When the New York Mets signed Bo Bichette this winter, it immediately changed the plan for Brett Baty. The team made a big move to win right now, and bringing in a star infielder means someone has to shift around. For Baty, that means packing up his bags at third base and learning how to play the outfield. This is a good problem to have for a team looking to contend. It gives them more depth and puts their best hitters on the field. But it also puts a lot of pressure on a young player to learn a new position on the fly.
The Call From The Front Office
Baty actually knew about the move before it happened. He recently talked to SNY and explained that the front office reached out to him right away. He spent the whole offseason grinding at third base to get better. He wanted to be the everyday guy at the hot corner.
Then they signed Bichette. But the team called him before the ink was even dry. They told him they still want his bat in the lineup every day. They just don’t know exactly where those at-bats will come from yet. The front office believes he is versatile enough to play all over the diamond. It shows a lot of respect from the management to keep him in the loop like that. It also shows they believe in his bat.
So now he has to figure out the outfield. With Bichette and Francisco Lindor locking down the left side of the infield, the corner outfield spots are his clearest path to playing time. Playing the outfield is a lot different than taking grounders at third. But the analytics suggest he has the tools to make it work.
If you look at his 2025 Baseball Savant page, his sprint speed is only in the 38th percentile. He is not going to burn past anyone on the basepaths. But his defensive range at third base was actually solid. He ranked in the 70th percentile for Outs Above Average last year. That shows he has the instincts and reaction time to track down baseballs. He just needs to translate that to tracking fly balls instead of line drives.
Why Brett Baty’s Bat Belongs In The Lineup
The main reason the team wants him to learn the outfield is simple. He finally figured things out at the plate last year. If you look at his 2025 FanGraphs stats, he put together a really solid season. He played in 130 games and hit 18 home runs. He finished with a .254 batting average and a .748 OPS. He also posted a 111 wRC+, which means he was 11 percent better than the average major league hitter. That is a massive jump from his struggles in 2023 and 2024.
He proved he belongs in the big leagues. You simply cannot leave a bat like that on the bench. The team knows they need his offensive production to make a deep run this summer.
And the underlying numbers show his breakout was real. It was not just good luck. His Baseball Savant metrics show he hits the ball incredibly hard. He sat in the 86th percentile for bat speed last year. When he swings, he generates a ton of power. That led to an 80th percentile Barrel rate and a 72nd percentile Hard-Hit rate. He squares the ball up consistently.
He still chases pitches out of the zone a bit too much, and his whiff percentage is a little high. But when he makes contact, he does damage. His expected slugging percentage was right up there in the 70th percentile. This is exactly the kind of left-handed power the team needs to balance out the lineup.
Here is the thing. The transition will not be perfect right away. There will probably be a few dropped balls or missed cutoff men early in the year. Learning a new spot takes time and reps. But the payoff is absolutely worth the growing pains. If he can just be an average defender in left or right field, his bat makes him a highly valuable player.
The team clearly communicated their belief in him, and he seems willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win. If he keeps hitting the ball out of the yard, nobody will care if his outfield routes are a little shaky in April. Brett Baty will be a huge piece of the puzzle for this team moving forward.
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