PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Mets third baseman Brett Baty spent a great deal of time dissecting what went wrong for him in his rookie campaign this offseason. Upon arriving at the team’s spring training complex on Thursday, he appears to have turned the page.
The 24-year-old infielder is focused on having a clear mindset going into this season, not letting the previous play carry over to the next, whether it’s good or bad. He wants to emulate what he believes the “best” players do — to stay “even-keeled” no matter how he’s playing.
“I think I was riding the roller coaster too much (last season). But I mean, I think last year’s in the past,” Baty told reporters. “We can learn some stuff from last year, of course, but I’m just looking forward to this year, man. I’m looking forward to having fun. A lot of new faces around I’ve already gotten to meet a lot of new people. And I think we’re gonna have a really fun year.
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After batting .212/.275/.323 with MLB’s 10th worst WRC+ (68) among batters with at least 350 plate appearances in 2023, Baty spent the next three weeks watching tape.
What did the Baty’s three weeks of video inquiry reveal?
“A lot of barrel lag,” Baty told reporters. “So like, my barrel from the start of my swing would just kind of lag behind and I was late a lot. And that’s why obviously a lot of balls on the ground and flaring balls to left. I was hitting too hard balls to the opposite field but I really wanted to focus on getting my barrel out front.”
Baty’s analysis checks out. Last season, he posted a 50.2 groundball percentage, second-worst among third basemen with a minimum 350 plate appearances.
These struggles bled into his defense. Among third basemen with at least 800 innings at the position, Baty had -5 defensive runs saved and -4 outs above average, both 15th out of 18 players that qualify.
Thus, Baty spent significant time on defense in the…
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