Laura Albanese: Mets need to play defenders at their best positions
Brett Baty and Bo Bichette of the Mets high-five after the final out against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on Sunday in Anaheim, Calif. Credit: Getty Images/Jayne Kamin-Oncea
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Clay Holmes worked his way through the Angels’ order with his usual business-like precision — weak contact, groundouts, a few strikeouts here and there. He’s the picture of stability on a very unstable team.
And despite the losing record, the rampant injuries and an offense so anemic that it needs an intravenous iron infusion, on Sunday, the Mets cosplayed as a reasonably consistent team, too.
Sure, Ronny Mauricio broke his left thumb a night earlier, but manager Carlos Mendoza simply moved Bo Bichette to shortstop and had Brett Baty start at his natural third base position — the second time Baty has done so this season.
The defense flowed well, Mark Vientos hit two homers in the 5-1 win over the Angels, and for only the 12th time in 34 games this year, the Mets got to leave a ballpark happy.
Mostly, they didn’t make winning look impossible.
It’s not always going to be like this — it certainly helps that the 13-22 Angels aren’t exactly blowing opponents away — but maybe there’s something to be said for stability. They’ve had it in Holmes, whose 1.69 ERA is second best in the National League, but it’s largely been absent from a lineup in which they have used four different shortstops, three different third basemen and a revolving door of corner outfielders.
Before the game, Mendoza said the situation at shortstop will be “fluid” and matchup-based. The team called up light-hitting Vidal Brujan and Mendoza said he intends to mix and match, moving Bichette back to third as needed and peppering Baty throughout the field.
But maybe, just maybe, the Mets should consider the novel approach of keeping players at the positions they play best.
When the Mets first introduced Bichette at Citi Field, president of baseball operations David Stearns noted that there would be times that they technically would have four shortstops populating their infield — Bichette, Marcus Semien, Francisco Lindor and Jorge Polanco.
It was meant to be a good thing: anyone who’s so much as played Little League knows that the most athletic players go to short. It also highlighted Stearns’ continued focus on positional versatility — something best typified in Baty, who has played four positions this season.
But that hasn’t worked out incredibly well. The Mets, who came into the year with a focus on “run prevention,” nonetheless have showcased a defensively subpar infield — minus-2 fielding run value — made even weaker by Lindor’s absence (worth two extra runs with his glove alone this year).
Baty’s best position (by far) is third, and he showed it when he began a nifty double play in the first, allowing Holmes to scurry out of a laborious inning and eventually pitch into the seventh. Though Bichette committed a borderline error on a tough grounder in the seventh, he also flashed some leather on the previous play, backhanding a ball deep in the hole and making the long throw to nail Vaughn Grissom at first.
Meanwhile, an outfield with MJ Melendez and Carson Benge at the corners likely saved two runs. Melendez made a diving catch with a runner on first in the sixth and Benge laid out to make a stunning grab on Grissom’s sharp liner in the ninth — a play Baty would have been less likely to make.
Still, Mendoza maintained that he intends to stay flexible.
“We played a pretty good game defensively,” he said. “But again, Bo has been pretty good at third and Brett has been pretty good pretty much everywhere we put him.”
It goes beyond that, though. The Mets’ offense continues to be among the worst in baseball, and whether they want to or not, players can bring one half-inning to the next.. Keeping them at their natural positions could help ease some of the mental load.
Mendoza didn’t think this was a factor for Baty, who entered the day hitting .207.
“I don’t think” sticking at third will influence Baty’s offense either way, Mendoza said. “He handled the role very well. He’s a pro, he knows how to prepare, but he’s super-familiar with that position. Maybe he gets comfortable there, but he’s going to continue to move around the infield and the outfield — like I said, [it’s] matchup-based, who’s in the lineup, who’s available, but I don’t see it that way.”
While that may be the case, Baty showed how valuable he can be last year, when he earned an everyday role largely because he proved he could hit lefthanded pitching.
Brujan, a career .199 batter who hit well in 60 major-league games last year, historically has been a subpar defender at shortstop and slots in better as a backup or a bench option against lefthanded relievers.
Bichette said he’s happy to play wherever he’s needed. He proved as much last season, when the Blue Jays moved him to second base during the playoffs, and this offseason, when he opted to sign with the Mets despite knowing he’d be sent to third. But though he’s looked good at his new position, he remains their best option at shortstop for the time being.
And isn’t that kind of what it’s all about? Though it’s only May, the Mets have very little margin for error, and that means eliminating as many variables as possible.
For his part, their most consistent member seemed to like . . . well, the consistency.
“We made some great plays in the outfield today and especially a guy like me, I need the defense,” said Holmes, a tried-and-true contact pitcher. “Brett back at third and Bo there at short, it’s just good to see. There’s a lot of confidence in those guys and so, for me, it’s like, man, the more plays they make, the more I can kind of feed off it. It’s fun pitching in front of them.”
He should get the chance to do more of it.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
