Feb 12, 2025; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets third base Brett Baty (7) works during a Spring Training workout at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
There was a time when New York Mets fans believed Brett Baty was going to be the successor to David Wright and lead New York for the next decade-plus.
That now feels like a long time ago.
While it's unfair to slap a final label on Baty's MLB career right now given that he's still just 25 years old, the career .607 OPS he has produced across 544 career MLB at-bats to this point doesn't inspire a ton of optimism among the Mets' fanbase.
A player can't be considered a prospect forever. At some point, they need to become productive in the big leagues, or else any hype they once had will fade. And 2025 may be that vital point for Baty, as Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter listed him as one of '7 Former MLB Top Prospects Entering Make-or-Break 2025 Seasons' in a February 16 article.
"It was Brett Baty, not Mark Vientos, who was widely expected to be the third baseman of the future for the New York Mets during their time together in the minor leagues," Reuter wrote.
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"However, after Vientos put together a breakout 2024 season and Pete Alonso was re-signed, Baty is now without a clear path to playing time in the big leagues, and he will enter camp battling for a roster spot.
"He hit a lackluster .229/.306/.327 in 171 plate appearances last year, but beneath the surface made some modest improvements to his strikeout rate (28.0 to 24.6 percent) and walk rate (7.5 to 9.4 percent)," he continued of Baty.
"He could end up being a buy-low change-of-scenery candidate who gets his next shot with another team, but it's still too soon to rule out him eventually developing into an everyday third baseman."
It will be interesting to see how much of an opportunity Baty gets on a stacked Mets roster in 2025, or whether he may be playing for a new team by the season's end.