The New York Mets have announced third baseman Brett Baty has been named the Mets 2022 Minor Leauge Player of the Year. This marks the first time since 2017 a Mets Minor League Player of the Year made his Major League debut. In that year, Dominic Smith made his debut.
One interesting factoid is the past three Mets Minor League Players of the Year made their Major League debuts this season. In addition to Baty, Francisco Álvarez (2021) and Mark Vientos (2019) made their debuts. With the pandemic, there was no 2020 winner as there was no 2020 minor league season.
Moreover, every winner of the award since 2017 appeared in game for the Mets this season. In addition to the aforementioned players, Pete Alonso was the 2018 winner of the award.
With respect to Baty, he earned the award and the promotion with a very strong season. The Mets 2019 first round draft pick (12th overall) hit .315/.410/.533 with 22 doubles, 19 home runs, and 60 RBIs in 95 games between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse.
Baty really put himself on the path for this award starting in June. After a slow start to the season, he got hot and stayed hot. From June 1 until his promotion to the majors, Baty hit .352/.444/.604 with 10 doubles, 16 homers, and 50 RBI. Of course, his most notable moment of the season was his homering in his first Major League at-bat:
Can you script this any better? Brett Baty goes yard in his first career MLB at-bat.
A two-run shot to right field.
4-0 #Mets, top 2. pic.twitter.com/j3kCJkxrPk
— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) August 17, 2022
Baty entered the season as MMN‘s second ranked Mets prospect. He is currently the 18th overall prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline.
Unfortunately for Baty, his season ended in late August when he tore the UCL in his left thumb. While it cost him the rest of the season, all indications are he will be ready for the start of the 2023 season. If so, he should enter the 2023 season as one of the favorites for the National League Rookie of the Year award.
