DENVER — If no one will mistake Double-A for the big leagues, then there’s something to be said for proximity.
“Everyone has always said once you get to Double-A, you’re one phone call away from the big leagues. So I know that’s really close,” Brett Baty, the Mets’ third-base prospect, said Sunday at Coors Field, before participating in the All-Star Futures Game. “I’m just looking forward to getting up there and starting with those guys.”
The Mets announced this past week that Baty, the 12th-overall selection of the 2019 amateur draft, will join Double-A Binghamton upon leaving here after posting a .309/.397/.514 slash line for Single-A Brooklyn in the first half. This marks the first full professional season for the Texas native, who spent last year working at the Mets’ alternate site in Brooklyn as the pandemic caused the entire minor league season to be canceled.
“It was super tough last year, but luckily I got to go to the alt site and get some games in, and then they also sent me to [instructional league instructs in Florida], so I got more games in down there,” Baty said. “It definitely was tough to not have any full season or anything. But I just tried to study my craft and tried to do baseball every day.”
Offensively, while Baty is pleased with his plate discipline, as evidenced by his on-base percentage, he wants to improve at pitch recognition.
But as he moves up, Baty is convinced that he need not move from the hot corner, a position that hardly features a long-term occupant up at Citi Field.
“I’m just working on lateral quickness over there. Working on hand speed, stuff like that,” he said. “I feel like I have the arm strength to stick over there.”