Oh Where, Oh Where Can Brett Baty Be?

The FanGraphs Newsletter, March 7, 2023 [READ IN BROWSER]( March 7, 2023 Hi there! Ordinarily, a consensus top-25 prospect (Baty is no. 23 on the FanGraphs Top 100) would be given quite a bit of runway to earn a starting spot in the majors on any team. But the Mets, even after failing to bring Carlos Correa into the fold over the winter, have a strong incumbent third baseman in Eduardo Escobar. Escobar is coming off back-to-back 2-WAR seasons; in fact, he’s eclipsed the 2-WAR threshold in every 162-game season dating back to 2018. He also has a $10 million hit against the competitive balance tax and a $9 million club option for 2024. This isn’t some anonymous journeyman fifth infielder Baty has to dislodge; Escobar is a real player. So what does Baty have to do in order to make that happen? Well, so far, he’s hitting quite well. Baty is 8-for-17 with a double and a home run in Grapefruit League play; he’s put 13 balls in play, of which Baseball Savant has exit velo data for 11. Six of those were hit at 90 mph or more, including three at 99.8, 107.4, and 109.9. (It’s worth noting that Baty’s home run was not among the batted balls with a listed exit velo.) [Oh Where, Oh Where Can Brett Baty Be, by Michael Baumann]( [Rodgers Out, Moustakas In as Rockies Are Forced to Rearrange the Infield]( The Rockies have an infield full of question marks following a serious injury to their Gold Glove second baseman. | by Leo Morgenstern [Max Scherzer Tests the Limit of the New Pitch Clock Rules]( The three-time Cy Young winner has embraced the new rules, and the mistakes he's made in trying to figure them out. | by Jay Jaffe [Brendan Donovan, but With Homers?]( Has the slap-hitting utilityman unlocked some thump? | by Alex Eisert [Rockies Add Hand to Collection of Unusual Left-Handers]( Is the three-time All-Star just going to get shelled in Coors Field, or can he adapt to find success the way one of his new teammates has? | by Michael Baumann [New York Yankees Top 44 Prospects]( The Yankees continue to be great at developing pitchers, but the middle of the system is thin on position players. | by Eric Longenhagen 🎧 [EFFECTIVELY WILD EPISODE 1977: Season Preview Series: Blue Jays and Royals]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [The Pitcher’s Dilemma: Applying Game Theory to Pitching Decisions]( by Dylan Drummey, Pitcher List [World Baseball Classic 2023: Ranking the top 50 players]( by David Schoenfield, ESPN [What You Need to Know About March’s Best Sports Tournament, the World Baseball Classic]( by Zach Kram, The Ringer [Can a Czech Firefighter Compete With M.L.B.’s Biggest Stars?]( by David Waldstein and Nina Riggio, NY Times [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2023 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](