As the third week of the 2023 regular season begins, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today.
1. Baty to be recalled:
The Mets are reportedly poised to call up top prospect Brett Baty later today, prior to the club’s 9:10pm CT game against the Dodgers. Baty, 23, has torn up Triple-A in the early going this season to the tune of a .400/.500/.866 slash line. Of course, the club will have to make a move to make room for Baty on the active roster, though he does already have a 40-man roster spot.
The club’s only optionable bat (beyond stars Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, both of whom are locked into the everyday lineup) is Luis Guillorme, leaving the option of sending him to Triple-A one potential route. The Mets could also have an injury they’ve not yet made known, which would pave the way for an IL stint to open that roster spot. Outside of that, it’s possible the club could designate a player like outfielder Tim Locastro or even struggling third baseman Eduardo Escobar, who figures to lose substantial playing time to Baty, for assignment.
2. Fried set to return:
Rotation reinforcements are coming in Atlanta, as ace Max Fried is poised to return from the 15-day injured list today to make this evening’s 8:40pm CT start against the Padres. Fried suffered a hamstring strain on Opening Day and left his first start of the season early. Now that Fried is set to rejoin the team, the rotation appears to be set, with right-hander Bryce Elder settling into the fifth spot over rookies Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd after he impressed with a 1.53 ERA over 17 2/3 innings while filling in for Fried.
Throughout the early part of the season, the Braves have been able to utilize a nine-man bullpen by carefully managing their roster so only four starters are on the active roster at a time. With Fried’s activation, the club’s ability to do that seems set to come to an end, meaning the roster move to make space for Fried could shed some light on the club’s preferred bullpen structure when able to utilize eight relievers.
3. Rangers to unveil City Connect uniforms:
The Rangers are expected to unveil their City Connect uniforms today, following the Braves’ announcement earlier in the month. Later in the season, the Mariners, Reds, Orioles, and Pirates are expected to announce City Connect uniforms, joining 14 clubs that had unveiled jerseys of their own over the past two seasons. The Rangers unveil their jerseys as the club is out to one of its best starts since the team’s most recent playoff run back in 2016, with the club currently 9-6 with a 1.5 game lead in the AL West. You can read more about the jerseys unveiling and related promotions here.
Battered, fried Rangers?
Blue Bell (Texas) fried ice cream
yep. I’m from Texas and this would do it lol
It’s what’s fer supper.
Can’t wait for the first high chopper to head to Baty with the entire game on the line and it goes off the glove and bounces into LF as two runs come in
His name ain’t Matt Glovie for a reason I suppose
And the bottom line is crucial defensive plays come up at least 3 times a game at 3B
But the amount of crucial at bats is barely 1 per week
I like how you just made this up and it’s not even remotely correct.
Actually, it is correct, if you understand what’s going on in baseball
Having an 80 OPS+ hitter in the lineup vs 130 OPS+ hitter doesn’t significantly effect the outcome as much as people think
The difference between a .220 hitter and .300 hitter is only 8 more hits per 100 at bats, and most if not all of those are in situations that don’t matter
Even if your 80 OPS+ hitter gets a lead off single, it’s likely the other hitters won’t get him in. A .300 hitter with the bases loaded represents only an 8% better chance of a hit than a .220 hitter
Assuming you have enough offense at other positions, having 1 or 2 defense-first players in the lineup will not be negative
The 86 Mets won 108 games with Rafael Santana at SS. Santana had a 52 OPS+ that year
The upgrade offensively of Baty over Escobar will be totally insignificant, meanwhile the downgrade on 3B defense will have a profound, immediate negative effect
It is a guarantee that they will lose more games with Baty
Alvarez has been up a few games and out of all his at bats only 1 at bat was important, and that was only in a tie game. Extremely few at bats the entire game is on the line. Meanwhile, 2 or 3 times a game the entire game hinges on the 3B making a play. If Escobar didn’t field that tough high chopper yesterday they lose the game
And don’t forget that in baseball, a guy hitting .200 does not represent a dramatic downgrade over the MVP in the league
In other words, Mike Trout or Bryce Harper are probably not coming through either
Just like Santana, Escobar stint with the Mets will be short and will be replaced by a better younger option.
