña would remain in the organization if sent down.
Baty acknowledged the uncertainty is “really hard” and said he has tried focusing solely on the game.
“It’s part of the business, it’s what we signed up for, so I can’t really do anything about it,” Baty said. “Just gotta go out there and try to win games.”
The Mets were leaving for Washington on Wednesday night for a series that begins Friday.
It was unclear if the entire current roster was making the trip.
“I’ve got to go back and talk to David [Stearns] now and see what we’re going to do,” Mendoza said.
