Brett Baty is starting to become a dangerous hitter in the Mets' lineup, and Saturday was just another notch in the young infielder's belt this season.
With the bases loaded and one out in the first inning, Baty -- hitting in the No. 5 hole -- stepped up to the plate. Pete Alonso came up empty with the bases loaded by striking out, and the Rockies were one pitch away from getting out of the early jam. But this is a different Baty, a more confident hitter.
After swinging through a fastball for a foul and taking a curveball for a ball, he stayed back on another Antonio Senzatela curve and lofted it to left-center field. Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle ran toward the wall but the ball kept traveling, and it ultimately hit the top of the padding and away from him.
Baty had cleared the bases with a triple to put the Mets ahead 3-1, en route to an eventual 8-2 win against Colorado.
"I thought I hit it pretty hard, but it looked like [Doyle] had a beat on it," Baty said after the game. "I thought, at least I’ll get one run in. It ended up hitting the wall. It was huge."
Baty said he was looking heater but wanted to just hit any ball hard that was over the plate, and he did. The ball went 398 feet, just a couple of feet from a grand slam. But more impressively, it was hit 104.1 mph off the bat.
"I like the aggressiveness," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Baty's at-bat. "First pitch went out there and swung through a fastball and he kept attacking. Put a really good swing on it and went left-center. Starts with the aggressiveness in the strikezone and he continues to do that."