Baty and Kranick impress in spring.

Posted by: Patrick Gorman 03/02/2025

It is now officially March which means we will be getting meaningful Mets games this month which is very exciting. Speaking of excitement, there are a couple of players that are standing out this spring as well. I narrowed it down to the players who have a legitimate shot of making the 26-man roster so I am excluding guys like Brandon Sproat and Blade Tidwell.

The first player that came in my head is pitcher Max Kranick who at first was fighting for a bullpen spot, but with the injury to Manaea he very well could be fighting for a spot in the rotation. Kranick so far has thrown five scoreless innings with a fastball that is topping out at 97 MPH. Along with the fastball Kranick has developed breaking pitches such as his curveball and slider that are generating high chase% and whiff%. With the Mets signing Jose Urena to a minor league deal it seems to me that they are possibly going to stretch out Kranick as a potential starter.

The second player is of course the man who has seemed to own spring training and that is Brett Baty. Baty seems to be playing with a lot more conviction this year as he is fighting for the last bench spot on the roster with Luis Angel Acuna and Donovan Walton. Baty right now is running away with the competition as he is hitting the cover off the ball. Baty so far has a 1.648 OPS with 2 HRS and the biggest improvement is that his line drive rate went up to 37.50% compared to last year's 16.96%. The sample size is extremely small, but it is very promising to see from the former first round draft pick. I know a lot of reporters predict Walton to get the final spot because he can play SS, but when your SS is Francisco Lindor who plays everyday there is no necessary need for a clear backup SS. In my opinion, this role is Baty's job to lose and he is running away with it.