3 stats suggesting Brett Baty is playing his way into a demotion

The New York Mets young third baseman Brett Baty has had not only a rough stretch but a rough month of May. Baty has only gotten 11 hits this month while batting .193 with 3 home runs and 7 RBI. The only thing that Baty has done very well all season long is his consistency with the glove. He has been remarkable at third base and fans could not be more pleased with his progression at the position. However, at the moment he finds himself competing for the everyday role as Mark Vientos has been extremely productive on the offensive side.

Since he was called back up to the big leagues on May 15th, Vientos has netted 8 hits while batting .320 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI. It has been difficult for the Mets to keep him out of the lineup especially with the way things are currently trending for the club. With all this being said, lets take a look at a few reasons as to why the lefty slugger is doing so poorly when he steps up to the plate for an at-bat.

1. Strikeout Percentage

Baty's strikeout percentage has been a major issue that has led him to struggle mightily at the plate. He currently has a strikeout percentage of 42.2 percent and in this month alone Baty has struck out a total of 24 times. Also according to Baseball Savant, he has a really poor chase rate which is in the 24th percentile and a whiff rate in the 38 percentile. Baty is not having the competitive at-bats that he was in the beginning of the season and even when he eventually pulls through offensively there is a negative side to it.

everydayThis past Saturday when the Mets took on the Giants, Baty crushed a home run which put an end to his 14-game home run drought. While it was encouraging to see Baty come through in a clutch situation for the Mets, the rest of his day cannot go unnoticed. He went 1-3 and added yet another two strikeouts to that total in his other two at-bats . In order to keep his role as the Mets everday third baseman, Baty needs to dramatically lower his strikeout percentage and focus more on grinding out at-bats.

2. Squared Up Contact Percentage

Baty currently has a squared up contact percentage of 19.1% which is the worst among 220 eligible players. This means that Baty is not putting great swings on the baseball and this also refers back to the amount of times he gets out when he is up at the plate. Baty is in a real funk and this can be extremely difficult to break out of especially when Triple-A could be looming in the near future.

The Mets Manager Carlos Mendoza had some comments on Baty's rough stretch after their three game set against the Cleveland Guardians. "I think he's a little in between at the plate right now--," said Mendoza. "Not doing damage on pitches that he needs to be doing damage, and then chasing. Every hitter at some point is going to go through it. He is going through it right now, and we'll get him right."

When push comes to shove Baty is not there mentally and needs to regain control in that aspect. If this continues on it may not be such a bad idea to send him to Triple-A for a little while just to boost his confidence and push him in the the right direction to get back on track.

3. Batting Average Against Certain Pitches

Baty's strongest asset at one point this season was his batting average against opposing pitcher's fastballs. While he is still batting fairly well against the fastball with a .296 average, at his peak Baty was well over .400 against this pitch. These two numbers are both very far apart and it allows fans to truly see his dramatic decline for the time being.

Other than the fastball, Baty struggles heavily on anything off-speed. He has not been able to time these pitches correctly and has not adjusted to them either which can obviously create another major issue with his offensive production as well. Baty is only batting .160 against these pitches meaning that instead of getting his barrel to the ball, these at-bats are ending either with him chasing or whiffing at the pitch for strike three.

Hopefully, Baty can turn things around and be that spark of life that the Mets need now more than ever before.