Going Baty
Morning Dose: Thursday, July 23
☀️ Good Morning:
A day after highlighting reasons for optimism in this forsaken franchise, 2026 reared its ugly head again, the season that always disappoints.
That’s Brett Baty, lost and out of position, turning what should have been an inning-ending fly ball into a two-run triple, ruining Christian Scott’s day on the mound and leading to another loss.
This is the 2026 Mets. Somehow purposefully putting themselves in positions to fail. It started in the offseason with the decision to acquire players who didn’t naturally fit the roster. It has continued during the season with decisions to play guys where they don’t belong.
Andy Green had a short bench on Wednesday:
Luis Robert is being eased back into action after returning from the IL.
Juan Soto is taking 48 hours to heal his calf injury.
That left an open outfield spot next to the kids.
It didn’t leave Green without a logical choice.
Tyrone Taylor is sitting on that bench, a player the Mets might want to continue to build value in ahead of the trade deadline, a player who is hitting .375 over his last 19 plate appearances.
Instead, Green called on Baty because he is left-handed, which proved to be the right call against the right-handed Logan Henderson (Baty homered in the fifth, while Taylor is hitting .175 against righties), but resulted (literally) in a wrong turn in the outfield.
“I think he had a good jump on it, good bead on it,” Green said of Baty’s route to Joey Ortiz’s game-changing fly ball. “Just righty hitting the ball to right field on the track. Ball tails on you quite a bit, and tailed a little more than he expected.”
Run prevention, folks.
