Mets' Brett Baty hopes improved approach will help him recover from lackluster start to season

Brett Baty is among the Mets' underperformers in a season full of disappointments. The former first-round pick broke out in 2025, but by FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement, he’s been a replacement-level player (0.0 fWAR) thus far in 2026.

Despite struggling for most of the first half of the season, the 26-year-old carried a 10-game hitting streak from late June into July and has a .286 batting average this month. Once the Mets (40-57) return following the All-Star break, Baty will look to continue recovering from a lackluster start to the season after showing promise a year ago.

“My approach is really good right now,” Baty said of what’s been different recently. “I'm up there almost hunting instead of being passive.”

After going 3-for-4 with a home run in the Mets’ loss to the Red Sox on Friday, Baty said he’s focusing on keeping his approach simple, hitting the ball hard, and not thinking too much about his swing.

Since beginning his 10-game hitting streak — which was snapped in the final two games before the All-Star break — on June 30, Baty has had a 48.6% hard-hit percentage, 11.4% barrel percentage and 93.2 mph average exit velocity across 45 at-bats.

For comparison, Baty registered a 37.4% hard-hit percentage, 8.2% barrel percentage and 88.8 mph average exit velocity across his first 245 at-bats this season. Baty had a .208 batting average in that span. He's hitting .221 for the season.

“I think he's trusting himself,” Mets interim manager Andy Green said Friday of Baty’s improved at-bats. “The game is hard, and if you're worried about making a mistake, it's going to eat you alive. And I see him as a person right now in the batter's box not worried about making a mistake, which is freeing him up to be the athlete that he is.”

After struggling in his first two big-league seasons, Baty posted a .254/.313/.435 slash line in 2025, and his 113 weighted runs created plus made him 13% above league average at the plate. His 2.3 fWAR was the fifth best among the Mets’ position players.

During the 2025 season, Baty’s hard-hit percentage (46.9%) ranked in the 72nd percentile in the majors, his barrel percentage (12.9%) ranked in the 80th percentile and average exit velocity (90.7 mph) ranked in the 64th percentile. He places in the 42nd, 55th and 53rd percentiles, respectively, this season.

Among 13 Mets with at least 100 plate appearances, Baty’s fWAR ranks 10th and his wRC+ (75) ranks 11th. The only players with a wRC+ above league average are Juan Soto (163), A.J. Ewing (122), Jared Young (109), Francisco Alvarez (106) and Carson Benge (106).

If Baty continues hitting the ball hard as he did heading into the All-Star break, he could become a valuable bat in a lineup desperate for more production.

“He's a gifted hitter, and it's good to see that come out for us as an organization, as a team,” Green said. “We need him to be what he can be, and he's doing that right now.”

With Mark Vientos out for 6-8 weeks and Marcus Semien on the injured list, there are open opportunities for Baty to receive playing time at first and second base. Additionally, Green noted it’s “incredibly valuable” that Baty can play the corner infield positions, corner outfield positions and second base. Before this year, Baty had never played first base or rightfield in the majors.

Regardless of where he slots defensively, the most important area Baty needs to improve is his power. A season after belting 18 home runs, he has four this year, and his isolated power — an advanced metric determined by subtracting a player’s batting average from their slugging percentage — is down from .181 to .093.

The good news for Baty is that, of late, he looked to have rediscovered his swing. And while the Mets' disappointing season may already be a foregone conclusion, seeing one of their young core players get back to form would be an encouraging sight.

“I’m really encouraged with the steps he's taken over the last couple weeks,” Green said. “He's putting in a lot of work, looking like the guy that we know he is.”