Mets shouldn't grant Brett Baty his wish no matter how much he deserves it

Most of the New York Mets Opening Day roster is set, with a few exceptions — one of which being their final bench spot. Luis Torrens is the backup catcher, and the Mets will have two backup outfielders, but they still need to identify who the backup infielder will be.

Nick Madrigal figured to be the favorite for that final bench spot, but he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. With Madrigal out of the running, there's a good chance that the raceconsists of a pair of young players, Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña.

Based on how they've performed in spring training thus far, Baty is probably the overwhelming favorite to make the team. That outcome would be one he'd be thrilled with, based on what he had to say on Tuesday.

While it obviously makes a ton of sense for Baty to want to make the Mets Opening Day roster, an argument can be made that his dream becoming reality isn't what's best for the team — or even Baty himself.

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Brett Baty making Mets Opening Day roster accomplishes little to nothing for New York, or Baty himself

If Baty makes the team, it's hard to see many opportunities for him to play. That's what this comes down to: The Mets have Mark Vientos locked in as the team's regular third baseman following his breakout year, Pete Alonso is back at first base, and Jeff McNeil will receive a bulk of the playing time at second base. An argument can be made that McNeil might be better off in a platoon role playing only against right-handed pitchers, but the lefty-hitting Baty, who has a .470 OPS against left-handed pitching in his career, would be far from an ideal platoon partner.

In addition, the Mets have a stout DH platoon consisting of Jesse Winker against righties and Starling Marte against lefties. Even if the Mets wanted to figure out a way to get Baty in the lineup while giving a guy like Vientos a DH day, they'd be benching a better hitter to do it, which wouldn't make much sense.

If Baty were to make the team, the Mets would want him to be a utility man. Well, of the 1282.2 innings he has played in the field, 1281.2 of them have come at third base, with the other one inning coming in a random appearance in left field. He does have 27 appearances at second base in the Minor Leagues, but he lacks experience in that position. He has not appeared in a professional game at first base or shortstop. He does not profile as an ideal utility infielder.

Sure, there are rest days for starters here and there, but Alonso played in all 162 games in 2024 and has not missed more than 10 games in a season in his career. Vientos will play just about every single day, and the same can be said about McNeil as long as he is producing. Is it really worth rostering Baty for the one game every other week (if we're being generous) that he might enter the lineup in a spot start?

It'd be nice to reward Baty, a former top prospect, for the spring he has had, but what value does he provide? A guy like Acuña, for example, might not have as much offensive upside as Baty, but he's a right-handed hitter who offers tremendous speed and solid defense off the bench. His game is a better fit for what the Mets need out of this spot: Acuña can platoon for McNeil, pinch run late in a close game, and can even fill in for defense if there's a need. Baty, on the other hand, doesn't offer much defensive value outside of third base, where the Mets already have Vientos, is not particularly fast, and there wouldn't even be many situations where Baty would be called upon to pinch hit.

At the end of the day, the best thing for the Mets and for Baty's future is for Baty to play regularly in Triple-A and hope that he continues to swing a hot bat. If a Mets starting infielder suffers an injury, hopefully he can play himself into being the player they promote. He might end up increasing his trade value if he performs well, too.

If the Mets were to decide their Opening Day roster solely off of spring training statistics, Baty's inclusion would be a no-brainer. A deeper look into the makings of the roster shows that he'd rarely see the field, making rostering him a decision that wouldn't make much sense no matter how badly he might want it and deserve it.