According to On SI’s Pat Ragazzo, New York has “checked in on” Yandy Díaz of the Tampa Bay Rays. Ragazzo added that this isn’t the first conversation the clubs have had regarding Díaz this offseason.

The 33-year-old hit .281/.341/.414 with 14 home runs, 65 RBIs, 120 wRC+ and 1.9 fWAR over 621 plate appearances in 2024. He was also one of the league’s most productive position players in 2023, winning the American League batting title as well as a Silver Slugger Award and earning his first-ever All-Star nod while slashing .330/.410/.522 to go with 22 homers, a 163 wRC+ and 5.0 fWAR.

Díaz, who owns an .806 OPS and 130 wRC+ across his eight-year major league career, will earn $10 million in 2025 and has a $12 million club option for the 2026 campaign.

Ragazzo previously reported that the Mets have shown interest in Spencer Torkelson and Ryan Mountcastle of the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles, respectively, while they wait for the Alonso situation to sort itself out. Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, posted a .669 OPS in 2024 after hitting 33 home runs the year prior while Mountcastle is coming off of a season in which he logged a .733 OPS and 1.5 fWAR.

Furthermore, Ragazzo stated that New York “likes” right-handed reliever Ryan Brasier, who was designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Dodgers this week. Over 29 outings for the club last season, he recorded a 3.54 ERA, 3.31 FIP and 25 strikeouts in 28 innings.

The post Report: Mets Expressing Interest in Yandy Díaz, Ryan Brasier appeared first on Metsmerized.

Right from the start, Francisco Lindor gave the Mets an early lead by smacking his sixth homer of the season off Ryan Pepiot, the Rays’ starter, putting New York ahead 2-0. The Mets’ offense shouldered much of the workload, with Brandon Nimmo and Omar Narváez contributing base hits, while D.J. Stewart drew a crucial bases-loaded walk, accounting for five runs. In the third inning, Starling Marte‘s line drive ricocheted off Pepiot, forcing the Rays’ starter to exit the game.

Pete Alonso had a tough outing, going hitless in five at-bats and grounding into a double play with runners in scoring position. The Mets stranded 13 runners in total, managing just four hits in 16 opportunities with runners in scoring position. Another area of struggle was in defense against stolen bases, as Tampa Bay successfully stole six bases, three against each of catchers Tomás Nido and Omar Narváez.

Luis Severino took the mound for the Mets and delivered a performance that was enough to keep his team in the game. Despite throwing 98 pitches, he surrendered four runs on four hits, tallying six strikeouts and six walks. Jorge López and Reed Garrett each pitched an inning, recording a strikeout apiece to maintain the tied score. Sean Reid-Foley entered the game in the eighth inning and benefited from a double play, as Starling Marte doubled off a Rays runner at first base on a fly ball to right field.

Edwin Díaz. Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports

Entering the game in the ninth, Edwin Díaz faced a critical moment but unfortunately surrendered a game-tying home run to Randy Arozarena with two outs. This marked Diaz’s first blown save since May 24, 2022.

In the top of the tenth, Brandon Nimmo hustled down the line to beat out an infield single, driving in Harrison Bader, who started as the ghost runner. Initially ruled out, an umpire review revealed that Rays’ first baseman Yandy Díaz hadn’t maintained possession of the ball, resulting in Nimmo being ruled safe at first.

Taking over on the mound the following frame, Jake Diekman encountered immediate trouble in the bottom of the tenth, allowing a walk and witnessing the ghost runner steal third base, setting up an instant rally for Tampa Bay. Diekman failed to record an out as Johnny DeLuca delivered a triple to center field, bringing home the two baserunners. Harrison Bader’s diving attempt to catch the ball fell short, rolling past him to the wall, allowing the runner from first to complete the score.

Francisco Lindor. Photo by Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Statistic of the Game: Edwin Díaz Blows First Save In Over A Year

Sunday saw Edwin Diaz’s consecutive save streak broken at 26 as he gave up a game-tying home run to Randy Arozarena. It’s his first blown save since May of 2022.

Player of The Game: Francisco Lindor

Francisco Lindor continued his hot hitting, as he went 2-for-6 with a home run and two RBIs. Lindor has slowly turned it on the last few weeks. This includes his two-double showing against the Cubs on Thursday.

On Deck

The Mets look to bounce back in the win column as they travel to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals on Monday night. Sean Manaea (1-1, 3.07 ERA) will take the mound for New York against Kyle Gibson (2-2, 3.79 ERA). First pitch is at 7:45 pm ET and will be broadcast on SNY and WCBS 880 AM.

