NY Mets depth chart: 2 players moving up in July, 2 moving down

The New York Mets go into Sunday with one game left to play before the first half comes to its conclusion. We should be confident in their ability to hang around atop the NL East. For as many injuries as they’ve suffered, slumps the top players have been through, and other usual mayhem that has ensued, the Mets have done a good job at confirming they are playoff-worthy.

Ups and downs of any team throughout the year can sometimes be explained by the performance of particular players. Midway through July, we’re seeing several key members of the roster struggle while others attempt an ascent up the depth chart.

A day away from the MLB All-Star Break, we can see these two Mets moving up the team’s depth chart so far in July with this other pair dropping down.

Moving up: Brett Baty is making another attempt to differentiate himself from the pack

Who’ll survive the infield battles? It’s a trench war between Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio, and Luisangel Acuna. It’s Baty who has quietly been the most reliable in July. Before a hitless day on Saturday, he was batting .250 and feeling a little better than it does today.

Vientos came off of the IL limping. Mauricio has the upside but not the numbers. Acuna seems to have been written off altogether. It’s Baty whom the Mets seem to favor quite a lot with how willingly they have been to routinely place him out at second base while continuing to use him as their best fielding third baseman. They’ve hesitated to deploy Acuna in center field despite the obvious need. Scared stiff from playing Vientos at third base whenever possible, we can see a path for Baty to move up further. It’s a matter of him hitting better for a longer period of time. It’s an ongoing annual saga with him, ain’t it?

Statistically, Baty isn’t running too quickly away from his teammates. His .683 OPS is still worse than the .755 posted by Mauricio. The Mets are keen to start him whenever they face a right-handed starting pitcher which is more often than not. Slashing .222/.313/.370 overall this month, his presence on the Mets depth chart has been elevated less because of what he has done at the plate and more so out of choice by the team.

Trench warfare doesn’t have any early victors. This has been an ongoing battle for several seasons. Frankly, no one has done nearly enough to look like a solution. Baty playing third base as well as he has will help him stay around longer. It’s the far greater position of need, although the team is probably near its end of life at second base with Jeff McNeil. That contract doesn’t seem to have an extension at the end of it.

Will the Baty we were promised finally arrive to finish off the year? He’s moving up the depth chart in July. Let’s just hope he doesn’t fall down by the end.