MILWAUKEE — The pause button was pressed on Brett Baty’s sizzling minor league start Tuesday, when the third baseman departed his game for Triple-A Syracuse with right thumb soreness.
Baty will receive imaging on the thumb Wednesday and be reevaluated.
It’s the same thumb on which Baty underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament last September, ending his season after a brief call-up to the Mets.
Buck Showalter indicated he didn’t have further info on Baty as the Mets prepared to face the Brewers at American Family Field.
But from the manager’s perspective it was a good sign that Baty continued his at-bat after his thumb was examined and he remained in the game to run the bases.
In four games, Baty owns a .400/.471/.867 slash line with two homers and five RBIs for Syracuse.
It comes after Baty had a strong spring with the Mets and appeared in position to unseat Eduardo Escobar as the starting third baseman.
But Baty was optioned to Triple-A late in camp, as general manager Billy Eppler cited the need for the 23-year-old to receive additional repetitions at third base.
As it stands, the Mets have received underwhelming early results from Escobar, who returned to the starting lineup Tuesday after coming off the bench a day earlier. Escobar entered play with an .063/.118/.063 slash line, with seven strikeouts in his first 16 at-bats of the season.
Brett Baty appeared to hurt his right hand during the Syracuse Mets’ game on Tuesday. MiLB“We’re working every day and we’re out here trying to make adjustments,” Escobar said. “We want better results at the moment, but at the same time you can’t go crazy because you’re not getting the results right away. Just go out there and continue working and hope you get the results.”
Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo were among the other Mets starters off to slow starts.
From that group including Escobar, only Nimmo didn’t participate in the World Baseball Classic.
But Escobar doesn’t believe the tournament and the disruption it caused to his spring routine has been a factor in his struggles.
“I think this could have happened to anybody had we stayed in camp,” Escobar said. “For me, this is always how I have been in my career. I have always been a slow starter so at the right moment everything will play the way it needs to play out and we’ll just go from there.”
Escobar’s best work with the Mets came late in last season, for which he received National League Player of the Month honors for September.
But Escobar was largely a disappointment over the first five months of last season after arriving on a two-year contract worth $20 million.
The 34-year-old infielder is well-respected in the clubhouse, but that will only take him so far if he doesn’t begin to produce.
Brett Baty left the Syracuse Mets’ game after appearing to hurt his hand on a swing. MiLBOther than Baty, the Mets also have Mark Vientos as a potential third-base option.
Vientos has been playing first base for Syracuse, with Baty receiving the starts at third.
Escobar is confident he will emerge from his early doldrums and begin contributing.
“It’s really about me trusting my hands at not jumping at the ball, which I have been doing the last couple of days,” Escobar said. “I have been really focusing in the cage on trying to relax and trying to take the pitches that I want.
“It’s about hitting the ball hard and getting quality at-bats. Fans want us to get a hit every single time up there, but it’s not necessarily about the results. It’s a process and just the day-by-day routine so when you get to the plate you are actually having quality at-bats.”