The post Edwin Díaz Blows First Save Since 2022, Mets Swept By Rays appeared first on Metsmerized.

However, when Baty started the season red-hot at Triple-A, the team reversed course. They brought Baty up on April 17 and inserted him into the lineup primarily against right-handed pitchers. By May, he was starting virtually every day.

At first, Baty appeared to be doing nicely. In his first 30 at-bats, he had 10 hits, including a home run and a double. However, he also had 10 strikeouts at a 33.3% rate. When he started getting regular playing time, things appeared to get progressively worse. Here are his month-by-month splits from May through July:

• May: 98 PA, 87 AB, .207/.286/.356 (.642 OPS), 4 2B, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 9 BB (9.2%), 20 K (23%)
• June: 81 PA, 74 AB, .257/.321/.338 (.659 OPS), 3 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 7 BB (8.6%), 24 K (32.4%)
• July: 76 PA, 69 AB, .188/.233/.319 (.552 OPS), 3 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB (3.9%), 24 K (34.8%)

Not only has Baty struggled mightily at the plate, but his defense has also steadily deteriorated. He has -5 OAA, per FanGraphs, which is the second-worst among third basemen and in the 17th percentile among 127 qualified fielders, regardless of position. His -8 DRS is in the ninth percentile among fielders, and his -10.4 UZR/150 is in the eighth. In other words, Baty has been a nightmare at third base, too.

What happened to the Mets’ prospect? Why has he struggled so mightily? While he is far from the first talented prospect to scuffle in his rookie season, the Mets must identify the specific issues he faces in order to correct them at the minor-league level.

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Failure to Elevate

One of the chief concerns regarding Baty as a prospect was whether he could learn to elevate the ball. Despite his clear power potential, he had a high groundball rate even in the minors. Indeed, Baty has hit 51.8% of his batted balls on the ground in 2023, per Baseball Savant, which is the 15th-highest rate out of 188 hitters (min. 300 PA).

Now, this alone is not a recipe for failure. There are 24 batters with at least a 50% groundball rate. Here is their breakdown by OPS (per Baseball Reference, the league average in 2023 is .733):

• Below .680:  9 (37.5%)
• .680-.732: 4 (16.7%)
• .733-.785: 3 (12.5%)
• .786-.838: 4 (16.7%)
• .839+: 4 (16.7%)

Thirteen of the 24 hitters are below average and 11 are above. Eight of them could even be considered decently above average, and four well above average. Players like Juan Soto, Yandy Díaz, Christian Yelich, and Masataka Yoshida fall into this category. Still, nine of the hitters are below a .680 OPS, which means they are performing significantly below average. Considering that Baty is hitting .230/.230/.240 (.470 OPS) on ground balls, it’s natural for him to fall into that category.

To take it a step further, when Baty hits hard ground balls, good things seem to happen. His BABIP on ground balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or above is .424, and he’s done so 17% of the time. The bigger problem is that 24.7% of his groundballs are soft (below 88 mph) with an average exit velocity of 71.6 mph, and he’s hitting .125 on those balls.

It’s not easy to succeed when hitting the ball on the ground so often. Baty’s 5.9 average launch angle is in the ninth percentile in all of baseball, far worse than his 10-degree angle in his 2022 cameo. This doesn’t appear to be a simple issue to fix.

Strikeouts

Baty is swinging and missing an extraordinary amount, as he ranks in the 19th percentile in whiff rate. That has contributed to a 27.7% strikeout rate, which is in the 17th percentile among batters.

Striking out a lot is par for the course for many power hitters. J.D. Martinez and Luis Robert Jr. are two hitters having excellent seasons while striking out at a higher rate than Baty. Still, a groundball hitter can’t also strike out a lot. Martinez ranks sixth in all of baseball in fly ball rate, and Robert is in the 77th percentile. Meanwhile, hitters like Soto, Díaz, Yelich, and Yoshida are all at least average in strikeout rate; Yoshida has the seventh-lowest rate in all of baseball at 11.7%.

Combining a high groundball rate and a high strikeout rate will usually yield poor results. I don’t think this is the chief issue plaguing Baty, but it certainly hasn’t helped.

