Predicting when Brett Baty will make his major league debut

New York Mets prospect Brett Baty has made lots of noise in the minor leagues to start the season, and Mets fans are wondering when his call to the show will take place. Let’s scrutinize his current standing as a prospect and when a potential major league and Mets debut may come. Will his debut come the same time as his childhood friend Garrett Wilson’s with the New York Jets in September? Or will the No. 2 prospect in the Mets’ system see his time come after this season?

Baty already has accolades to make a debut soon for the Mets

Baty, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, has already participated in an All Star Futures Game and the Arizona Fall League, and is already a consensus top-50 prospect in all of baseball. He ascended into Double-A as a 21-year-old last season after making quick work of the High-A level in just two months.

The quick development of his game turned heads in the minors, as he went from the 94th best prospect on Jonathan Mayo’s list on MLB.com in 2021 to No. 27 prior to this season, (now up to 26th) so the trendlines have stayed upward.

Baty’s bat has cooled off considerably after a rollicking start in Double-A, however, and the Mets would like to see the numbers go up soon

Baty’s first two weeks of the season had fans excited that he could be assigned to Triple-A Syracuse sooner than people could have hoped for. So much so was it that as of April 23, he batted .378 with 17 hits in 45 at-bats and a .994 OPS. And any chance he had of a 2022 big league debut required a start like that for him to gain confidence with his bat.

But his last 14 games have told another story. Baty is hitting just .160 with 8 hits in 50 at-bats and a .520 OPS, although he has occasionally hit into hard luck outs.

However, he has drawn eight walks in that stretch, so his patience at the plate is certainly something that has been working for him in this stretch. And he had a couple of hard-luck lineouts along the way too.

And he also made some fine defensive plays at third base since then too.

What the Mets need to see out of Baty this year is to see his raw power, which is among the best in the minor leagues, and see it translate into success during games. And that might take longer than people anticipate. Let’s remember, though that Pete Alonso’s incredible power needed time to be major league ready, too, and it is not a place or time to panic since Baty is 22 years old.

However, Baty is eligible for the Rule 5 draft this upcoming winter if he is not added to the 40-man roster before the deadline in November, so decisions need to be made on that front.

So, with all these considerations added up, Baty is a good bet to make his major league debut during the first half of the 2023 season.