Father Knows Best

Behind the scenes with Brett Baty’s dad

Good Morning,

2023 won’t be a perfect season for the Mets. I know, I know, it’s hard to believe after an offseason full of splurges, fluffy quotes, and bigger scoreboards, and following an early spring with moonshot home runs by everyone’s favorite prospects.

Yes, the Mets will run into challenges this year. And the first comes in the form of a “small stress fracture” in the fifth rib of José Quintana’s left side. The Mets provided no timeline for his return as he travels to New York for further imaging.

As I said in our subscriber chat yesterday, I try not to Google when my kids get sick, so I should follow the same rule for the Mets. But it’s hard not to be discouraged looking up timelines associated with rib injuries. Chris Sale suffered a similar injury last spring and was sidelined until July. The Amazins would be fortunate to have Quintana back in April.

Luckily, starting pitching depth is one of this team’s strengths. If David Peterson is truly only day-to-day after suffering a foot contusion over the weekend, Buck Showalter has several immediate options to replace Quintana in the rotation.

The Mets were reportedly planning on giving their top starters extra rest by sneaking in starts from their depth early in the season. It will be interesting to see how committed they remain to that plan if they suffer another injury before Opening Day.

Having caught you up on Quintana, we have a special newsletter for you this morning! Brett Baty’s dad (and one-time coach) Clint joins us to chat about going viral after his son’s first home run, what it was like to follow the Carlos Correa sweepstakes, Brett’s defense and how he would handle left field if called upon.

Of course, we will catch you up on what else happened around the league and point you to some interesting links, but let’s jump right into Blake Zeff’s conversation with Clint Baty. The transcript was lightly edited for clarity.

🍎 METS FIX:

OK, my first question might be a little bit corny. As a dad, I saw the clip of you at Brett's debut (see below), where he hit that home run in the first at bat, and I got emotional for you, watching you and your family see such an amazing thing happen. I thought, they must have been through so many baseball practices over the years. So many ups and downs. Have you actually watched the video footage of you and your family seeing Brett's first home run?

John DeMarsico @JohnDeMarsico

The uncut footage of Brett Baty's family reacting to his first career Home Run needs to be seen. Enjoy.

CLINT BATY:

Well, we have watched it. But we've only watched it through the social media outlets. We have yet to sit down and rewatch the entirety of the first game. But yeah, it was just a lot of emotion spilling out of a lot of hard work, and what an exciting time for him. And just being able to share that with him was just awesome. And had a lot of family and close friends there that also made it even more special. 

But as you go through life, there's just some things that only happen once that you don't want to miss out on. And, you know, you're only going to get to the big leagues for the first time and play your first game one time because everything after that is, it's just the second or third time or whatever it might be, but we're just glad we got to share that with him.