He’s Not Hitting Breaking or Offspeed Pitches

It is typical for young hitters to struggle against breaking and offspeed pitches. Still, Baty is not hitting nearly well enough against fastballs to be able to survive those struggles against other types of pitches.

courtesy of Baseball Savant

Baty has whiffed at 42.3% of the breaking balls he’s seen while hitting .167 against them. Why would anyone throw him anything else with two strikes?

Not Swinging

Despite Baty’s high whiff rate, his refusal to swing is just as big of an issue. The Mets are stressing plate discipline in their hitters, but it’s resulting in them taking many strike calls. Baty is swinging at just 63.7% of pitches in the zone, which is in the 28th percentile among batters. He joins Pete Alonso as a hitter who is also not swinging at pitches in the strike zone.

Interestingly, while waiting for the “perfect” pitch to hit, both batters are laying off more perfect pitches to hit than they should. Baty has seen an 8.2% meatball rate, which is higher than 83% of hitters in baseball. However, he’s swinging at just 70.7% of those pitches, which ranks in the 18th percentile. Just below him is Alonso, swinging at 69.2% of the meatballs he’s seen (although he’s seeing them at a below-average 7.2% rate).

This is something to blame on the Mets’ coaching. They’re so insistent on being selective that they’ve made their hitters afraid to swing. Baty and Alonso are the two poster boys for this. Just as Alonso’s 43.3% swing rate, the lowest of his career, has contributed to what could be his career-worst season, Baty’s 45.3% rate is hurting him. These are hitters who need to attack. They have mistaken plate discipline for simply not swinging.

Lack of Adjustment

Baty is actually hitting very well against starting pitchers the first time he faces them. However, as they come around the second and third time, his hitting worsens. He’s also performed miserably against relief pitchers.

• SP, first time: 76 PA, .296/.329/.479 (.808 OPS)
• SP, second and third time: 95 PA, .222/.316/.321 (.637 OPS)
• RP: 140 PA, .167/.245/.254 (.499 OPS)

This could simply be a case of small sample sizes. It could also be starting pitchers and relievers throwing more breaking pitches as they move through the game. However, it also seems to be a lack of counter-adjustment as the pitcher adjusts to Baty.

In His Head?

Baty’s home/away splits are wildly extreme. At Citi Field, he’s been a competent hitter; on the road, he’s well below replacement level.

• Home: 144 PA, .254/.317/.485 (.802 OPS), 1 XBH/9 PA, 1 HR/20.6 PA, 33.1% K%
• Away: 167 PA, .182/.265/.196 (.461 OPS), 1 XBH/83.5 PA, 0 HR, 29.1% K%

If Baty had hit only at Citi Field this season, Mets fans would be excited about his future. Instead, he was demoted. Why are these splits so stark? Hitters often struggle at Citi, especially power hitters. Baty, by contrast, can’t hit away from his home ballpark.

Additionally, Baty’s numbers when leading off an inning and with no runners on base are decent.

• Leading Off: 64 PA, .250/.344/.464 (.808 OPS)
• Bases Empty: 185 PA, .224/.317/.410 (.727 OPS)
• Men On: 126 PA, .205/.248/.222 (.470 OPS)
• Batting 8th or 9th: 93 PA, .289/.333/.434 (.767 OPS)

While his numbers with the bases empty are certainly nothing to write home about, they are competent enough to have kept him in the majors. That leads to the question of whether he’s thinking too hard in situations where he’s not comfortable.

This further bears out from Baty’s defense. Earlier in the season, he made the occasional blunder but appeared mostly comfortable at third. However, as his hitting struggles have mounted, his fielding has regressed to much of what we saw from him in 2022.

A recent article by Mike Puma of the New York Post quoted Baty as saying, “You’re under a microscope up here, so you have got to be engaged from Pitch 1 to the end of the game. That is something I have got to work on and something I have got to learn, so I am going to do my best at it.” Puma implied that Baty is accustomed to taking pitches off in the minors, but I don’t believe that’s what Baty was trying to say.

Mental and emotional fatigue does not mean that the player is a slacker. I suspect that Baty is simply trying too hard and getting into his head too much. In 2021, Mets batters complained that the analytics department was causing information overload. It seems that this might be the case with Baty, forcing him to think too much rather than playing fast and loose.

Puma’s article also noted that Baty is working on pitch selection with hitting coach Jeremy Barnes. Perhaps that begs the question about where the fault for Baty’s struggles lies, especially in light of the above data about Baty’s swings (along with much of the Mets’ lineup).

What Can He Do About It?

It appears that Baty’s season will finish in Triple-A. The problem is that even if he knocks the cover off the ball there, we’ve heard that song before. That could just mean he’s a Quadruple-A player.

