NY Mets are icing one of their hottest hitters, showing too much faith in another

Brett Baty pinch hit for Mark Vientos on Friday night, grounding out to end the threat in the 8th inning. Looking at this without any knowledge of who these players are, what they’ve been doing, or what the statistics show us, it feels like the New York Mets are showing a little too much faith that Baty is ready to snap out of his slump.

A lot of the numbers bear out that you’re just as safe having Vientos at the plate against a righty as you are with Baty. On the season, Vientos is slashing .238/.302/.378 versus right-handers. Baty is at .233/.288/.433.

The difference has been power, Baty showing much more overall this season. However, when August arrives, it’s usually a good idea to start thinking about who’s hot and who’s not. One of them is, the other isn’t.

The Mets continue to play Brett Baty over Mark Vientos even if the numbers suggest they shouldn’t

Baty gets the start again on Saturday for the Mets, playing second base. Vientos will sit. Over the last 15 days, Vientos has been one of the better hitters on the Mets. A .343 batting average and a tied lead of 7 RBI over that span, he has been one of the club’s more reliable hitters as the Fab Four puts together a stretch of insignificance.

It hasn’t always been easy to decide who plays and who doesn’t. Ronny Mauricio continues to get the benefit of the doubt, logging what feels like the majority of opportunities at third base. Cycling through those three youngsters plus Starling Marte and even Jeff McNeil is the challenge Mendoza faces. Get it wrong and you can lose the game. Nail a controversial decision and you win over the fan base.

The Mets didn’t subtract from this surplus of infielders, only demoting Luisangel Acuna for the time being to make room for Cedric Mullins. The Mets feel deeper all while not really answering any questions.

Baty has cooled off significantly as he tends to do. Following an 8-game hitting streak in mid-July, he has now gone hitless in 5 straight. Even the hitting streak was nothing to marvel about. He had 2 hits only once, the second game of the streak.

A current pause on where each of these players fits into the future plans, the ball club is exhaustively continuing to play Baty in hopes of better days. More frustrating, Vientos is getting iced on the bench.