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Mets' Brett Baty makes first career start at shortstop: 'It serves a purpose for 2027'
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- Mets' Brett Baty makes first career start at shortstop: 'It serves a purpose for 2027'
With both the Mets and Nationals having nothing to play for in the dog days of the season, it gives both clubs an opportunity to shake it up and test some things out with an eye towards next year.
That's why the Mets will be giving Brett Baty a look at shortstop in Saturday afternoon's contest.
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"Where the season is right now, for us, this serves a purpose for 2027," manager Andy Greensaid. "Brett has been incredibly valuable bouncing around the field from a roster-construction prospective, as you look towards the future his ability to defend at short when Francisco[ Lindor] needs a day off gives us flexibility if it's a viable solution.
"These games don't have playoff implications for either team, so we don't feel like we're necessarily shorting the industry by doing it at this point in time, and it serves a purpose for us towards the future."
Baty has appeared at shortstop three times this year, but this will be his first career start at the position.
The 26-year-old infielder has continued taking groundballs out there throughout this season, and that's something that Green and the Mets expect to carry into spring training next year.
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"Very much so," the skipper said. "I've had the privilege of coaching a lot of really good big-league infielders, [bench coach] Kai[ Correa] has, and [third base coach] Tim Leiperhas as well -- we all see in him the athleticism necessary to defend the field there on a fill-in basis -- Brett's incredibly athletic."
Baty will also continue to see reps in the outfield, despite the emergence of Carson Bengeand A.J. Ewingreally digging into his playing time out there.
"Brett very much could still slide to the outfield depending on what happens," Green emphasized. "You look around baseball and the best teams have someone like this who has the athleticism to do all of these things -- he's found a great measure of comfort at that as the year has gone on and we've seen his bat wake up and get loud.
"A loud bat for someone who can defend all over the field is incredibly invaluable -- you never know what hole you are going to have fill from different injuries in a season, so him being prepared to fill as many holes as possible for us could set us up really well heading into next year."
Baty has now added 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, and RF to his toolbox.