Lol what?
How does this show that there are 3x as many crucial plays at 3rd than ABs?
Also why do you think the difference between a 300 hitter and a 220 hitter is the same thing as the difference between a 150 OPS+ and an 80 OPS+?
And why do you think that 3B defense is early as important as SS defense?
No, defend what you actually said. You said, “crucial defensive plays come up AT LEAST 3 times a game at 3B.” which is not accurate, unless EVERY play at 3B makes a game is “crucial” in your eyes. Arenado averages roughly about 100 putouts and 300 assists a year. He plays around 150 games a year. If you’re right, then he should be recording an out AT LEAST 450 plays a year resulting in an out. And he’s the best defensive 3B and he’s not even meeting your minimum threshold. Machado averages even less.
You’re also stating that a 3B only gets 1 crucial AB a week, which again is laughable. It’s two weeks into the season (16 games) and Arenado already has 22 ABs with RISP, (10 with 2 outs). So again, you are not even remotely close.
I’m not even going to touch the rest of your BS as 80 OPS + vs 130 OPS+. lol.
And Baty (yes, in limited playing time) had a better advanced fielding metrics than Escobar last year.
You’re too hung up on numbers. I can’t believe I’m saying this because he’s the worst defensive catcher in baseball, but Grandalwas hitting .100 when he batted with me. on base and actually got a hit. He’s been hitting pretty well since then. As for 3b defense, it’s possible that the ball won’t be hit to the third baseman even on e in a game. It’s happened more than once. Statistics be damned.
Rod, it’s huge. Not making a play at 3B and the pitcher has to get 4 outs instead of 3. It has a dramatic effect on the entire team, thousands times more than a batter who can’t hit
The main reason the Mets won 101 games last year and entered the elite strata is not having JD Davis at 3B
Santana had 88 complete games at SS that season out of 111 starts. They took him out of the game for a better bat in crucial situations in more than 20% of his starts. In those limited innings he played, he touched the ball twice as many times as any 3B did in 2023. He did not have the ball hit to him even twice per game with men on base.
In 550 PA, the difference between 130 OPS+ and 80 OPS+ is 140 TB. As a DH, so no defense, 130 OPS+ is around 3 WAR. As a 3B with an 18 DRS, 80 OPS+ is around a 1.6 WAR. So if your 3B is as good as Nolan Arenado with the glove he will still only have a 1.6 WAR with an 80 OPS+, while your 3B could have as bad of a glove as Escobar and with a 130 OPS+ they are still a 3.0 WAR player.
I think it’s interesting that you are already projecting Baty as a 130 OPS+ bat.
I’d have upvoted this if you weren’t one of those truthers who claim Arrenado is a better defensive 3B than KeBryan Hayes.
That’s because he is. Hayes has had one season where he beat Arenado slightly in advance fielding metrics. The rest belong to Arenado, who has also played much longer.
So you’re saying its the same as not making a play at any other position. Good thing 3b gets fewer opps than any other IF position.
Since the top third basemen in baseball are averaging around two assists a game it would seem like you really are just making stuff up. Baty is the Mets third baseman for the next decade. His time is over due for the Mets to pencil him in to the lineup every day. Escobar is not needed by the Mets anymore as Guillerme will be the back up third basemen. Vientos and Mauricio need to be on this roster very soon as well. Vogelbach and Locastro spots will soon be taking by these two. The future is now.
Vientos…haha…he will never stick in the majors
That’s what was said about Alonso too. Vientos and Alonso have fairly the same minor league stats.
No, that was never said about Alonso. Alonso didn’t project as the typical low babip high k type. There was always going to be contact hitting with Alonso
They called up Vientos last year and he did exactly what was expected. K’ed a lot and didn’t hit for average
BAbip is not something you project. Alonso’s biggest knock in the minors was his strike out rate.
Just curious, do you get everything wrong on purpose?
Escobar played in 117 games at 3B. The ball was hit in his direction 287 times. Less than 3 times per game. 89 times with men on base. Its possible but not likely that all 89 times were in crucial situations.
That is fairly typical for 3B. Not only do they not have to make 3 crucial plays per game, they don’t make 3 plays at all per game.
