Mets third baseman Brett Baty was removed in the top of the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s win over the Pittsburgh Pirates due to left hamstring tightness, but the early expectation is that Baty will not require a stint on the injured list.
Baty, who told Abbey Mastracco of the New York Daily News that there is no imaging scheduled and that the day off on Thursday should help, is not in Wednesday’s lineup, but is doing “better” according to Carlos Mendoza.
“I just saw him a while ago. It looks like we caught it early here,” Mendoza said. “Still day-to-day, obviously, but overall, the early reports are encouraging.”
“Yeah, I’m very optimistic [Baty will avoid an IL stint],” Mendoza added. “Again, we’ll go day-by-day, but the early reports are he should be alright.”
The third baseman felt tightness when he was stretching for first base while trying to beat out a grounder in his final at-bat on Tuesday.
Baty finished 0-for-2 at the plate, grounding out twice, with the last one coming in the fifth inning. He also made a nice play at third in the top half of the fifth, charging a slow roller to get a runner at first.
Joey Wendle replaced Baty at third and would go on to drive in the game’s tying run on a double in the bottom of the seventh to start a 3-1 comeback win.
It was one of the more memorable self-assessments to come out of a locker room last year, when Luis Severino, after allowing nine runs to the Orioles on July 30, said, “I feel like I’m the worst pitcher in the game.”
That candor — which, along with intelligence, is one of Severino’s defining characteristics — was in evidence again on Aug. 9, when the White Sox scored four on him in two innings. “I’m just having the worst year of my life in baseball,” Severino said that day.
His stuff was still solid, his fastball firm, his velocity good. Yet in some intangible but observable way, Severino seemed broken.
Carlos Mendoza was there, as the Yankee bench coach who had a seat in the dugout for most of Severino’s career.
And he was there as Mets manager on Wednesday at Citi Field, when Severino utilized his newly varied repertoire to defeat Pittsburgh and improve his season ERA to 2.14.
What was the biggest difference between Severino in 2023 and the Severino we’re seeing right now?
“Confidence,” Mendoza said. “He is staying on the attack.”
Severino seemed to agree.
“Last year I would have no confidence in myself,” he said. “Everybody in his career has a tough year. I learned from that year, and came into this year with a better mentality.”
Beyond the emotional component of his game, Severino and Mendoza pointed to several more tangible improvements.
For years, Severino was a power pitcher, making use of a high-velocity slider along with his fastball. Over the winter, he worked at Driveline Baseball, the facility responsible for helping many pitchers wiggle out of a down portion of their careers.
There, he split his hard slider into a cutter and a sweeper. Neither was as powerful as his old slider, but the two offerings combined to show hitters different speeds and different looks.
Mendoza likes the new mix better. “Everything was hard,” the manager said. “Now, he’s got more depth.”
One of the great mysteries of Severino’s 2023 season was that his fastball averaged 96.5 miles per hour. Plagued in previous years by injury, he was healthy and strong. And yet his ERA was 6.65.
After Wednesday’s game, Severino offered insight into that pitch, and why it is playing better than it did last year.
“Ninety-seven at 14 to 17 is not the same as 95-96 at 20 or 19,” he said, making heavy use of pitching jargon that we will explain momentarily. “That 19, that 20 is hardest to hit.”
Neither this writer nor most of his readers knew what that meant, but a Mets staffer helped to clarify.
“He is talking about hop/vertical break/ride,” the helpful Met explained, noting that the number Severino cited is not available on the popular website baseballsavant.com, but does flash on the Citi Field scoreboard after every pitch. “The ball is staying flatter (fighting gravity more) thus deceiving the hitter.”
In other words, Severino has added ride to his velocity, creating a more powerful fastball. Played off his new cutter/sweeper mix, which features variances in speed, and a changeup and sinker that helps him get ground balls, and Severino looks like a more complete pitcher.
There is one other factor, and not a small one, that plays into both Severino’s effectiveness and his confidence: pitch tipping, and the apparent lack thereof.
As a Yankee, Severino was one of the most egregious tippers in the sport. One Yankees insider estimated that Severino has struggled with no fewer than 10 tells over the years, the most glaring of which was showing the ball to base coaches.
In a quieter moment on Wednesday, after the scrum around his locker dispersed, Severino said that he believed he had cleaned up that part of his game.
“Every [game], I ask our guys if they see anything, and they say no,” he said.
And so, he is able to proceed with a cleaner delivery, a clearer mind, and a more effective mix of pitches.
And none of those intrusive thoughts about being the worst pitcher in the game.
The Mets made a roster move on Wednesday, bringing back a familiar bullpen arm.
The club has claimed Michael Tonkin off waivers from the Twins, designating left-hander Tyler Jay for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
Tonkin made the Mets’ 26-man roster out of spring training, but he struggled in his three appearances. The righty allowed two earned runs (eight runs total) over his 4.0 innings of work.
The Mets DFA’d Tonkin and eventually traded him to the Minnesota Twins on April 9 for cash considerations. He made one appearance for Minnesota, allowing two earned runs over 2.0 innings of work, and the Twins DFA’d him on April 13.
Jay, made his major league debut with the Mets on April 11 in Atlanta, and ended up pitching in two games, allowing one earned run over 4.0 innings.
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