If I'da told you...

[roger_that]

...that we'd open the season with Lindor, Vientos, and Baty deep into terrible slumps, how many games would you guess we'd have won by now? I'm stuck between "0" and "maybe 1."

[Edgy MD]

Somebody is always slumping.

I am certain that few expected Baty to open the season on fire, and it took several injuries to get Baty to the starting line at all.

[Chad ochoseis]

It's kind of a given at this point that Lindor sucks in April. No reason why it should happen, and I personally still believe that it's just a statistical anomaly, but I think Mets fans as a whole have become conditioned to expect rain and Lindor slumps in April.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It's silly to think that the Mets would have had to have gone 1-5 or 0-6 with Lindor and Vientos slumping. (And Baty? Really?) This is a team, after all, that has Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo. Their offense doesn't solely rely on Lindor and Vientos. Or Baty.

[Lefty Specialist]

If, I'da told you the Mets pitching was as good as it has been, you would have thought they were 6-0 or 5-1. Kinda works both ways.

[batmagadanleadoff]

...that we'd open the season with Lindor, Vientos, and Baty deep into terrible slumps, how many games would you guess we'd have won by now? I'm stuck between "0" and "maybe 1."

[roger_that]

Somebody is always slumping.

I am certain that few expected Baty to open the season on fire, and it took several injuries to get Baty to the starting line at all.

Well, there's "slumping" and there's "absolute suckitude"--another few games of this, and we will be approaching "absolute suckitude." Should we start a contest for who will break out first?

I fully expected Baty to open the season on fire, and still expect him to, eventually. But when?

Baty was on fire all spring, remember? It wasn't just injuries that got him to the roster--he was far and away the best hitter in Port St. Lucie. That has to count for something.

It's a little bit funny: either you believe that Baty's last two spring trainings are an illusion, a fluke of small samples and lousy sub-MLB pitching, or you think they're significant and and you pray that the Mets don't give in to that thinking and swap him out for a bag of rancid bologna. I'm in the latter camp.

[Edgy MD]

Well, there's "slumping" and there's "absolute suckitude"--another few games of this, and we will be approaching "absolute suckitude."

I have no idea when one becomes the other. These are fuzzy terms. I stand by the notion that someone is always slumping.

I fully expected Baty to open the season on fire, and still expect him to, eventually.

Baseball is a brutally humbling game.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Oh my god. If I told youse that Baty would go hitless in yesterday's game, could youse ever have imagined that the Mets would win?

Just shoot me.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

It's a long season

[Benjamin Grimm]

True, but it's already 3.7 percent over and the Mets have lost three games. I'd say it's time to panic.

[roger_that]

Oh my god. If I told youse that Baty would go hitless in yesterday's game, could youse ever have imagined that the Mets would win?

Just shoot me.

It ain't just Baty, and it ain't just yesterday. Lindor looks more helpless than he did last year, which is barely possible. Did you hear what Keith said when he thought the mic was cold?https://www.audacy.com/wfan/sports/mets ... RXeTYh3HaQ

[Fman99]

Lest we forget, Baty had a strong spring in 2024 as well. But this ain't Port St. Lucie

[batmagadanleadoff]

Oh my god. If I told youse that Baty would go hitless in yesterday's game, could youse ever have imagined that the Mets would win?

Just shoot me.

It ain't just Baty, and it ain't just yesterday. Lindor looks more helpless than he did last year, which is barely possible. Did you hear what Keith said when he thought the mic was cold?https://www.audacy.com/wfan/sports/mets ... RXeTYh3HaQ

Keith is a baseball god who's bad with numbers. Also, Wilmer Flores is on pace to hit 100 HRs.

[Edgy MD]

Keith always gets frustrated with lack of offense and laments seeing guys whose mechanics are off.

A few of the things that makes Keith who he is is that he (a) has ADD, (b) is impatient, and (c) hates seeing folks who can't do what he could do.

[roger_that]

Keith is a baseball god who's bad with numbers.

Very few gods are mathematically gifted. I read the book of Numbers once and was very disappointed.

[whippoorwill]

Roger who is the lady in your avatar?

[roger_that]

I tried finding a picture that I could use as an avatar, but every one I chose from my hard drive was WAY too big. Finally though I sorted them by size and she was the only pic that I was allowed to post as my avatar. Unfortunately though I have no idea who she is. I found her in my "ancestry.com" file, so she is probably related to me somehow, a fourth cousin nine times removed or something, but at least she's not Mr. Met with that big stupid grin I had up there before. KC said if I sent him a photo, he'd see if he could get it posted, so I sent him a shot of Baty fielding a ball with his face, but he must have been busy because so far my great-great Aunt Tootsie or whoever she is is still up there.

[whippoorwill]

Lololol awesome story!

[MFS62]

For a veteran player: they will revert to the back of their baseball cards.
For a young player: give him time
For an impatient fan: time to panic. They were lucky to win those games, the good pitching won't keep that up, and their awful offense is going to doom them to a sub-.500 season.
All of them or none of them could happen.
Nothing to see here.
This ain't our first rodeo.

Later

[roger_that]

As you can see from the "How will he thrive" thread, I'm probably the most hopeful one here about Baty's upside. I look at the two spring trainings and the good numbers at AAA, and safely conclude that he's a big-time big-league hitter running into persistently tough luck and some adjustment issues. I'm concerned that they'll impatiently swap him out for a #4 starter who'll give you maybe 10 good games per year for two or three years.