Baseball, sometimes yes it never gets hit to third. Yesterday, there were 2 very difficult, absolutely crucial plays Escobar made that a lot of other 3Bs probably would not make routinely as Escobar does
Escobar makes those plays almost all the time. That’s the difference
Escobar is a butcher at 3B. -11 DRS last season. He has only one season in his career where he was even league average and that was 7 years ago. It’s been all downhill from there.
Serious question, do you get everything wrong on purpose?
And the amount of times he would actually misplay the ball compared to an average 3b are minute
At least with the game on the line and the bases loaded he won’t ground into a double play. Baty will be a massive upgrade over Escobar.
Not really. Baty will likely ground into more double plays than Escobar
And if Baty came up in that same situation, he probably would not have come through either
That’s baseball. Most of the time, the hitter is going to fail
When I played baseball they put me at 3B. And I was upset. I was thinking why am I not the shortstop. That’s the premier position
But then I realized 3B is the most important position for defense. There are always toppers, slow rollers, sharp grounders. And the throw is harder. The coach put me at 3B because I was the best player they had
The hardest position player to find by far is a 3B. But if you have a poor defensive 3B it’s a nightmare scenario
Except the Mets would probably have two more wins if they went with Baty over Escobar on opening day. I don’t know how anyone would defend Escobar at this point. Good guy but has been a massive let down in New York. He will be out of baseball by next year.
catcher is 100% the hardest position. good try hunny.
No they wouldn’t. It would actually be 8-8 instead of 10-6, or worse
There were so many plays at 3B Escobar handled that Baty might not have handled
The upgrade in offense Baty provides does not do anything to effect the outcome
Fans don’t grasp that if you lose Bryce Harper for the season it really makes no difference
It’s only when you lose multiple players that it begins to matter
Again, if one hitter has a .400 OBP, and the other .320, there’s only an 8% better chance of getting on base. Over 100 plate appearances, the one guy gets on base only 8 more times than the other guy
Yea definitely, they put you there cuz you were too good for SS. That was it
8 times every 100 PAs is relevant
Yeah, probably. I made the all-star team a couple times. At first I thought I was slighted but then realized the coach was smart and put the better fielder at 3B instead of SS
Not really. Of those 8 PA’s, probably none of them are in spots that matter
Even Trout will not come through most of the time. Not being able to make a defensive play has much more impact than not coming through in an at bat
Trust me. I’ve run thousands of baseball simulations for decades. If you interchange an 80 OPS+ hitter for an MVP player it doesn’t swing the pendulum at all
It’s only when you lose multiple good offense players that it matters
“No they wouldn’t. It would actually be 8-8 instead of 10-6, or worse”
If you think Escobar with his 10 OPS+ and slightly above average defense has been worth two more wins than Baty would have been, then you are too far gone, dude. Escobar has been one of the worst every day players in the league. And he’s especially struggled in crucial at bats with the game on the line: in games where the run differential is +/- 1 run, he’s got two singles and a walk in 23 PAs (.095/.136/.095/.232 slash).
Your coach was just being kind.
@Camden And how old were you when you landed on the All-Star Team ?? 11. And who was your Little League coach, your Dad? And please counter BasebalsLife’s arguments to your psychobabble number crunching. I don’t think you have anything going for you here; your 8 million baseball simulations don’t mean what you think they mean.
The overwhelming majority of the City connect jerseys have looked terrible. Hopefully the Rangers can break that trend.
I can’t understand all the online love for the Rockies “Quaker State pit crew” uniforms. I absolutely hated them last season, although they are not AS bad since they ditched the solid green pants for white pants this year. Still they are not the Rockies.
The only one that I’ve seen that’s decent is the Angels. The rest are terrible.
They didn’t.
1.. Guy’s raking in AAA. He should mash MLB pitching. All the best to his success in the majors.
2. Welcome back!
3. I like the top of the jersey and hat but the black pants don’t look right. They should have went all white/beige.
It’s ok. In a month when Baty has a .650 OPS the Mets can send him back down. They just needed to call him up to not disturb the natural progression of his development
All the prospect worshippers will sleep better knowing they called Baty up