Rather than plate discipline or anything else, Baty’s chief concern should be to stop hitting the ball straight into the ground. Per Baseball Savant, the sweet spot for a batter is a launch angle between 8-32 degrees. Notice that anything below 10 degrees is considered a ground ball, so a batter can technically get the ball off the sweet spot and still hit it on the ground. However, Baty’s sweet-spot rate has diminished from 43.3% in 2022 to 32.6% in 2023 (30th percentile), even though his groundball rate is actually down by 5% and he rarely pops up.

Furthermore, more than plate discipline—choosing which pitches not to swing at—Baty’s focus should be on pitches to swing at. Rather than seeking to lower his strikeout rate and increase his walk rate, he should be looking for good pitches to hit, period. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the Mets’ way of teaching their hitters.

As far as his defense, it could simply be that he’s not cut out to play third base at the major league level. That was a concern the Mets had when he was originally in the minors and why there were rumors that they would try to move him to left field. Switching his position while he’s struggling so much at the plate likely isn’t wise, but he needs to get out of his head defensively, too. In fact, it’s possible that more offensive success will help him slow down once more, as he seemed to do in spring training.

Additionally, perhaps Baty—and all the other Mets—could use a sports psychologist. Just as athletes train their bodies to reach a peak level of performance, taking care of themselves mentally and emotionally can help them withstand the rigors of a long season.

This is not the 2023 season anyone, least of all Baty, was hoping for. Still, perhaps he can turn the page along with so many other Mets and find his way back to successful baseball.

The post Analyzing Brett Baty’s 2023 Struggles: Why the Rookie Faltered appeared first on Metsmerized.

Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

For the second consecutive game it was a walk-off at Fenway for the Boston Red Sox, sending the favored Tampa Bay Rays back to Florida with another bout of postseason sorrow.

Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez redeemed his ALDS Game 1 early exit loss with five innings of two runs on three hits, striking out six without a walk.

He won a 17-pitch battle over Austin Meadows in the top of the third getting a swinging strike on an 82 mph slider, exiting the game with a commanding 5-0 lead.

But both team’s calls to the bullpen backfired, beginning with Rays manager Kevin Cash replacing Collin McHugh with Shane McClanahan, the expected starter for Game 5.

Boston hammered the ball all over Fenway against the 24-year old starter, playing reliever, who’s used to coming out of the dugout instead of the pen.

The same guy, who fired five scoreless innings against them in Game 1, was mauled for five runs, sparked by Rafael Devers three-run blast. Christian Vazquez, basking in the glow of his 13th inning solo walk-off homer in Game 3, began the barrage by ripping a single up the middle, followed by Schwarber’s one-out four-pitch walk.

Devers, who’s been silenced by a right forearm injury, rocked a 98 mph offering over the plate 404 feet. After Devers’ blast, Boston’s relentless line-up had McClanahan on the ropes, like a wounded prizefighter.

Xander Bogaerts laced a single to left. Alex Verdugo launched an RBI double off the Monster, and J.D. Martinez roped an RBI base hit off the Green One, as well.

But the fat lady was far from singing as the resilient Rays bounced back. In the fifth, Jordan Luplow, hitting a buck sixty and change, led off with a double to left, scoring on Meadow’s groundout to first.

Kevin Kiermaier followed suit in the sixth, dumping a leadoff two bagger giving Rodriguez the hook for Tanner Houck, who kept Boston in it to win it in Game 2.

This time the tall drink of Mid-western water allowed Tampa Bay to chip away by surrendering a two-run homer to rookie Wander Franco, cutting Boston’s lead 5-3.

In the eighth, Red Sox manager Alex Cora dipped into the bullpen for Ryan Brasier, and the lights out right-hander unraveled. Mike Zunino doubled to right, Kiermaier brought him home on a double right of center, and Randy Arozarena roped a game-tying base hit, booting Brasier to make way for Garrett Whitlock.

The Georgia native retired six straight, and just when you thought it was going to be extra innings all over again, in the bottom of the ninth, Vazquez snuck a single through the hole past a diving Yandy Diaz, making his way to second on a sac bunt by Christian Arroyo. Travis Shaw was safe on a PH infield single putting Vazquez on third, and the man of the postseason hour, Kiké Hernández, hit the most important sac fly of his life, sending the Sox to the AL Championship Series.

I’m glad I’m not a betting girl because I had Tampa Bay going all the way.

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