The 5 most important Mets who have to prove they belong in the big leagues

The New York Mets roster will experience more chances before Opening Day. However, it does feel as if these five holdovers from last season will remain with the organization in some capacity. Important in their own right, the trouble is none have secured a roster spot despite how much they matter.

These five critical Mets players will have to prove they belong in the big leagues next season.

1) Brett Baty

Brett Baty will at least get a chance to reclaim his spot as the starting third baseman for the Mets in 2023. They’ve continually claimed the plan is to go internal at the position while only straying away from this plan upon seeing Ronny Mauricio get hurt. As the most experienced among the candidates (aside from Joey Wendle), it’s easy to see how Baty ends up coming away as the winner of the hot corner battle even if Mauricio makes a miraculous return.

But there are some problems with Baty. Plenty of them. He hasn’t been good enough on offense to excuse his terrible defense. It would be one thing for the Mets to run him out onto the field each day and know there’s a good chance he makes up for any lackluster defense with a big hit. He’s too uncertain on both sides of the ball right now.

Could Baty possibly lose his roster spot entirely before Opening Day? The previous regime wasn’t afraid to demote him. We shouldn’t expect the current one to have any attachment. He’d have to be unplayable to begin the year anywhere else but in the majors. The Mauricio injury basically guarantees him a longer leash.

Baty has miles to go before proving he should be the starting third baseman. And if he’s not starting at third base, does he have much of a role at all?