So far this spring, Brett Baty is absolutely killing it. He’s batting .382, has an on base percentage of .500, and an OPS of 1.000. Eduardo Escobar on the other hand is in the total opposite direction, getting one hit in the WBC overall as well as an OBP of .100. Now obviously whoever starts at third base Is not going to get that job purely off their batting average in the preseason, or how many home runs they hit off career “quadruple A” pitchers. Major league experience, fielding, plate presence all of those things matter, especially to a manager like Buck Showalter. Obviously a guy like Escobar has the eg up on 2/3 of those examples, and on top of all that, Eduardo is very well liked within that locker room and organization. He’s definitely a leader there, and a guy that someone like Baty can really learn a lot from. It doesn’t take much to be a quality professional when things are going great and you’re hitting .300. It’s when you’re in an 0-20 slump, and you got the yips, missing every throw to 1st base. Especially in a town like New York, they’ll boo Jesus Christ himself if he strikes out looking with the bases loaded.

I think in all likelihood this is Escobar’s job to lose. He’s the 11 year vet, he carried the team offensively in the month of September last season, he should be the opening day starter. Now how long does he hold that starting job? That is the $1 million dollar question. I have zero sources within the organization, I know about as much as any other fan, but in my opinion I think the starter at 3rd base is more dependent on the rest of the lineup, and I’ll tell you why. I believe if the rest of the lineup is hitting, and Eduardo keeps the errors to a minimum, then I think you can see him starting out there well into the summer. Baty is young, still has minor league options on his contract. There is nothing forcing them to bring him up, in fact, you can almost make an argument that Baty is better off starting down in AAA, and staying there for a bit to get consistent at bats and starts at 3rd base. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Essentially if the rest of the lineup looks good, and you’re getting .250 hitting out of Escobar, and the Mets season is within their control, don’t expect to see Baty for a while. Now, if Escobar starts off slow, striking out and leaving runners on, I think you’ll see a swift change at 3rd, regardless of Brett Baty’s AAA numbers. We’ve seen Buck get desperate at times when the offense was sputtering, and I believe the change will come sooner rather than later so they know how to attack the trade deadline, as opposed to the last 2 seasons where we flirt with big names, and end up with underwhelming results.

In a perfect world, Escobar finds his groove and assumes his role as the starter all season long, and Baty puts the Mets in a position where they can no longer justify him playing games in Syracuse any longer, and finds ways of getting at bats for the big league club. Personally, I’m a big fan of Brett Baty, I’d love to see him make the opending day roster and become a staple at third base for years to come. As a child, I grew up watching David Wright, so I’d love for Brett Baty to become this generation’s model player, and maybe one day, Captain. I’m not a talent scout by any means, but I do believe Baty has more of a future on this team than Vientos, so I’d really love to see him excel here and earn his way onto the team. We still have another week of Spring Training so let’s see where things go. LFGM!